It’s a case of 12 down, 10 to go for Formula 1 in 2023. Max Verstappen is cruising to a third-straight world championship for a Red Bull team who look invincible – and could yet go the whole season invincible. Yet there have been other notable performances too, with Aston Martin and more recently McLaren impressing, while behemoths like Ferrari and Mercedes are left wondering how they’ve been left so far behind Red Bull yet again. It’s now time for the usual four-week August break, but not before The Independent takes a look at the highlights and lowlights from the first five months of the 2023 season. Best driver – Max Verstappen Unsurprisingly, the easiest choice of the lot. Eight wins in a row, 10 from 12 in total, Verstappen has a mammoth 125-point lead to team-mate Sergio Perez with 10 races left. The title is already virtually sewn up. The only question left is – how many records he can set this season? Next in line is Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 record of nine wins in a row, which he can match at his home race in Zandvoort. Thank you, next. Best team – Red Bull To the second easiest choice of the lot. It seemed highly unlikely that Red Bull could improve on their double success last year; surely the chasing pack would reel them in? In fact, it’s gone the other way. Red Bull’s rocketship RB19 is Adrian Newey’s greatest design yet. It has won all 15 races including sprints – 12 from Verstappen, three from Perez – and they’ve had five one-two finishes. Including last season, Christian Horner’s team have won 22 of the last 23 grands prix. George Russell was somewhat ridiculed for suggesting after the first race in Bahrain that Red Bull “could win every race this season.” He doesn’t look so silly now. An unprecedented perfect season could well be the story of the season. Biggest disappointment – Nyck de Vries Already out the door after 10 races, with Daniel Ricciardo replacing him at AlphaTauri, Nyck de Vries’ Formula 1 career is in tatters. With zero points, a best-finish of 12th and Red Bull overlord Helmut Marko criticising him as early as April, the writing was on the wall for De Vries from the outset. Did he deserve quite such an early exit? Probably not. But it was coming. This was not supposed to be the order of play after the Dutchman’s mightily impressive debut at Monza last year for Williams, where he finished ninth filling in for Alex Albon. A return to Formula E appears most likely for the 28-year-old now. Most improved driver/team – Aston Martin Eyebrows were raised last summer when Fernando Alonso switched from Alpine to the struggling Aston Martin, who finished seventh in the Constructors’ Standings. But how that decision has bore fruit. Alonso started the 2023 season with five podiums in six races, with the racing green Aston modelled closely on leader of the pack Red Bull, leapfrogging the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari early on. They’ve had something of a dip recently, but Alonso remains the best of the rest behind Red Bull in the world championship. Their emergence as a frontrunner will be undoubtedly confirmed if they can achieve a race victory in the second-half of the season. Biggest surprise – McLaren’s recent revival Aside from the extent of Red Bull’s dominance, the July renaissance from the McLaren papaya has come completely out the blue. It looked set to be a long season when, in the season-opener in Bahrain, Lando Norris pitted six times amid issues with the MCL60. But, having made personnel changes and altered their floor of the car, Norris secured two second-place finishes in a row in Silverstone and Hungary. Australian rookie Oscar Piastri has also impressed after a cagey start – the highlight a sterling drive to finish second in the Belgian GP sprint race on Saturday. Biggest underachiever – Ferrari This will not be the biggest surprise. After looking so fierce and domineering at the start of 2022, how the Scuderia’s fortunes have reversed in the 18 months since. Ferrari have not won a race since Charles Leclerc in Austria last year – over 12 months now – and despite changing their team principal in the off-season from Mattia Binotto to Fred Vassuer, they continue to be impacted by the same disorderly confusion which characterised last season. Charles Leclerc appears close to breaking point on occasions, with Carlos Sainz not far behind. Ferrari themselves will do well not to be left bereft in the midfield in the remainder of 2023. Biggest shock – Toto Wolff revealing Mercedes will ditch car concept Max Verstappen insisting he could quit F1 if more sprint races are added to the calendar was a shock. But just beating it, it didn’t take long for Mercedes to finally ditch their unique no-sidepod design. Toto Wolff didn’t even wait until the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix; testing, practice and qualifying had told him enough. “I don’t think this package is going to be competitive eventually,” he said. “We got it wrong last year. We thought we could fix it by sticking to the concept of car but it didn’t work out so we just need to switch our focus on to what we believe is the right direction.” Improvement for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell has been slow but steady since. Biggest farce – Esteban Ocon pit-lane incident in Baku Everyone knew it was happening. The pit wall, the broadcasters – but not the FIA seemingly. Esteban Ocon had to pit before the last lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix having pursued a bold – albeit ineffective in the end – strategy to drive the whole race on one set of tyres. F1 rules dictate every driver must pit at least once. So the shocking scenes which followed of Ocon almost running over photographers and officials walking in the pit lane was shambolic and extremely unsafe. Best race – Australian Grand Prix In a season lacking classic races thus far, the street track of Albert Park in Melbourne did at least provide drama from start to finish. Three red flags were thrown due to crashes throughout the race, with a late shunt forcing a captivating two-lap shootout to finish, which subsequently resulted in the Alpines crashing into each other and Carlos Sainz penalised for spinning Fernando Alonso. The sort of chaotic carnage which has not been replicated since. Worst race – Hungarian Grand Prix Expectations were high in Budapest after Hamilton claimed his first pole position since December 2021. Could he defend from Max Verstappen from lights out? Could there be a battle between the pair not seen since Abu Dhabi 2021? No, no there couldn’t. Verstappen dived down the inside at turn one and was not seen again. The race descended into nothing short of a bore-fest and had just 16 overtakes – the lowest amount in any grand prix in 2023. For comparison, last year’s race at the Hungaroring had 61 overtakes. Read More Daniel Ricciardo is back - and this time he wants to go out on top Lewis Hamilton makes Austin Powers reference to show Max Verstappen dominance Max Verstappen extends invincible streak with victory at Belgian Grand Prix F1 2023 race schedule: When is the Dutch Grand Prix? Lewis Hamilton reveals return of major issue with Mercedes car at Belgian Grand Prix Max Verstappen extends invincible streak with victory at Belgian Grand Prix

For years, a band of science-loving "troll hunters" hounded climate change deniers off Twitter -- but Elon Musk's takeover has upended their efforts, with many ousted...

Pep Guardiola says he cannot recall telling anybody he believes Roberto De Zerbi will succeed him as Manchester City manager. A story has emerged claiming the Catalan privately tipped the Brighton boss to succeed him after City drew at the Amex Stadium in May. Yet, while Guardiola may have cast doubt over whether that occurred, he has repeatedly been effusive in his praise of the Italian and remains so ahead of Saturday’s meeting between their two clubs. Guardiola, whose future beyond the expiry of his contract in 2025 is unclear, said: “I don’t remember that. “Maybe I have bad memory but I’m sure Roberto can train in any team around the world. I don’t have any doubt. “I don’t remember saying that to the players. I remember saying before he arrived, one or two games in, about sustaining the manager, but I don’t remember saying that honestly. “It’s none of my business. If the chairman asks my opinion I will give my opinion but it’s none of my business. “I’m not the sporting director. It’s not my responsibility to say what’s going right or wrong.” Former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk boss De Zerbi has made a big impression since taking over at Brighton just over a year ago. He guided the club into European competition for the first time with a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League last season and they have started the current campaign strongly. Guardiola feels this proves a manager need not have had experience at the highest level to land the biggest jobs. He said: “It doesn’t mean you have to be at the top clubs to be manager of the top clubs. I was appointed Barcelona first-team (manager) coming from the fourth division with no experience at the top level. “You have the idea of the club, the sporting director follows the idea, they hire the manager for this idea, they hire players to follow the idea. When that happens it’s going well. “Man City have done this, Liverpool with Jurgen (Klopp) for many years – winning titles with the same process and same ideas.” Guardiola, 52, is widely considered the greatest coach of his generation having last year added a third Champions League title to a glittering CV that also includes five Premier League wins. His players are always in the perfect body-shape position. Pep Guardiola on Roberto De Zerbi Yet even he feels like he can learn from a relative youngster like 44-year-old De Zerbi. He said: “His players are always in the perfect body-shape position to get the ball. “It’s a stupid thing to say but one of the key points. Everyone moves in the right moment, tempo. “Football is not ‘you have to move’, it’s when. It’s body shape in the perfect shape. It’s really good. “Everything he does makes sense and I learn.” Read More Mauricio Pochettino hails Reece James’ leadership and defends captain after ban Luke Shaw not expected to be fit until after November’s international break FIFA hands two-year doping ban to World Cup winner Papu Gomez Rotherham’s game with Ipswich off and Scottish matches postponed due to storm It is bad news – Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi expects Man City to bounce back Kevin Sinfield calls on England to empty tanks against South Africa

Sandy Alcantara threw a complete-game, five-hitter, Luis Arraez homered and the Miami Marlins beat the New York Yankees 3-1

HANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 19, 2023--

Charlie Culberson reached on an infield single in his first game back with the Atlanta Braves.Sometimes, you just need an opportunity, man...It had been six weeks since Charlie Culberson started riding pine for a living in the Atlanta Braves' dugout. The Dansby Swanson lookalike had bee...

By Isla Binnie NEW YORK Money managers in the United States have closed funds with sustainability mandates faster

For the last few days, Michael Rubin’s ‘White Party’ in the Hamptons has been the talk of the town

The US Army Corps of Engineers is planning to barge 36 million gallons of freshwater daily into the lower Mississippi River near New Orleans as saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico continues to threaten drinking water supply, officials said Friday.

The US Army Secretary emphasized Thursday that the service is "not going to lower our standards" despite ongoing challenges with recruiting.

Chicago Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall will have right knee surgery, likely sidelining the 2018 NHL MVP for the rest of the season

José Ramírez homered twice and drove in three runs, helping Aaron Civale and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 5-0