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Max Verstappen dominated the 2023 F1 Belgian GP and picked up his eighth consecutive win. The driver was in a league of his own in a race that was interesting in parts, especially with rain making an appearance. The battle in the midfield was quite interesting but at the front of the grid, once the Red Bull driver got the lead there was no stopping him.
Sergio Perez made a return to the podium and finished P2 in a race where he finished more than 20 seconds behind his teammate while Charles Leclerc was P3 to round off the podium.
With the chequered flag falling on the last race of the first half of the season, what are some of the key takeaways? Let's take a look.
2023 F1 Belgian GP: Key Takeaways
#1 Red Bull maintained the same gap to the field in the first half of the season
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Max Verstappen ended the race 32 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in P3. Lest we forget, he started the race in P6. There was this eerie resemblance between the Mercedes dominant era to what Max did at the 2023 F1 Belgian GP today. For most of the races, the German squad would not show its ultimate pace.
It would run races in a conservative mode and follow Juan Manuel Fangio's great philosophy of winning the race as slowly as possible. Ever so rarely will Mercedes pull the plug and show its teeth and whenever it did, it left the competition shocked.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull showed a part of the true potential of the car and everyone's jaws dropped. In the first 11 races, Red Bull has not lost any of its advantages despite having almost half of the development time of some of its competitors.
#2 Max Verstappen is going to have the greatest-ever F1 season in 2023
The 2023 F1 Belgian GP proved what everyone feared about the season. The gap and the form and the sensibility with which Max Verstappen is driving right now, he's on course to have the greatest ever.
Be it any record, be it the most wins, the most podiums, the most points, the biggest gap to the driver second in the championship, or anything else, Verstappen is on his way to setting a new benchmark in F1.
We're either looking at a once-in-a-lifetime season or we're looking at the beginning of the Max Verstappen dominance era where everybody else fades away. We're witnessing an all-time genius in action and what's surprising is he's only 25 years of age right now.
#3 Charles Leclerc should be happy with that podium finish
Away from all the spotlight, it was Charles Leclerc putting together another impressive race weekend. The 2023 F1 Belgian GP was a template that Leclerc needs to follow in the second half of the season.
It was a perfect weekend where he qualified well, kept his nose clean, and had enough pace to hold off any advances from Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes.
As an added incentive he has now jumped George Russell and Carlos Sainz in the standings as well. He made the most of a competitive Ferrari at the 2023 F1 Belgian GP and needs to make sure that he does it more often.
#4 Alpine finally shows some life as it bids adieu to Otmar Szafneur
It was a nice weekend for Alpine as it finally showed some life. On Saturday, we had Pierre Gasly securing a top 3 result in the 2023 F1 Belgian GP sprint and on Sunday, it was Ocon's turn to put together an impressive drive through the field.
Otmar deserved better from the team and maybe his getting fired is a surprise but at least his farewell did not see Alpine have another double DNF, just like it had in the last two races.
#5 Aston Martin is about to get bumped to P4 in the championship
One should give props to Fernando Alonso for finishing P5 in the 2023 F1 Belgian GP because Aston Martin did not have the pace to be there alone. The Spaniard continues to extract every ounce of performance from the car but let's face it, the Enstone-based squad is a one-driver team with Lance Stroll continuing to struggle.
With Aston Martin's slump in form, both Fernando Alonso and the team are close to losing their coveted P3 and P4 positions in the championship. Unless the upgrades make an appearance, it's hard to see the team making a strong comeback.
