Race 01: Bahrain

Max Verstappen is inevitable.

Photo by Davor Denkovski on Unsplash

[Ed: By popular demand Abby is now the Department’s Formula 1 correspondent. Hot off the presses, here’s her take on the first race of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix.].

“Yes! Bye bye.” – Red Bull to the Rest of the Grid (probably)

The 2023 Formula 1 season kicked off in Bahrain this weekend and it comes as no surprise that Red Bull came out on top with a one-two finish (!!!). After the attention on Red Bull during testing, practice, and qualification, Max and Checo lived up to the hype in a big way. Max dominated the opening race, crossing the finish line 11.98 seconds ahead of his teammate and almost 40 seconds clear of third place finisher, Fernando Alonso. While some might say the race was boring, as a Red Bull fan I would argue it was relaxing in the best way.

With Red Bull locked into the podiums fairly early on, the excitement came from farther back on the grid in the form of two-time Driver’s Championship winner Fernando Alonso. Alonso made the switch from Alpine to Aston Martin last year in the name of “Mission 33” (formerly “El Plan”), his hunt for a 33rd first place finish. Aston Martin looked incredibly strong through testing and practice, much to everyone’s surprise given their seventh-place finish in the Constructor’s Championship last year.  Even with all the positives from pre-season testing, no one anticipated Alonso’s third place podium finish this weekend! He started fifth, with both Red Bulls and both Ferraris ahead of him. A podium finish was not a given. He was almost taken out of the race in Lap 1 by his team mate, Lance Stroll, who collided with him at Turn 4. Alonso didn’t see who hit him and his team refused to tell him who it is was in an attempt to avoid any in-fighting.  After the Lap 1 incident, he spent the rest of the race overtaking George Russell (Mercedes), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) for his third-place finish in his debut race with Aston Martin.

In addition to the overtakes, Alonso’s commentary throughout the race was incredibly entertaining and it’s clear he is having the best time in this new car. [Exhibit 1 – Alonso overtakes Carlos Sainz with a cheeky “Yes! Bye bye.”; Exhibit 2 – Alonso complimenting the “lovely” car after his Sainz overtake.]

A few drivers who had less than “lovely” starts to their seasons are Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lando Norris (McLaren), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), and Esteban Ocon (Alpine).  

Leclerc was headed smoothly toward a third-place podium finish when his engine failed on Lap 41/57. After last season’s many Ferrari mishaps in the form of reliability issues and poor strategy calls, which very likely cost Leclerc the Championship or at least a better shot at it, I can’t imagine how frustrating it was to start the season with a DNF and no points. A driver is only as good as his car and although Leclerc has the makings of a Champion, he won’t get there without a team that can deliver both on and off the track during race weekends.  That being said, Red Bull ended the first race of the 2022 season with a double DNF and came back to win the Constructor’s Championship, so not all hope is lost.  For Leclerc’s sake, I hope Ferrari can pull their act together quickly.

Both McLaren drivers struggled in Bahrain, to say the least. Oscar Piastri failed to finish in his F1 debut after he was forced to retire in Lap 17 due to a gear-box issue.  There was a lot of chatter about Piastri going into this season because of his “shock” switch from Alpine to McLaren which I briefly touched on in my article reviewing Drive to Survive (Season Five).  All signs point to him being an incredibly successful F1 driver.  However, like the issues Leclerc is experiencing already this season with Ferrari, McLaren needs to step up and provide a car that can at least finish a race. Otherwise Piastri can’t succeed and they will lose him to a more reliable team.  

McLaren failed Lando Norris as well.  Norris ended the race dead last and a pneumatic pressure leak forced him to pit SIX times (the standard is 1-3 times depending on the circuit).  Norris, ever the optimist, said the race was “good pitstop practice for the mechanics.” (Read – I have to joke about this or I will cry.) It’s the first race of the season, with 23 still to go so McLaren has a lot of time to turn things around in a way that will keep their drivers from high-tailing it out of there at the end of their contracts. 

Esteban Ocon of Alpine had a comically disastrous race, enduring a slew of penalties and retiring on Lap 43 to end the race with a DNF. Ocon received a five-second penalty for lining up out of position on the starting grid.  After he went into the pits to change tires, he was given a 10-second penalty for failing to serve his first penalty correctly. When a driver serves a time penalty in the pits, the team can’t touch the car until after the penalty has elapsed; here, the Alpine mechanics started working on Ocon’s car prior to the penalty elapsing thus incurring another penalty. To make matters worse, Ocon received a THIRD penalty later for speeding in the pit lane. “Embarrassing” doesn’t even cover it.

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished out the weekend with fifth and seventh place finishes respectively. I was surprised to see Russell finish behind his teammate given the pace he had in practice and qualifying.  Mercedes still have a lot of work to do to run a competitive car. I am looking forward to the inevitable battle between Russell (the youngster) and Hamilton (the veteran) this season while Russell chases another win and Hamilton chases an eighth world title.

The dark horse for me this race was Williams’ tenth place finish with Alex Albon who earned one point in the Driver’s and Constructor’s Championships.  Williams is famously unimpressive - last year, driver Nicholas Latifi was dead last on the grid for most of the 23 races. For a team like Williams, that tenth place finish is an exciting start to the 2023 season.  Williams’ second driver Logan Sargeant, the only American driver on the grid, finished twelfth in his F1 debut, beating out the other rookies Nick de Vries (14th) and Oscar Piastri (DNF).  While not an overwhelmingly impressive start compared to other teams, I am so used to seeing the Williams drivers in the last two spots that I was pleasantly surprised to see them start this season a little closer to the mid-field.

That’s all I have for this week!  I’m looking forward to the next race in Saudi Arabia on March 19, 2023, and counting on Max to be up on that first-place podium again.  Anyone else know the Dutch and Austrian national anthems by heart now after hearing it so many times last year?  Just me?  K.

Here are links to the full qualifying and race results so you can check out how your favorite driver did in Bahrain.