Title won in mid-season
The season of Max Verstappen, made up of records broken race after race, has been told far and wide. However, a new particular ranking published in recent days by Formula 1 is a way to further underline the extent of the dominance expressed by the Dutch champion over the rest of the grid and in particular towards his teammate Sergio Perezthe only one able to challenge the 'tyrant' of Hasselt on equal terms.
The official Circus accounts revealed the 'first leg' and 'return' rankings for the 2023 World Cup, dividing the season into two mini-championships of 11 races each. From these it emerges that Verstappen collected only in the second half of the year 294 points, nine more than those managed by Perez in 22 total races that make up the entire season. Practically, Max would have won the title even if they had started counting his points only from the Belgian GP onwards.
Norris, Leclerc, Piastri: what a leap
Perez was in the second half of the championship only fourth in terms of number of points obtained, beaten by Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc and with just a single point more than Carlos Sainz. Always Norris and Leclerc, together with Piastri, are also the drivers to have made the biggest leap – positively – from the first to the second half of the championship. In this sense, Pierre Gasly also deserves a mention, scoring 16 points in the first 11 games and 46 in the final half of the championship.
Opposite performance for Perez (-57) and especially for Fernando Alonsowhose -72 in the last 11 championship races compared to the first is however mainly determined by the drop in performance of the single-seater. -32 also for Lewis Hamiltonwho despite this decline – also linked in part to Austin's controversial disqualification – still achieved third position at the end of the championship, just ahead of Alonso.
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