Bahrain GP

It's been a long three months of winter, but the Formula One offseason is over and racing is back for 2023. We're kicking things off with the Bahrain Grand ...

The team finished seventh in the championship last year, and didn’t finish a race higher than sixth. Drivers are able to go full throttle for 63.34% of the lap. Even after leading the second free practice session on Friday, Alonso said he was not thinking of seriously challenging for pole. When his race engineer radioed him to compromise one turn for a better line in the next, Stroll said, “I can’t man, I can’t. The leaderboard is reset again, with the final classification at the end of the session forming the grid from first (that's pole) to 10th. Aston Martin's two drivers have been the talk of the paddock in Bahrain, though for rather different reasons. The leaderboard is reset for Q2, which will give the drivers 15 minutes to set fresh lap times. He called it “a big gap” to the leading teams, and said Red Bull was one second per lap faster in the long runs than Mercedes. “We’re a long way off the guys in the front,” he added. It's been a long three months of winter, but the Formula One offseason is over and racing is back for 2023. Although both teams feel they have cured some of the big weaknesses of their cars from last year, neither appears to have taken the kind of step to really challenge Red Bull right now. “But we can be in the mix.”

SportsLine's model analyzes Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the field's chances at the F1 Bahrain GP 2023 race.

Perez has the third-shortest odds to win the race, but the model prefers going in another direction with 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix bets. Perez is likely going to regress this year, and the Bahrain Grand Prix has not been his best event. Some of the other 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix contenders include Sergio Perez (13-2) and Carlos Sainz (18-1). Before analyzing the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix starting grid and making any Formula 1 picks, Max Verstappen is the -133 favorite (risk $133 to win $100) in the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix odds at Caesars Sportsbook, while Fernando Alonso is 9-2. The long winter break will finally come to an end when the Formula 1 World Championship returns Sunday with the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix at 10 a.m.

Red Bull's Max verstappen and Sergio Perez delivered the perfect 1-2 result to open their 2023 campaign, with Fernando Alonso third.

The Spaniard was complaining about his car bouncing, but he was still just about able to stay ahead of Hamilton who was on slightly older tyres. But what goes around comes around, and this year it was Leclerc's turn to suffer a technical failure: "No power, no power, no power," he yelled over the team radio as the car came to a halt on lap 40, triggering a brief Virtual Safety Car for the SF-23 to be retrieved. Williams and Haas used the VSC opportunity for a cheeky free pit stop for their drivers, while Tsunoda was able to pass his team mate de Vries as the rookie was distracted trying to find his way past Zhou. Behind them Stroll was looking secure in seventh ahead of Russell followed by Bottas, Albon, Gasly, Tsunoda, Sargeant, de Vries, Zhou and Magnussen who had got ahead of Haas team mate Hulkenberg, with Ocon and Norris now a lap off the lead with their respective recurring penalty and pneumatic issues respectively. Perez finally pitted on lap 18 and like Verstappen and Albon he opted to stay on the softs. Then it was Sainz and Russell's turn for service next time around, and Stroll did indeed pull off the undercut on Russell that Mercedes had worried about Alonso performing on Hamilton. Everyone had swapped soft tyres for the hard compound, with the exception of Verstappen and Albon who had stayed on the softs for a second stint. Meanwhile Hamilton had made his own pit stop and moved from the soft tyres to the hard, as had Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Nico Hulkenberg and Nyck de Vries. Behind them, Alonso and Hamilton went side-by-side and the spoils went to Hamilton as Lance Stroll ran hot into turn 4 and hit his team mate, allowing Russell to claim sixth. Stroll made up for his earlier misdemeanour with a nice move on Bottas into turn 1 on lap 5 for eighth place, while further back Norris succeeded in picking off Sargeant for 12th. Four laps into the race, Verstappen had already pulled out a three second lead over Leclerc who was pushing hard and locking up. Everyone (bar Kevin Magnussen starting in P17 on the hard compound) was starting on soft tyres for the first stint.

Max Verstappen eased to a dominant win at the Bahrain GP as Red Bull left their competition behind to start the 2023 Formula 1 season, while Fernando Alonso ...

For Ferrari, all appeared to be going to plan - running comfortably in third and fourth - before Leclerc, who had his engine battery replaced before the race, ground to a halt on Lap 40. The race coming the day after team boss Toto Wolff remarkably admitted that the car concept would have to be changed for Mercedes to compeitiive again, Hamilton and Russell were only really in the fight after Aston Martin's scruffy start and couldn't keep the green cars at bay in the race. Again, it was a feisty battle - and there was a slight touch after a scrap through Turn Four - but Alonso again dazzled through the twisty middle sector before getting ahead of Sainz on the straight. Mercedes capitalised to get ahead of Aston Martin after Alonso and Stroll's first-lap scuffles but the double world champion got ahead of Russell on Lap 13, and then superbly hunted down Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas was 'best of the rest' for Alfa Romeo ahead of Pierre Gasly in the Alpine and the impressive Alex Albon for Williams. In the end, Hamilton and Russell had to settle for fifth and seventh in their underperforming W14 cars.

Max Verstappen dominated Formula 1's 2023 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix to win ahead of Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, while Charles Leclerc lost a ...

[PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/why-grounded-hamilton-remains-confident-in-mercedes-f1-recovery/10437037/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/the-key-factors-behind-f1s-premier-league-style-managerial-revolving-door/10437387/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/the-rookies-looking-to-make-their-mark-on-f1-in-2023/10437782/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/how-f1s-comeback-merchant-can-make-a-lasting-impression-at-haas/10439418/) [Lando Norris](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/lando-norris/289316/) stopped five times due to a pneumatic pressure problem on his McLaren before he retired late on, as was [Esteban Ocon](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/esteban-ocon/19624/) after he picked up three penalties – for being out of position in his grid box, [Alpine](https://www.motorsport.com/team/alpine/24858/) working on his car before he finished serving his five-second penalty at his first stop and the speeding in the pitlane. [PrimePrimeFormula 1Bahrain GP ](/f1/news/why-f1s-new-rules-cant-yet-be-ruled-a-total-success/10440016/)

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.

Defending champion Verstappen and team look unbeatable after opening-race romp in Bahrain.

But then we come to the race and we are a second a lap off the pace which is huge, so we need to work on that and the reliability.” Alex Albon resisted Yuki Tsunoda to round out the top 10, bagging a point, while Sargeant spent much of the race within sight of the pair. It’s impossible to look at the positives on a day like this when you don’t end the race.” “We are lacking performance and we are a long behind where we want to be,” conceded Russell. He eventually retired, though Pierre Gasly rose from last on the starting grid to ninth on his Alpine debut. The aim in 2023 was getting the mix in the midfield, leading that midfield and getting close to the top three teams. Leclerc was asked about the lack of race pace and merely responded: “Performance. Aston Martin was expected to front the midfield group but on race day the AMR23 was the second-fastest package. In both of those years it went on to annihilate the opposition and seal both titles with professional ease. “I’m happy to pick up six [points] considering everything that happened over the last two weeks,” said Stroll. Leclerc continued that he is “as confident as I can be being second off the pace which is not really confident to be honest. Verstappen got his lead up to around 10 seconds and merely maintained that comfortable buffer, while slow-starting Sergio Perez eventually overhauled Leclerc to make it a 1-2 for the reigning champions.

Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship, leading a Red Bull 1-2 ahead of a sensational ...

[PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/the-key-factors-behind-f1s-premier-league-style-managerial-revolving-door/10437387/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/the-rookies-looking-to-make-their-mark-on-f1-in-2023/10437782/) [PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/how-f1s-comeback-merchant-can-make-a-lasting-impression-at-haas/10439418/) The FIA decreed that he didn’t serve that penalty correctly and gave him another 10s one for his next pitstop, and then yet another 5s one for speeding in the pitlane, and he later retired. Alonso now set his sights on the podium, quickly carving into Sainz’s 3s advantage, and zoomed past him at Turn 11 after an entertaining wheel-to-wheel fight. Two laps later, Alonso shocked Hamilton with an unexpected lunge at Turn 10 that gained him fifth spot. Perez was a distant second, but well clear of Leclerc and Sainz. Contact occurred at Turn 4 as [Lance Stroll](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/lance-stroll/20950/) clumsily biffed the rear end of Aston team-mate Alonso, sending him sideways, which allowed [George Russell](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/george-russell/21167/)’s Mercedes past both into sixth. In the second round of pitstops, Aston tried an undercut for Stroll, which worked out perfectly as he passed Russell for seventh at Turn 4 on his out-lap. But Leclerc’s Ferrari ground to a halt on lap 41 with an engine problem, promoting Ferrari team-mate [Carlos Sainz](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/carlos-sainz/15916/) to third. Perez then pitted, taking softs like Verstappen, and rejoined 3s behind Leclerc in third. Hamilton pitted on lap 13 as Alonso attacked Russell, the Spaniard taking fifth through the Turns 4 to 6 sequence.