Race 14 - 2023 Dutch GP [Zandvoort]

[Nitrodaze]

F1 resumes after a short summer break at the seaside town of Zandvoort. The commencement of the second half of the 2023 season in the Netherlands underlines the theme of the season so far. The Verstappen party train continues as a proper challenge is nowhere in sight. The Dutchman is steamrolling his way to his third F1 championship title it appears. Clearly, the second half of the season is not about who is going to win the 2023 F1 driver and Constructor titles; for that, it is resoundingly going to be Max Verstappen and Redbull. But it is going to be about the increasingly tense battle for the runners-up position. Which driver is going to claim the second position and which team is going to finish second in the constructor's leaderboard?

Mathematically, we would probably think Sergio Perez would claim the second spot in the driver's title, but his recent undulating run of form suggests this may not necessarily be the case as Alonso and Hamilton are merely 40-ish points away from the Mexican. Perez's future in Redbull would essentially be determined by the outcome of this battle for second in the driver's championship. It suffices to say, he would automatically lose his seat if he does not finish 2nd in the driver's championship. We shall leave the question of who would replace him to the middle of the second half of the season.

On the constructors front, Mercedes has put a decent 51 points gap between itself and Aston Martin its nearest challenger. To compound the misery for Aston Martin, Ferrari has closed up to a slim one point behind. While Mclaren seems to be on the ascendance, Aston Martin seems to be drifting backward in what is looking like a slow descent into quicksand. While this picture does not tell the full story of this everchanging section of the front-end of the grid, we are looking forward to some resurgence from Aston Martin in the second half of the season. As we are expecting Mclaren to understand their car better and push further up the ranking. Hence, Mercedes have their work cut out to stay ahead as the development battle in this second half seems to favor the underdogs such as Aston Martin and Mclaren. Ferrari remains a dark horse in all of this. If Ferrari can get their act together, they have the potential to storm into the coveted second position in the constructors. The real excitement of the rest of the season lies firmly in this group fighting for the second spots in the driver and constructor's championships. It certainly would not be about how fast Verstappen can go in the Redbull, as any of the drivers fighting in the battle for second in the constructor's championship may well produce similar performances given the Redbull car. The real excitement is in the close battles and that is firmly in the fight for second. The F1.5 championship!

May the best team win!

Who is your money on to finish as runners-up to Redbull? Can Mclaren do a Houdini?