Max Verstappen Wins 2023 Bahrain GP, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso Finishes Third

Well, certainly, he started promising, with a win in the first race of the season at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain. In the end, it was a bit of a surprise that the Bulls were so dominant. They had struggled more than expected in practice, with both drivers complaining about the balance of the RB19. But under the lights, that car came alive and helped by some interesting strategic choices by their rivals, Verstappen and Perez were able to lock out that front row in the qualifying sessions.

Verstappen jumped away quickly ahead of everybody at the start, while his teammate Sergio Perez also had a decent start. However, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc had a better reaction to the green lights. Perez and Leclerc were side by side and touched a little. The Mexican driver had to duck out of it, dropping to the third right ahead of the other Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz.

Lance Stroll was really struggling at the beginning of the race with those hand injuries after his cycling incident. Besides, he came too hard into Turn 4 in Lap 2 and clipped his teammate Fernando Alonso. Minutes later, a minor contact between Hulkenberg and Ocon made the German driver come into the pits and change the front wing.

For the next couple of laps, Verstappen kept on gaining and gaining time over Charles Leclerc, who had to be careful because Sergio Perez was right in his gearbox. Some laps later, the first race for rookie driver Oscar Piastri ended up horribly with some steering problem. He stopped his car in the pits, and the Australian driver completed only 14 laps in his debut race. Meanwhile, his teammate Lando Norris has a horrible race.

After the first round of pit stops, Max Verstappen kept his lead, and Leclerc kept his second place over the undercut move made by Perez. Sainz was in fourth, right ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, and George Russell. Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon had probably the worst racing day/night of his life, with a lot of time penalties being thrown at him for various reasons.

On Lap 26 out of 57, Perez closed the gap to Leclerc, and he tried a move down into Turn 1. On the inside, he nips through. At the same time, Charles Leclerc attempted to come back at him through Turns 2 and 3, but Perez had too much pace on the corner exit and pulled away. Three laps later, Lando Norris came into the pits for the third time in this race for medium tires and a top-up to his engine's pneumatic system.

After the middle point of the race, the Aston Martin cars were going incredibly. Lance Stroll came like a hurricane over George Russell, overtaking him quite easily before Turn 4. Meanwhile, some laps later, we had a vintage duel between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, a fight that unfolded for two or three laps, finalized with an incredible move by the new Aston Martin driver.

On Lap 41, disaster struck because it seemed like the Ferrari problems from last year came up, haunting them again. Charles Leclerc pulls over out on track screaming on the radio that he has no power. We must remember that the Italian team changed two parts of the power unit before the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Three laps later, an incredible Fernando Alonso, who drove like a youngster hungry for a world championship, caught up with Carlos Sainz, who at that moment was in the last podium place. The two Spanish drivers touched a little bit at the exit of Turn 4, but moments later, Fernando made a move on Carlos. The Aston Martin cars are going incredible at the start of this season. As Alonso said, it is a lovely car to drive, something he didn't mention for a long time. Remember the GP2 engine, Fernando?

With nine laps to go, Lando Norris entered the pits for the fifth time in this race for another power unit air supply top-up. McLaren had an even worse start to the season than last year. At this time, Carlos Sainz was complaining about some serious bouncing. He was holding for his life onto fourth, with only Lewis Hamilton still in the DRS range behind. Further back, Stroll was in P6, Russell P7. We had Bottas, Gasly, and Alexander Albon from Williams to top up the top ten.

With three laps to go, Nico Hulkenberg had a time penalty, but it didn't matter because he was down in P16, so it was hardly life-altering. His race unraveled at the start, with contact on the initial lap dropping him down the order and costing him lap time thanks to the resultant damage. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll struggled a lot at the end - perhaps starting to feel his injuries.

Until the end of the race, nothing special happened. The world champion picked it up from where he left off in Abu Dhabi, winning another race, his 35th career victory. His teammate Sergio Perez came in second, with a one-two for Red Bull at the start of the 2023 Formula 1 season. However, the best part for everybody was the fact that Fernando Alonso came in third place, taking his 99th career podium. As a surprise, Zhou Guanyu took the fastest lap of the race. Carlos Sainz came in P4, while Lewis Hamilton finished in the top five.

Down below, you have the full standings and don't forget that we will have the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in two weeks.

• 1 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing
• 2 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing
• 3 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin
• 4 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari
• 5 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes
• 6 Lance STROLL Aston Martin
• 7 George RUSSELL Mercedes
• 8 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo
• 9 Pierre GASLY Alpine
• 10 Alexander ALBON Williams
• 11 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri
• 12 Logan SARGEANT Williams
• 13 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team
• 14 Nyck DE VRIES AlphaTauri
• 15 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team
• 16 Guanyu ZHOU Alfa Romeo
• 17 Lando NORRIS McLaren
• 18 Esteban OCON Alpine
• 19 Charles LECLERC Ferrari
• 20 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren