Formula One 2023: Exciting sub-plots keep the narrative alive for the rest of the season  Premium

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have dominated F1 2023, but there are exciting sub-plots further down the grid. Oscar Piastri's debut season has been impressive, despite his 36 points and best finish of fourth. His teammate Lando Norris has outperformed him, but Piastri's story is more than numbers. He was embroiled in a contract saga and faced unwarranted attacks. Despite this, he has kept improving and is now almost matching Norris. He must now start beating him and seize any podium opportunities. Piastri has shown he can handle the pressure of F1 and is ready for the big league.

Formula One 2023 has been all about Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing dominating the sport, with the former winning 11 out of the 13 races while Red Bull is still undefeated this year. With little competition at the top and the winner a foregone conclusion on most weekends, the interest in the championship has taken a drastic hit.

But despite the dominance, there are exciting sub-plots that one can watch out for down the grid. Even though most of the narratives have been around how the rival teams have failed to pose a strong challenge to Red Bull, there are also glimmers of hope further down the field.

One such example is the performance of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who made his F1 debut this year.

Though professional sport is all about numbers and numbers don’t lie, in the case of Piastri, the other expression, ‘numbers don’t tell the whole story,’ is equally apt.

On the face of it, Piastri has scored just 36 points with a best finish of fourth, and his teammate Lando Norris has outperformed him with 75 points, including two podiums.

Norris also leads 11-2 in qualifying and 10-3 in races in the head-to-head battle. So, by these metrics, one would be fair to assess that the young rookie has yet to cover himself in glory.

But these numbers tell half the story. Dig a bit deep, and one can see why McLaren paid Daniel Ricciardo not to see out his contract and hire another Australian with no F1 experience.