The tone is set: the reigning double world champion Max Verstappen, favored for his own succession this season, won in style at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the inaugural round of the year in Formula 1, ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez and veteran Fernando Alonso. At 41, the Spaniard steps onto the podium for his first race with Aston Martin. “Finishing on the podium for the first race of the year is incredible,” reacted the double world champion in the discipline (2005, 2006).
Starting from pole position at nightfall and in a newfound freshness (it was still 27 degrees at the start), the Dutchman dominated the race head and shoulders, leaving no chance for the competition. Starting with Ferrari, expected this season as the main rival of the overpowered Red Bull but which, on the Sakhir track, did not chase away its bad demons… Due to a mechanical problem, like those which had prevented it from compete with Red Bull last season, vice-world champion Charles Leclerc had to retire in the last third of the race. “There was no more power, it’s a shame, because it’s really in these weekends that we have to maximize the points”, regretted the driver in statements to Canal, while a third place on the podium seemed to be promised to him. Last year, on this same circuit, Max Verstappen, then second behind Leclerc and Ferrari, suffered the same fate due to a technical problem at the end of the GP.
“Mad Max” won for the first time in his career in Bahrain. It is also the first time that he has won the first round of the season in F1. “I saw early on that we had the pace, I was able to build the gap from the start and manage it for the rest of the race,” explained the Dutchman. “It feels good to finally win in Bahrain. However, Ferrari managed to save the day thanks to the 4th place of Spaniard Carlos Sainz, at the foot of the podium after losing 3rd place to Alonso. Aston Martin, expected as the outsider of this season after having caused a sensation during pre-season testing, then those of the GP earlier this weekend thanks, in particular, to Alonso, places its second driver, the Canadian Lance Stroll, 6th, between the Mercedes of the British Lewis Hamilton, 5th and George Russell, 7th. “Congratulations to Lance, operated twelve days ago and now in the fight with everyone,” said Alonso on arrival. Indeed, Stroll was uncertain until the day before the GP due to a broken wrist, which incidentally caused him to miss pre-season testing at the end of February.
Things had started badly for the duo when the lights went out: fifth on the grid, Alonso barely avoided an accident with Stroll, losing two positions at the same time to the Mercedes, who started behind him on the grid. But the Spaniard managed to catch up, quickly regaining a position from Russell before struggling shortly after halfway with Hamilton for 5th place, then for 3rd position (after Leclerc’s retirement) with Sainz. “We were hoping to start ahead of them (the Mercedes) in the race, but we didn’t have the best start so had to pass them, it brought more adrenaline,” explained the grid veteran. “I hope people liked it, I liked it,” he smiled.
For Mercedes, which struggled last season, this first 2023 GP could have been a rebirth. But his cars lacked pace, as his boss Toto Wolff himself admitted: “It was one of our worst days in racing. It was not going at all, we lack rhythm […] The Aston Martins are very fast, and the Red Bull is just on another planet. Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who came up from 20th and last place on the grid for his first GP with Alpine, and Thai Alexander Albon (Williams), complete the top 10. The other Alpine , that of Esteban Ocon, threw in the towel about fifteen laps from the finish, after having accumulated no less than three penalties. “Normally we’re pretty good at everything that’s operational, so it’s a bit crazy to have had all these problems”, regretted the French driver.
