Bahrain Grand Prix: Max Verstappen cruises to victory, Fernando Alonso confirms the surprise

The first Grand Prix of the year was eagerly awaited in Bahrain, in order to truly gauge the pulse of each team and their potential for the 2023 season. Aston Martin is currently positioning itself as the big surprise, with Fernando Alonso starting in 5th position, ahead of the Red Bulls on the front row, followed by the Ferraris. But will the British team be able to keep up the pace for 57 laps?

At the lights out, poleman Max Verstappen sets off, quickly followed by the Ferraris, while his teammate Sergio Perez had a poor start. Charles Leclerc takes advantage of this to overtake the Mexican, while Fernando Alonso drops two positions. We also note the good start of Lewis Hamilton, who gained two positions. Shortly after, unfortunately, the two Aston Martin teammates collide, but fortunately, there were only minor damages.

In the 5th lap of this Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen is leading ahead of Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Alonso, Bottas, and Stroll.

And what about the rookies? This Grand Prix serves as a baptism for three drivers. Among them, it is Logan Sargeant who comes out on top, gaining three positions and quickly placing himself in 13th place behind Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri, teammate of the latter, has gained two places but is currently in 16th position, between Hülkenberg and Zhou. On his side, Nyck de Vries remains in 19th position, the same as at the start, between Pierre Gasly, who started last, and Kevin Magnussen.

In the 8th round, Russell asks on the radio if Hamilton is managing his tires well or if he is slower, because he feels that he has a better pace. His engineer confirms: the seven-time world champion is struggling.

On the Ferrari side, they seem very satisfied with how things are going and with the degradation of the tires. Leclerc is telling his team that they are going for plan A.

On the 9th lap, a small surprise occurred: Pierre Gasly already enters the pit to change his tyres and switches to hard compound. The rest of the grid is on softs, except for Magnussen, who is also on hard compound.

Battle between Fernando Alonso and George Russell

Meanwhile, a real battle is taking place between George Russell and Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard is showing himself to be much faster than the Briton and opens his DRS in hopes of overtaking him for 6th position. On the other hand, the Mercedes driver informs his team that he needs to come in and change his tires. However, it is Lewis Hamilton who is called into the pits first, on the 13th lap. Alonso ultimately manages to gain an advantage over Russell in a thrilling ballet for the spectators.

On the 14th lap, Ferrari makes a double pit stop and puts on hard tires on both cars. Russell follows suit at the pit stops, but Mercedes has a bad pit stop, lasting 5 seconds. The Mercedes cars are also equipped with hard tires. Then it’s Oscar Piastri’s turn to come into the pits, to change the steering wheel… And finally, to abandon the race.

After changing tires, it’s Russell who goes on the attack against Alonso. But the Spaniard slightly widens the gap by overtaking Valtteri Bottas, who finds himself between the two rivals of the day. Not for long though, as the British driver overtakes him in a few turns.

Fate is relentless against Esteban Ocon.

It’s a disaster for McLaren: after Oscar Piastri’s retirement, Lando Norris has a pit stop that lasts 11 seconds. The year is starting off very poorly for the Woking team.

Things are also not going very well for Esteban Ocon: the French driver first received a 5-second penalty for positioning himself incorrectly on the starting grid. The FIA then noticed that the penalty was incorrectly executed. Will there be a new sanction to come? The verdict is in: Ocon will now have to serve a 10-second penalty. And it doesn’t stop there: a few laps later, the Alpine driver will incur an additional 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

We reach the halfway point of the race and things are heating up at the front: Sergio Perez has caught up to Charles Leclerc and will overtake him with ease, thus taking second place. We should note Hülkenberg’s pit stop, as he needs to change his front wing. The German will then go on to set the fastest lap of the race on the 30th lap, quite an achievement in itself.

A battle of giants Alonso – Hamilton

Mercedes then decides to bring Hamilton in to avoid a possible undercut from Fernando Alonso. As the race starts to settle into a very calm cruise, the second pit stops are initiated. Upon exiting the pit lane, Lance Stroll gains an advantage over George Russell and positions himself between the two Mercedes cars. On the other hand, Alonso finds himself between the two Ferraris in 4th position, although he has not yet made his second pit stop, like the Red Bulls.

But even after the pit stops, Aston Martin continues to surprise us, as the Spaniard fights with all his might to overtake Lewis Hamilton and takes the 5th place on lap 38. But the Mercedes driver is not giving up so easily and sticks to his rear to regain his position. Meanwhile, the Spaniard already has his sights set on his next target: his compatriot Carlos Sainz, who is just over 2.5 seconds ahead.

Abandon by Charles Leclerc

Thunderbolt at lap 41: Charles Leclerc stops on the side of the road, off the track. « No, no », laments the Monegasque over the radio. We are granted a virtual safety car. The issue seems to come from the Ferrari’s battery. Then, two laps later, it’s the suffering of Esteban Ocon which also ends in retirement. With Leclerc’s retirement, Sainz is now virtually on the podium. But that is without counting on the Fernando Alonso’s desire to win, who fights like a devil and easily takes third place from him. Eleven laps away from the finish, it’s thus the Aston Martin driver who would find himself off the podium.

And it’s confirmed until the finish line, where Max Verstappen wins this first race (in invisibility), followed by his teammate Sergio Perez and, therefore, the Spanish world champion.

The ranking of the Bahrain Grand Prix