F1 is back and the season kicked off in Bahrain. Despite there being a lot of drama off track, there wasn’t a lot going on on the track. Max Verstappen certainly picked up from where he left off and started the race with a head start on Charles Leclerc. For some fans the race was already over from that point, however despite Max dominating the race and securing another victory for Red Bull, there was still some moments that were worth talking about between the other drivers. Sergio Perez qualified in fifth and managed to pass his way through the grid finishing 22 seconds behind team mate Max in a Red Bull one-two.
Although we didn’t see many A-Z plans in Ferrari (it is only the first race!) we did see a struggling Charles Leclerc with his breaks and despite a handful of lockups, he did manage to finish in a respectable fourth place after passing George Russel in the final stages. Carlos Sainz on the other hand had a very strong race from start to finish, and overtaking his team mate twice with the first nearly resulting contacting between the two of them. Carlos gained third place and proved very much how he still deserves a place on someones team.
Unfortunately for George, despite qualifying in third and pitting before Perez in the first round of pit stops, he was eventually overtaken on lap 14 at the exit of turn four by the Mexican. In the second half of the race, things didn’t get much better for George as his car suffered with overheating. This issue led George having to drop the pace in which helped Leclerc to close in on him and the final nail in the coffin, Russel outbreaked himself on turn ten gifting Leclerc fourth position. Lewis managed to finish two places higher than where he was on the starting grid, with undercutting ahead of Piastri and passing Alonso despite suffering with a broken seat. Not the outcome I imagine Mercedes would have wanted.
Moving onto McLaren there wasn’t much movement at all in regards to grid positions throughout the race. Lando Norris managed to hold off Lewis and achieved sixth, only gaining one place from where he started on the grid at seventh. As for Piastri not the race I imagined he would have wanted, however still achieving points with finishing in eighth. Hopefully it will be a better race for them in Jeddah.
Completing the top ten we have Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Lance had an unfortunate start to the race when his car spun after making contact with Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas. He did manage to pull this back though by gaining the last spot in finishing tenth and being awarded the final points that were up for grabs. There was a questionably late pit stop for Alonso when it came to him receiving his last lot of hards, at one point he was in sixth place but ended up finishing in ninth. An avoidable mistake, in my opinion.
Although I thought the car looked good on track, Kick Sauber seemed to fade into the background of this race. Zhou Guanyu took the challenge of starting from near the back of the grid and drove to his strengths, with finishing 6 places higher than he qualified. Valtteri Bottas however thought it was bumper cars and ended up going into the back of Nico’s Haas. Struggling to fight his way through the field, he finished in a saddening nineteenth. It’s early days but I predict this could be Bottas’s last season.
Speaking of Haas, Kevin Magnussen did Kevin Magnussen things and I personally think got lucky with finishing in twelfth place. I know, I’m as surprised as you all. Moving on to Nico, quicker than the man himself because he got off the grid well.. slowly. So slow, bumper car Bottas hit him up the backside and Nico had to pit for a new nose leading him to rejoining last. He didn’t do a bad job though and managed to bag himself 16th place, although he probably has Williams to thank for that!
We then come to the squabbling Racing Bulls. We had some late drama with a few laps to go between the two of them. As much as I do really like Daniel Ricciardo, I think I’m with Yuki Tsunoda on this one as I feel he had more of a chance on getting past Kevin, however it’s not like they were fighting for points. I feel if the team wanted them both to switch, it should have been done earlier than leaving it that late in to the race. What I don’t agree with is how Yuki behaved afterwards and agree with Danny Ric that there was a level of immaturity there. Hopefully they can put it behind them for Jeddah this weekend.
Logan Sargeant was looking to have a decent race in his Williams however he went off at turn four. After those of us were watching eagle eyed at whether we might finally get a little action and the race be flagged, Logan managed to rejoin in last, where he remained throughout the rest of the race. His steering wheel was later changed after identifying a problem. I actually do route for this guy and I hope he can prove himself this season. Surprisingly, Alex Albon didn’t have the most memorable race with finishing in fifteenth.
Last but not least, actually nearly last, is the Alpine. I honestly don’t know what is going on with the French team at the moment but Otmar Szafnauer must be laughing right now. They just look so slow, and only by judging this first race, they are going to need some serious luck if they want to finish high in the constructors championship this season.
Here are the race results for Bahrain:
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 57 | 1:31:44.742 | 26 |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 57 | +22.457s | 18 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 57 | +25.110s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 57 | +39.669s | 12 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 57 | +46.788s | 10 |
| 6 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 57 | +48.458s | 8 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 57 | +50.324s | 6 |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 57 | +56.082s | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 57 | +74.887s | 2 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 57 | +93.216s | 1 |
| 11 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 18 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 56 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 20 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 55 | +2 laps | 0 |
Who do you predict will finish in the top 3 for Jeddah?
Amy x
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