THE 2023 Formula One season gets underway TODAY with the Bahrain Grand Prix – Max Verstappen leads after 16 laps, with Charles Leclerc trailing. Verstappen’s lead is growing with a huge 11-second gap.
Early contact has affected Fernando Alonso who has dropped down to seventh place but is putting pressure on George Russell.
Lewis Hamilton has jumped up from seventh to fifth, while Sergio Perez drops to third.
Start time: 3pm UK/10am ET
TV channel: Sky Sports F1
Live stream: Now
Grid: Verstappen (Red Bull), Perez (Red Bull), Leclerc (Ferrari), Sainz (Ferrari), Alonso (Aston Martin), Russell (Mercedes), Hamilton (Mercedes).
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Stay up to date with all the latest from today’s opening Grand Prix…
Lap 17/57 – Piastri out of race
Oscar Piastri looks devastated as his race is over.
The electrical issues could not be resolved and his car is being rolled back into the garages.
Meanwhile, Perez having not pitted yet leads with a 9.9 second lead on Verstappen in second place.
It seems Perez is looking to build a lead on Leclerc before heading to the pits himself.
Lap 15/57 – Ferrari perfects double pit
The distance Sainz was behind Leclerc worked perfectly there.
As Leclerc came into the pits with a quick change, as soon as he leaves the lane, Ferrari call Sainz in.
That was smooth as both drivers pitted and got straight out.
Ocon has damage to his front wing and has been given a five second penalty for being on the wrong place on the grid.
Lap 13/57 – Verstappen leads, Mercedes readies pit
George Russell may need to come in for an early tyre change.
It is being checked whether Ocon started in the wrong place on the grid which would carry a penalty.
Defending champion Verstappen is now 8.6 seconds ahead of second place.
Russell now has to stay on the track as Hamilton takes his chance to pit.
This is a great battle as Russell has to concede and see Alonso go ahead of him.
Lap 11/57 – Alonso putting pressure on Russell
George Russell feels Lewis Hamilton is holding him up.
With Fernando Alonso right on his tail, a mere 0.3 seconds, Russell is feeling the pressure.
Verstappen is enjoying a comfortable race so far, opening up a 7.1 second gap to Leclerc.
Credit: Splash
Lap 9/57 – Verstappen thriving, Russell locks up
As he comes into the bend, George Russell misjudges causing a lock up which sees him veer off the circuit slightly.
He asks his team whether Hamilton is having issues as he felt he was going slowly.
Only one second between the two drivers right now.
Verstappen is going from strength to strength with a 6.1 second lead.
Lap 7/57 – Verstappen ahead, Perez gaining
Max Verstappen has made a strong start to the race.
He is not having to worry about second place pressuring him.
Perez is putting real pressure Leclerc in second place, only 0.7 seconds behind.
Meanwhile, Verstappen has built a 5.3 second gap now.
Lap 5/57 – Verstappen opening up, Alonso drops
The early contact has really affected Fernando Alonso.
He has dropped to seventh place with George Russell in sixth and Lewis Hamilton in fifth.
Meanwhile, Verstappen has opened up a 4.1 second lead from Leclerc.
Lap 3/57 – Verstappen leads, building gap
Verstappen has opened up his lead to almost 2 seconds.
Perez sits in third ahead of Sainz.
None of the drivers are opening gaps like race leader Verstappen.
Alonso is complaining to his team about being hit, unaware it was his own team.
Credit: Getty
Lap 1/57 – Verstappen leads from Leclerc
There was some contact in the early stages.
Alonso had some contact and there were concerns whether it had caused a puncture but all seems fine.
Replays show it was Lance Stroll who made contact with his teammate.
It’s not the first lap of a race without some bodywork on the circuit.
Verstappen has a 1.1 second lead in the early stages.
Lights out, F1 season is underway
With 57 laps over the 3.6 mile circuit today, we are close to getting underway, the wait is over.
There is no greater anticipation than the first race of the season.
As the drivers being their formation lap under the Bahrain lights.
Red Bull head the grid, closely followed by Ferrari, then Mercedes and Aston Martin.
Ferrari with pre-race concerns
After Charles Leclerc’s car saw part of it break off in qualifying, the team have been checking all is as it should be before the opening race of the season.
There were also issues with Carlos Sainz’s battery which had to be replaced overnight and some work with the electrical components took place also.
As we head to lights out, Ferrari will be hoping their car does not hinder the drivers at all today.
Starting grid for Bahrain Grand Prix
Like the first day of school, the new F1 campaign opens in the Persian Gulf this afternoon.
In case you have missed any of the qualifying action, here is today’s starting grid.
Credit: @F1
Big things expected from front two
Christian Horner looks relaxed as we head closer to the start of the race.
With Verstappen and Perez holding the front two positions on the grid and seeing the performance of the car in practice and qualifying, they believe that the drivers can hold their grid positions to the finish line.
There will be a few other drivers looking to address that.
Credit: Getty
Bahrain circuit offers interesting start
The first corner always offers excitement for race fans.
In particular, at Bahrain the approach of drivers can be slightly different with the first corner actually offering the chance to overtake on the outside.
This could be something that Hamilton looks to utilise to improve his position as they come out of the second turn into the straight.
Stats don’t look good for today’s winner
For the last six years, the winner of the first race, wherever it has been, has gone on to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship. This has also happened two other times since 2000.
36% of drivers in the last 22 years have won the first race and then finished runner up in the Drivers’ Championship.
It started in 2017, Sebastian Vettel won the first race in Australia, then finished P2 in the Drivers Championship behind Lewis Hamilton.
It continued in 2018, when the exact thing happened, Vettel finishing P1 in Melbourne, then P2 in the Championship with Hamilton taking the trophy.
In 2019 Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate won the first race in Melbourne, then finished behind the Brit in the Drivers Championship, the exact same thing also happened in 2020, except Covid-19 restrictions meant that the first race was in Austria and there was no Australian Grand Prix.
In 2021, the year any Hamilton fan refuses to speak about, Hamilton won the Sakhir Grand Prix, the first race of the season, then Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won his first Drivers’ Championship.
And last season, before Ferrari started having a ton of strategy issues, Charles Leclerc won the first race then finished P2 in Drivers Championship behind Verstappen.
Research conducted by BonusCodeBets.
Drivers’ changing allegiances in career
As we head towards the first race of the season, there have been changes throughout the close season.
If you were wondering how many teams your favourite drivers have actually raced for, we have all the answers for you.
Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg lead the way.
Credit: @F1
Lewis rocks up with doctor’s note
One of the most bizarre stories coming into the new season was that the FIA’s clampdown on jewellery.
Hamilton claims he suffered an infection last year after having to remove it and it promptly returned for the Singapore Grand Prix.
The British driver provided a doctor’s note warning of disfigurement, with the FIA accepting this and allowing Hamilton to continue wearing the jewellery.
Champ surprised by end results
Max Verstappen spoke about the practice sessions and qualifying and how he finally finished on the grid:
It’s been a bit of a tough start to the weekend yesterday and today, not really finding my rhythm. But luckily in qualifying we managed to put the pieces together. I was positively surprised to be on pole after the struggles we had in practice.Max VerstappenRed Bull
Team photo before first parade
Here is the F1 drivers line-up before the first parade of the 2023 season.
The atmosphere before the first race of the season is electric with fans and drivers alike.
Although Fernando Alonso was the person really turning heads in qualifying.
Credit: Reuters
Ferrari looking for early edge
The interesting moment in the final sessions of qualifying was Charles Leclerc’s decision to bow out early.
It has been said that the Monegasque driver wanted to have a fresh set of soft tyres to start the race on.
The majority of the front of the grid will not have this option and any of them opting for soft tyres will be using a used set.
That is if any of them have a usable set as they went hard on them in qualifying.
Focussed on the magic number eight
Good news for F1 fans coming from some of the pre-race talk as Lewis Hamilton talked about his potential retirement from the sport.
Hamilton has reiterated how he is focussed on that eighth world title and will not be considering bowing out of F1 until he has accomplished that and will be signing a new deal with Mercedes.
With the issues they seem to have in getting this car just right to enable him to challenge, that may take a little longer than the British driver would ideally plan for.
Hamilton uninspired by Mercedes’ performance
When it came to the practice sessions on Saturday, Hamilton was flying around the track, finishing fourth fastest.
He said he had expected the W1 to be a lot worse and was pleased that they had made it through to Q3 but felt it dip by qualifying the following day.
“We made a step forward today and the car was feeling much more alive this morning, and all of a sudden, we were in a different place to where we were the day before. But then we got to qualifying and for me the car just didn’t feel alive, it felt kind of average.”
The seven-time world champion will be hoping for better things today from his Mercedes.
New season, completely new car
Despite the expected dominance of Max Verstappen, all the talk after qualifying had to be on the performance of the Aston Martin.
With both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finishing in the top eight on the grid, we have ourselves a genuine four-car race in the season opener.
Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes will do battle today and is perfectly poised for a classic race to get the 2023 FI season going.
Welcome to the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix
The 2023 F1 calendar gets underway today in the Persian Gulf.
Qualifying was a highly competitive event with Ferrari dominating Q1 and Q2, with Max Verstappen battling it out against the drivers but their early finishes allowed the Red Bull driver to book another pole position.
Charles Leclerc sat in pole position until Verstappen put in a Q3 performance that saw him pip the Ferrari driver by a mere tenth ahead before improving on that with a 1:29.708.
Ferrari deciding to save tyres for race day, Leclerc’s early exit allowed Sergio Perez book a one-two pole for Red Bull.
Carlos Sainz could only manage to seal fourth place on the grid for Ferrari as he was left as their only hope going into the final qualifying session.
Leclerc wasn’t the only one to burn through his tyres in the early qualifying sessions as Alonso, Russell and Hamilton were all missing from the latter stages.
Fernando Alonso will be most pleased with his performance in the new Aston Martin, something he described as ‘too good to be true’ finishing above both Mercedes and only 0.628 seconds behind Max Verstappen.
The Spaniard only has the Red Bull’s and Ferrari’s in front of him, while George Russell pipped Lewis Hamilton to fifth place on the grid.
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