Bahrain

Max Verstappen won, but Fernando Alonso was the star of the first race of the F1 season in Bahrain.

I loved every second of it, I loved the on-track battles. Bahrain has always been unkind to McLaren and it's hard to imagine the team being that bad all season. [Charles Leclerc](http://www.espn.com/rpm/driver?seriesId=6&driverId=5498) never looked close to challenging either Red Bull but was comfortably third until his car ground to a halt 40 laps from the finish. Alonso has been very complimentary of Stroll since joining -- saying the Canadian, who is yet to win an F1 race, is a future world champion -- and he continued that after the race despite their near-miss. "Obviously there was quite a lot of work on that but we need to keep working as first race and first reliability problem... Alonso and Aston Martin might not be capable of winning races on outright pace, but this is the best car the Spaniard has had in almost a decade. Hamilton deserves credit for a great undercut which saw him keep the position at Turn 4, but the pace of the Aston Martin was clear to see. However, it was difficult not to think this year will be more of the same old Ferrari given how its opener unfolded. "We were very strong in testing, strong in free practice and strong in the race. The pair also collided in Belgium last year, after which Alonso suggested that Hamilton only knows how to race when he's in the lead. "I think the last few occasions I was competitive, like Canada last year, it was a wet qualifying ... Alonso's podium on his Aston Martin debut not only showed the excitement around the team's car was justified (if not slightly overblown at points this week), but has also seen one of the most talented drivers of the modern Formula One era propelled back into a competitive position.

What does a superficial glance at Saturday's speed trap readings from qualifying tell us about this year's contenders?

Assuming that Red Bull will be out of reach this evening, we expect Ferrari and Aston Martin to provide the entertainment, with hopefully a guest appearance by Mercedes. But while the Scuderia has improved its top speed, Red Bull is still very much a force to be reckoned with on the straights, with Sergio Perez slotting his RB19 between the two red cars. For starters, it's a fact that Ferrari has boosted its maximum velocity down the straights compared to last year and relative to its nemesis Red Bull.

Max Verstappen using F1 as his personal play-thing, Sergio Perez slightly behind, Mercedes in trouble and Ferrari suffering reliability problems in the race. At ...

It just adds to the gloom at Woking after a poor pre-season hampered by mechanical problems with the wheel brows and an underdeveloped concept. On a positive note, our race pace and performance was good." "Finishing on the podium in the first race of the year is just amazing. It hurts that they are so far ahead; it reminds me of our best years where we put one second on everyone else." It was not good at all; we are lacking pace front, right, and centre. Obviously, there was quite a lot of work done on that [over the winter], but we need to keep working because first race and first reliability problems [is] not good." "That was one of our worst days in racing. The Mercedes era is firmly over and it isn't coming back anytime soon. Yes there are 22 races and six Sprints still to go, but even at this stage, many will believe that Max Verstappen has one hand on the title. Ferrari need to do the basics if they want to beat Verstappen – they could start by finishing. He's now just five wins behind Ayrton Senna and fifth in the all-time wins list. At least there wasn't a strategic faux pas from the Scuderia.

It was a one-two finish for Red Bull Racing in the 2023 Formula One World Championship's season opener.

Following the past weekend's action, Verstappen leads the 2023 Drivers' Championship with 25 points. While Piastri had to retire on lap 14 after his McLaren failed to start following a steering wheel change, de Vries drove a solid race to finish 14th in his AlphaTauri. There was trouble for Leclerc, though. The double world champion finished approximately 38 seconds behind the winner. Behind them, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll came into contact with Alonso while entering Turn 4, which allowed Mercedes-Benz AMG's Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to get ahead. Red Bull locked out the front row of the starting grid, with Verstappen on pole and quicker than his teammate off the line when the lights turned green.