How Alonso beat Verstappen in F1 points milestone

Max Verstappen has proved the class of the Formula 1 field so far in 2023, winning ten of the 12 Grands Prix and finishing second in the other two, in addition to emerging victorious in all three Sprint events.

However, the Dutchman's teammate Sergio Perez isn't having such a happy time of things in the other car. The Mexican started the season well, with two wins in the first four races fuelling speculation that he may challenge Verstappen for the title.

After that, though, things took a considerable turn for the worse for Perez, who managed just two podium finishes in six races between Monaco and Britain – with Verstappen adding insult to injury by taking a clean sweep of victories across that period.

Biggest mid-season points advantages

Though Perez appears to have recovered some semblance of form in recent weeks, the Mexican remains largely unable to live with Verstappen's blistering pace.

To emphasise that point, as Formula 1 embarks on its annual four-week hiatus, Verstappen ranks second in F1's all-time list of largest points gaps between teammates at the summer break, with the Dutchman a cool 125 points ahead of Perez.

However, even that total is shaded by Fernando Alonso's efforts from 2012, when the Spaniard drove one of the all-time great seasons to nearly win the Drivers' Championship in a Ferrari that was frequently only the fourth-fastest car on the grid.

With teammate Felipe Massa floundering on the other side of the garage, the two drivers entered 2012's summer break with 139 points separating them, representing the biggest points gap between teammates that F1 has ever seen at such a point in a season.

Notably, the top five points differences between teammates at the summer break all feature either Verstappen or Alonso in the superior position.

The Dutchman was 107 points ahead of Pierre Gasly in 2019, and Alonso has notched 102 points more than Lance Stroll this year, in addition to having been 88 points better off than Kimi Raikkonen in 2014.