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Max Verstappen won the 2023 F1 Belgian GP to kickstart the summer break. We're at the halfway mark of the season as the drivers and the teams enjoy their well-deserved break. Red Bull has dominated the first half of the season, with the team yet to lose a single race.
To add to this, it has enjoyed an almost similar level of dominance over the field from the start of the season in Bahrain to the race in Belgium where we kick off the summer break. There have been a couple of races where Red Bull's superiority has been usurped in qualifying.
It happened in Baku when Charles Leclerc secured a pole position for Ferrari and then it happened in Hungary where Lewis Hamilton put together a magical lap to secure his first pole position in almost 600 days.
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In all of this though, how was the first half of the season? Which F1 team proved to be a surprise package and what was one of the more shocking moments of the season?
Let's take a look at our midseason review of the 2023 F1 season.
2023 F1 season: Mid-year review
Most disappointing team
It's hard to pick anybody but Alpine for this one. The way that the team started the season with proclamations of being a top four team and then capitulated in a way we have not seen happen to a team in a while is so disappointing.
At the end of the 2022 F1 season, one could say that Alpine was on the verge of joining the top 4 teams. It was almost there.
Looking at how the 2023 F1 season, it's safe to say that the future does not look bright for the team.
Most disappointing driver
It's hard to look beyond Sergio Perez for this because of the kind of collapse his supposed championship campaign has had. The driver talked big after his win in Saudi Arabia. That talk got louder when he fair and square beat Max Verstappen in Baku.
Since that day in Azerbaijan, Perez has not even been in the same league as Verstappen and is looking at Daniel Ricciardo as a possible threat to his seat.
The biggest surprise (Team)
This one has to go to Aston Martin. While the team has taken a step back in the last few races one has to give credit where it's due for the Silverstone-based outfit.
No one expected Fernando Alonso's gamble last season to Aston Martin to prove to be this successful. It's hard to imagine even Alonso thinking that way either.
Well, it has. Aston Martin is a front-running F1 team now and if the team can bounce back from its current slump, the future looks bright for the outfit.
The biggest surprise (Driver)
It's always exciting when a new prospect is discovered by F1 fans. It's even more exciting when that prospect starts to flourish. Oscar Piastri's last few races have been just that.
The driver has started to flourish after going through the early phase of getting used to the sport. The driver is very competitive against Lando Norris and considering how good Norris is, we might have a future superstar at McLaren.
Biggest shock of the season
The entire process of Daniel Ricciardo getting the seat in AlphaTauri and Nyck de Vries almost erased from memory is not something that has gone down well with a lot of fans.
It is safe to say though that the media loves this move. The darling of the media with his big beaming smile, Ricciardo's return to the sport was welcomed with open arms by everyone in F1.
Having said that, it's still a shocker to see Daniel Ricciardo come back to the sport 10 races after he announced his sabbatical.
