Ryan Boulanger, Reporter
@RyanBCourant
The curtain of dusk falls upon the desert, ushering in the 73rd season of Formula One. New cars, new drivers, and new team management glitter across the 20-seat grid. Fans from everywhere around the world have been waiting 17 weeks for Crofty to faithfully deliver his iconic line.
After a week filled with testing, free practice, and qualifying the grid is set for the start of the race. Red Bull decks the first row, with Max starting on the pole. Ferrari sits in 3rd and 4th, with a newly invigorated Fernando Alonso starting from 5th. McLaren hasn’t had the best outing so far; with premiere driver Norris sitting in 11th, and the highly-anticipated rookie Oscar Piastri heading into the race in 18th. Gasly will start in last place on his debut with the all-french Alpine. Due to the conservation of a fresh set of soft tires, the Ferraris will start the race with a slight advantage in grip over the two Red Bulls.
It lights out and away we go! Let’s dive into the action from the race. Max got off the line well, quickly putting a second and a half in between him and Leclerc, who passed Perez before the first turn. The first few laps of the race are somewhat uneventful; Max slowly pulls away from Leclerc and Perez, the latter quickly closing the two-second gap between the rival cars. Sainz continued to hold on to fourth, with Alonso quick on his tail. Gasly has slowly moved up the ranks and will be greatly aided by a safety car later in the race.
McLaren’s troubles have only started to begin, with the team calling in the ailing rookie for a steering wheel change. It appears that his car has some sort of electrical issue, confirmed by Zak Brown in an interview with Crofty. Piastri gets the steering wheel changed, but his car won’t start again. He’s stuck in the pits, and the young rookie ends his debut race with a night to forget.
As the lap count starts to tick away towards the finish, battles between the Mercedes and Aston Martin cars keep the crowd distracted from the 30+ second lead Verstappen has built up over the rest of the field after a successful overcut by Red Bull. Perez has passed a bleeding Leclerc, and Alonso is nearing 4th. Stroll, remarkably returning from a bicycle accident only a few days earlier, has entered the battle for 6th with Hamilton and Russell. Gasly is now nearing the points, and Williams, Haas, AlphaTauri, and Alfa Romeo are left struggling in the back half of the grid as Max begins to lap them. Ocon has collected three penalties already, leaving him far behind his new teammate.
Just as I had begun to settle with the idea of a Charles podium, the young Ferrari driver’s car makes a sputtering noise and slows down. Leclerc pulls off the track and slows to a stop. Race control issues a virtual safety car, bringing Gasly closer to the points. Just as I thought Ferrari’s night couldn’t get worse, Sainz starts to complain over the radio about his tires. He tells his engineer he doesn’t think he can finish the race if he has to keep defending Alonso’s attacks. Alonso managed to pass Sainz only after an exciting duel between Alonso and Hamilton, both former teammates at McLaren 15+ years prior. The 41-year-old cruised past Sainz to his 99th podium finish.
“This is a lovely car to drive.”
– FERNANDO ALONSO, Over team radio
Top 5 Finishers:
- Verstappen
- Perez
- Alonso
- Sainz
- Hamilton
My takeaways:
- Aston Martin looks like a whole new team
Besides the obviously heartwarming podium for Alonso, Lance Stroll managed to finish in p6 after suffering multiple injuries to his foot and both wrists in a bicycle accident only 13 days prior. The new car looks to be one of the fastest on the grid, drawing the eyes of the F1 world to newly signed engineer Dan Fallows, who worked for years under Adrian Newey at Red Bull. Fans will watch this season in anticipation as Aston Martin fights for a position at the top of the field.
- Ferrari needs some work
After a DNF in the first race of the season for the young Monegasque driver due to an engine failure along with a disappointing p4 finish for Sainz Ferrari is not looking too quick after this weekend. They’ll need to step up their game in order to catch the dominant Red Bulls, however, new team principal Frederic Vassuer remains optimistic in the wake of an upsetting opening to the season. Ferrari has already used the maximum amount of engines allotted for the season, and will face a grid penalty should they have to replace it again. Hopefully the Bahrain curse will kick in (fingers crossed).
- Hamilton will have to fight for an 8th championship
Red Bull looks too good this year. After leaving more than 30 seconds between himself and his teammate, also 2nd place finisher Verstappen is looking to take this season by storm. The W14 already is looking slower than the AMR 23, and Hamilton only managed to fight for a disappointing p5 finish. It’s only the first race of the season, but if the silver arrows (now black again for this year) are going to take advantage of their straight-line speed, Bahrain was the perfect track to put that to the test. Hamilton recently spoke out on his frustration pertaining to how the team handled his feedback on the new car. Not all hope is lost, however, even after his career worst finish at Bahrain, but the road ahead will be rocky.
Link to results:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1141/bahrain/race-result.html
Stay tuned for Saudi Arabia next week!
Lewis Hamilton > Charles Leclerc