And they’re off! The 2023 season has officially begun at the Bahrain Grand Prix! While acknowledging that Red Bull has been leading the grid for the past two season, I also fully believe that every season will have insane twists and turns (and not just on the track). Starting the season with testing, Aston Martin has stood out as a podium contender since the beginning. Who saw that coming? I certainly didn’t! But it excites me for the potential of the season as we see more driver talent and incredible team strategies.
Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice
The first day on the track always fills the teams with excitement and, I imagine, some butterflies. As the teams lined up in their new paddock positions for the first time, the start of the season sunk in. The teams position in the paddock is determined by their finish in the 2022 World Constructors’ Championship (WCC). This year, Aston Martin is in the seventh section of the pit, but their plans for moving forward have been successful.
Carlos Sainz Spin Out
In the Free Practice 1 (FP1), serval events occurred including a Ferrari spin out. Despite being one of the top teams in Formula One history, Ferrari has been in a drought of championships. However, along with new team principal Fred Vasseur, the team has pronounced this as their year. Drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have been with Ferrari for several years, and both drivers participated in Friday’s free practice.
During this time, Carlos Sainz, experienced a serious of sparks and smoke following a near miss with a barrier wall. While completing a lap in free practice, Sainz was testing his medium tires when the car’s bottom connected with the track on turn nine. He was able to quickly right the car’s direction, but he immediately boxed following the incident. This has been shown as a significant issue in several teams since preseason testing. This occurs because many teams are replicating Red Bull’s low-driving cars to increase speeds. Hopefully, Ferrari is able to mend the situation to increase their chances of a second WCC podium or even a a first place finish.
The Comeback of Aston Martin
Following Ferrari’s display, Aston Martin became the talk of the paddock. In his first season with the team, two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso has garnered an incredible start to his season. The man in green is currently the oldest man on the grid at 41 years old, but he finished FP1 splitting the two Red Bulls driven by Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez and other two-time World Champion Max Verstappen.
Both Red Bull and Verstappen are the favorites for this year’s championships, but Alonso proved himself to be an obstacle in their way to the top. In Free Practice, Fernando proved his consistency by finishing with the fastest time of the second practice. Also demonstrating their abilities, Max and Checo also finished second and third, respectively.
Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying
Ferrari’s Flying Fenders
Similar to free practice, unfortunately, Ferrari experienced another car malfunction during Q1. This time, the problem was with Charles Leclerc in the number 16 car. Early in the round, Leclerc saw a projectile fling from his vehicle through his rear view mirror. He reported the sighting to his team and, while driving into the pits, a piece along his front left tire was also stripped from the car. After the engineers repaired the damage (with copious amounts of duct tape), Leclerc was able to rejoin the qualifying round and move on to the next round.
Norris vs. Sargeant
Also during Q1, a race at the back of the track ensued between McLaren and Williams. Lando Norris and rookie Logan Sargeant had remained in a tight competition for P15 and P16. In qualifying, only P15 and higher are able to make it through to the second round, so the battle was vital for both racers. With the time in Q1 winding down, Norris finished his fastest lap of the day with a time of 1:31:652.
While in the pits, him and his team watched as Logan Sargeant attempted to best this time. When he completed his final lap the two drivers had clocked the exact same time. FIA regulations count the time to the thousandth of a second, and they crossed the line with an identical finish. According to regulations, the first driver to finish is granted the higher position, so Lando Norris was able to advance to Q2.
Read: ‘Logan Sargeant: America’s Glorious Return to Formula One‘ for more on the American
Ferrari Strategy
After establishing the bottom ten positions, Q3 is completed to organize the top ten. Speaking about Charles Leclerc again, Ferrari decided to apply a new strategy in Q3. Leclerc had finished a lap within the last few minutes of the qualifying round that placed him in pole position. Rather than attempting to best his time and defend their grid position, Charles boxed and Ferrari fans watched in horror as he stepped out of the car.
Later, the team declared this as a strategic move for Leclerc to have an extra set of soft tires. However, this decision allowed both Red Bull drivers ample time to overtake Charles’ lap time, landing them both in the front row. Figuring in his previous success in Bahrain and his ability on soft tires, this strategy may have been able to pay off if an early lead could be gained.
French Finish
Another surprise coming into Sunday was the placement of the Alpine cars. Esteban Ocon had been able to make his way through all three qualifying rounds and ended in P9. In contrast, his new teammate, Pierrer Gasly, had a final lap time in Q1 that landed him in the very end of the track in P20. Since there are only 20 positions available on the grid, this was a disappointing start for Gasly and the Alpine team.
Bahrain Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri’s First F1 DNF
The grid contained three F1 rookies (plus Fernando!) at the beginning of the race. Oscar Piastri, Nyck De Vries, and Logan Sargeant. Coming into the season, Oscar has been the most highly anticipated rookie.
He is currently driving for McLaren and he previously won the Formula Renault, F3, and F2 championships in consecutive years. Making him the only driver to ever accomplish this feat. Although Oscar has proven himself as a worthy driver in the lower levels, he was unable to finish the first race of his rookie season. Due to a mechanical failure, Piastri retired the McLaren from the Bahrain Grand Prix after only 14 laps of the race.
Lando Norris’ Six Pit Stops
Keeping with the McLaren theme, Sunday was not a joyous occasion for fellow man-in-orange Lando Norris. During his rookie season, Norris was also seen as a future championship contender, and he is still regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid. Many McLaren fans were disappointed due to Lando finishing +2 laps of the race winner.
This late finish is the result of six pit stops by the young driver. To put this in context a typical race will involve a maximum of four pit stops for a single driver. Additionally, the record number of pit stops for a driver in one race is seven. That is only one more than Lando was required to complete during the race!
French Finale
One of the most impressive drives of the evening was completed by Alpine’s newest member, Pierre Gasly. As previously mentioned, Gasly began in P20, but with a series of tactful overtakes, he finished in P9. This is coincidentally the place where his teammate began the Bahrain Grand Prix.
While proud of Pierre’s race, the Alpine team also faced serious repercussions with their other driver. Esteban’s first penalty was derived from the initial placement of his car when he lined up on the grid. The stewards found that he had begun slightly outside of his denoted place, so they gave him a 5 second penalty. He went into the pits to serve this penalty and receive new tires and other services.
The requirement of the FIA is that the car is to remain untouched for the duration of the penalty. The five second penalty was mistimed, which caused the team to work .4 seconds too early. This landed the team a second penalty of 10 seconds, so he boxed again and the team accurately served his penalty before peeling off back into the race. Soon after, the race stewards determined that Ocon exceeded the allowed speed limit in the pit lane. This final penalty landed him another 5 second penalty, and these penalties, in addition to a mechanical issue, resulted in Esteban’s retirement from the race.
Charles Leclerc’s DNF in the Bahrain Grand Prix
The final share of disappointment for Ferrari fans this weekend came yet again from Charles Leclerc. After a stunning race for 40 laps, Leclerc was comfortably in third place and had the potential to challenge Sergio Perez for second. Those hopes were crushed when Charles began to slow down while going into a turn on lap 41. Over the radio, fans heard the Monegasque plea with the car saying: “No, no, no.”
Unfortunately, the car did not listen, and he lead the car off the track before getting out and returning to the Ferrari garage. The Ferrari team explained it as a power source failure. Many fans are hoping for a Charles Leclerc world championship in the coming years, so this was not the desired outcome for the first race of the season. Ferrari’s weekend was not a complete loss, though, as Carlos Sainz was able to score 12 points.
Williams
One of the happiest surprises of the race for Americans and Brits alike ame from Williams racing. Drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant finished qualifying in 15th and 16th, respectively. To the delight of fans, Alex was able to complete an amazing race, overtaking Yuki Tsunoda, Guanyu Zhou, and Nico Hulkenberg to finish in 10th place, scoring the teams first points for the season. Additionally, Sergeant moved from his beginning place of P16 all the way up to 12th.
Although he was unable to score any points, this position places him as the highest finishing rookie of the new year. His fellow rookies Oscar and Nyck finished with a DNF and 14th place. This finish seems promising for the team that was previously at the bottom of the championship.
Fernando Alonso
The final event of the Bahrain Grand Prix ended with an unexpected podium finish. Fernando Alonso began the race in P5 with hopes to maintain position or potentially move into fourth, but following the DNF of Charles Leclerc, his goals changed. The 41-year-old Spainard viewed evaluated his chances with a newfound rigor. Coming from the pits, Alonso was in sixth place, directly behind seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
During a nail biting series of turns and attempted overtakes, Alonso was able to best the Mercedes and edge away toward the next obstacle in his way to the podium: Carlos Sainz. Although he had been driving a solid race, the power of the Aston Martin was clearly demonstrated as Fernando was able to overtake Sainz on lap 46.
The race finished with Max Verstappen in the lead followed by his teammate Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso on his 99th podium in F1. The announcers noted that Fernando appeared to be celebrating the finish as a win, and the sentiment is entirely true. After jumping out of his car, he rushed to his team and lept into their open arms and congratulations. While receiving his trophy, his enthusiasm lit up the podium moreso than any of the lights.
The Bahrain Grand Prix Finish Line
The 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix saw a wide variety of successes and failures for each team, but no one can say that it was boring. Fernando Alonso was awarded the title of ‘Driver of the Day’, following his P3 finish. Max Verstappen also seemed thrilled with his latest win as he sprayed champagne on his team and fellow drivers.
I do believe that it is pertinent to mention the Bahrain curse which states that the winner of the season’s first race will ultimately finish the World Drivers’ Championship in second place. I don’t personally believe in curses, but if I did, I would fully believe that Max has the capability to end the streak. Although, I wouldn’t mind seeing a new world champion. Either way, this season will be one for the record books, so stay tuned for more content and news on the drivers and teams of F1!
