2023 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix Preview: Will Red Bull Racing Dominate This Year Too?

If you think about it, it feels like F1 is headed for a new Golden Era. Fans will agree that the sport has evolved to a whole new level since Liberty Media took over. Bernie Ecclestone might not feel the same way, but then again, what else would you expect to hear from someone who used to run the show for so many years? Drivers and teams have recently had some complaints regarding the total number of races. And there have also been some other management conflicts, like the one we saw in 2021 involving Michael Massi.

F1 is a multi-billion dollar industry. And you don't get to that level without overcoming several crises. The "Drive to Survive" reveals some of the drama that goes on behind the scenes. And if you'd seen any episodes of it, you would have realized that anyone who's working in the industry is still a human being at the end of the day. But without further ado, let's review some of the historic battles fought on the Bahrain International Circuit.

Race History

This event has been on the F1 calendar since 2004. In case you need a reminder of how different things were back then, Michael Schumacher was still driving for Ferrari. And it just so happens that he won the inaugural Bahrain GP, with Rubens Barichello taking P2 and Jenson Button finishing third overall. Schumacher won his last F1 title that year, while Scuderia would go on to score two more Championships, in 2007 and 2008.

Driving for Renault, Fernando Alonso followed suit and won two consecutive races in the Middle East. He scored a third and final victory there in 2010. So he's the third most successful F1 driver to have ever raced in Bahrain. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel is second overall on that list, with four victories, while Lewis Hamilton is the top driver, with five wins. After 18 Bahrain GPs, only eight drivers have ever climbed to the highest point of the podium there.

And you might be shocked to know that Max Verstappen is not one of them. Red Bull Racing hasn't won the Bahrain GP since 2013, and it's tied with Renault with two repeat wins at the Middle Eastern circuit. Mercedes is just one victory behind Ferrari, which is still the all-time greatest constructor to have raced in Bahrain, with seven victories so far. That's something George Russell might be able to change, though, wouldn't you agree?

Before moving on to a brief race track analysis, let's remember how the event went down in 2022. Pierre Gasly was the fastest driver in FP1, but both Ferrari drivers were hot on his tail. Max Verstappen set the pace in FP2, while Leclerc and Sainz were still fixed on P2 and P3. And FP3 had a similar outcome, albeit Perez was now in third and Sainz down in fifth. Ferrari had a pretty good start to the season, with Leclerc claiming his first of many Pole Position finishes.

Perez and Verstappen were eager to have a say in that. But they were both plagued with technical difficulties, which led to a shocking DNF for the Milton Keynes-based team. Charles Leclerc won the race and Carlos Sainz took P2, which was nothing short of an ecstatic outcome for the Tifosi. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were the next two drivers to cross the finish line, which foretold the epic battles still to be fought between the two teams.

Race Track

Speaking about the Bahrain Internation Circuit, it was the first race track in the Middle East that held an F1 Grand Prix back in the day. It's 3.362 miles (5.412 km) long, and drivers will have to race for 57 laps on Sunday before a winner is crowned. That makes for a total race distance of 191.53 miles (308.238 km), at an average speed of about 130 mph (209 kph) or more.

In a rather strange twist of events, the lap record seems to date back to the V10 era! Pedro de la Rosa was racing with Mclaren-Mercedes at the time, and he set a race lap record of 1:31.447. By comparison, Leclerc set the fastest lap race year with a time of 1:34.570. We'll include an onboard video of a virtual lap around the circuit so that you can get a better understanding of the corners, speeds, and braking zones.

Season Testing Analysis

You could try to make some predictions about the 2023 season by looking at the first test session of the year in Bahrain. But then again, drivers might have deliberately gone slower than they could have to hide their true potential. Max Verstappen was the fastest man on Day 1, beating Fernando Alonso by 0.029 seconds. He was also the most diligent driver of the day, having completed a total of 157 laps. We guess that's a requirement given their Wind Tunnel-related penalty. As Lance Stroll was unable to show up for testing due to an injury, there were only 19 drivers out on the track that first day. And the gap between P1 and P19 was of just 2.250 seconds.

Three drivers drove for more than 100 laps on Day 2. Zhou Guanyu was one of them, and he somehow managed to outpace Max Verstappen by 0.040 seconds in the battle for the top spot on the list. Fernando Alonso also pushed hard and was now down in P3. Logan Sargeant wanted to show everyone that he is more than worthy of a seat in F1, and he finished seventh overall after 154 laps. Sergio Perez took top honors on Day 3 of testing and was part of a select group of drivers to dip below the one-minute and 31 seconds per lap mark for the first time this year. The other two were Lewis Hamilton and his former teammate Valtteri Bottas, both of which were faster than Leclerc and Sainz in P4 and P5.

Things are getting heated up in Bahrain. Lance Stroll has recovered from his injury, so all of the 20 contenders will proceed with FP1 and FP2 on Friday. Meanwhile, FP3 and Qualifying will happen on Saturday. But the moment we're all waiting for is set to take place on Sunday, starting at 6 PM local time. That's 7 am PT for you or 10 am if you happen to live on the East Coast.

Right now, we would bet on either Max Verstappen or Charles Leclerc. But you can't ignore Hamilton's experience on this track, nor Russell's brilliant talent at that. So we'll just have to wait and see how things move along for the next two days first. Some things are certain, though, Ferrari fans are desperate to see their favorites win a championship once again. And if Hamilton doesn't score any victories this year, it might be his last season in F1. Meanwhile, some fans are hoping that Fernando Alonso will take the win in Bahrain, in anticipation of a potential retirement announcement later in 2024.