The 2023 Formula 1 season so far: Unquestionable Red Bull dominance

The 2023 Formula 1 season is already five races deep, with last year's champions Red Bull Racing leading with a dominant and comfortable margin. Aston Martin have made genuine progress this season, jumping from 7th in last year's standings to 2nd. Meanwhile, the usual front runners Ferrari and Mercedes have failed to match the Bulls, rarely getting podiums. 

Here's a quick overview of the races providing a clear picture of the current pecking order of the grid.

Saudi Arabian GP

After winning at Bahrain, Max Verstappen faced a transmission issue during qualifying and started the race from the 15th spot. He finished 2nd while his teammate Sergio Perez successfully held him off and won the race in Jeddah. Alonso finished a distant third. Both Mercedes finished in front of the Ferraris while both Alpines finished as the best of the rest. Kevin Magnussen managed to clench the final point near the end of the race. Meanwhile both McLarens had a woeful Sunday as backmarkers.

Australian GP

Verstappen took pole while Sergio failed to qualify due to a setup problem. Charles Leclerc beached his Ferrari in the first lap and collisions into the walls by Alex Albon and Magnussen caused two red flags, each at the early and finishing stages of the race respectively. The latter was followed by a chaotic restart where Sainz bumped into Fernando, Perez and Stroll ran off into the gravel trap, Sergeant rear-ended De Vries and the Alpines collided into each other, bringing their rather impressive stints to an end. The session was again red-flagged after all the carnage, and the race ended behind the safety car.

Verstappen won the Melbourne GP, with Lewis and Alonso in the podiums respectively. The McLaren duo had a change of luck as both Norris and the hometown hero Oscar Piastri finished up in the points, and Hulkenberg had a brilliant race, finishing between them in P7.

Azerbaijan GP

After a month's break caused by the cancellation of the Chinese GP, the F1 calendar resumed at Baku with a revised sprint format. The new format keeps only one practice session and introduces separate qualifying sessions for the sprint and feature races. Charles Leclerc blazed these sessions, setting poles in both instances and finishing in p2 and p3 respectively. Max finished in p3 in the sprint with a damaged car and p2 in the race after an unlucky stop right before the safety car deployment. Checo won a commanding victory, keeping Max at bay till the end of the race. Fernando finished P4, nearly missing out on another podium by eight-tenths of a second. It was again another race of attrition focusing on tire and fuel management.

Miami GP

F1 returned to Miami for the second time with a big reception from its growing American fanbase. Charles crashed in Q3 of qualifying and caused the session to end early with Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas unable to set their times. Max started from P9 and breezed across others up to P2 in 15 laps, ultimately winning the race with a domineering performance. Checo secured pole but had to settle for P2, and another impressive performance from Alonso brought him a fourth podium in five races.

The Alpines returned to the points while the McLarens again finished at the bottom. Haas scored on their home soil after a good showing from Magnussen who kept Leclerc in a much faster Ferrari behind him for a long period. Mercedes suffered in qualifying but bounced back in the race, whereas the Ferraris had a harder time managing their race pace. There were plenty of overtakes throughout the grid, but it was a rather lonely race for the podium finishers yet again.

The main takeaway from the season thus far is Red Bull's sheer dominance. They have developed a far superior car that's being driven by two highly skilled and hungry operators. Checo has certainly stepped up this season, and can perhaps be a challenger for teammate Max for the title if he can keep up the pace consistently. Not only is Fernando Alonso showing exceptional results in his Aston even at the age of 41, but he is also greatly motivating the team. Ferrari are close to the Bulls in qualifying trim but are nowhere near during the race with poor tire degradation. Meanwhile, Mercedes have had better luck in the race than in qualifying.

On a different note, Yuki Tsunoda has drastically upped his game, finishing consistently in 10th or 11th no matter where he starts from. Piastri is also showing promise as he has been able to hang near teammate Norris, but the other rookies have yet to impress. Nyck De Vries being such a capable driver in other categories has not performed as expected. McLaren and Alpine are exchanging positions for final points positions, with the other teams finishing close.

So far, this season is panning out to be very predictable for the championship win, but the midfield cars and backmarkers are much closer to each other. Many teams are bringing big updates for the Emilia Romagna (Imola) GP and are optimistic about their anticipated performance gains. Hopefully, those upgrades for the front-running teams in the upcoming races can bring them into contention for more podiums and race wins.