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      Lewis Hamilton urges Mercedes to ‘push massively’ to fix worrying problem to close gap on Max Verstappen ‘ASAP’

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      LEWIS HAMILTON has urged Mercedes to fix their car urgently after watching rival Max Verstappen sprint into the distance in Bahrain. The Dutchman won the opening race of the season at a canter with his teammate Sergio Perez finishing a comfortable second.
      Mercedes have returned to their black design of 2020 and 2021 but can’t find the same performance of those yearsCredit: Getty
      The result underlined Red Bull’s dominance with even the impressive Fernando Alonso finishing 38 seconds behind in third.
      As for fifth-placed Hamilton, he was a mammoth 51 seconds off Verstappen, who he was once neck-and-neck with when the pair scrapped over the 2021 title.
      But now the seven times world champion does not have a competitive car he’s urging Mercedes’ engineers to fix their problems as soon as possible.
      The 38-year-old said: “I am generally happy with the race, it was much better with the qualifying and I am happy with my performance.
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      “There’s not much more I could have done. Set the car up differently maybe? But overall just lacking performance.
      “The team did a great job with the pit stops, just unfortunately, the car is just not there at the moment, we are lacking downforce and we have just got to work really hard to try and add that ASAP.
      “Anything that is in the wind tunnel, we need it tomorrow. We need to push massively to close that gap.”
      Hamilton’s downbeat assessment was echoed by his teammate George Russell, who shared an ominous prediction on how dominant he believed Red Bull were.
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      Meanwhile, team principle Toto Wolff gave an honest assessment of just how far behind his Mercedes team are.
      He said: “It was one of the worst days in racing. It is really not good at all and we are lacking pace left, right and centre.
      “Red Bull are just on a different planet. That is what hurts because they are so far ahead. It reminds me of our best years where we just put a second on everyone else.
      “That is the benchmark and we need to come back and we can absolutely do that.”
      The Austrian, 51, had previously suggested during the weekend that Mercedes might have to scrap their car entirely and go back to the drawing board. More

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      Lewis Hamilton explains what is motivating him to stay at Mercedes after another torrid F1 weekend dominated by Red Bull

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      LEWIS HAMILTON has explained what is motivating him to stay with Mercedes despite another weekend of struggles. The season’s opening race in Bahrain saw Max Verstappen cruise to victory while Red Bull completed a front-row lockout thanks to Sergio Perez coming in second.
      Lewis Hamilton is choosing to remain positive despite early strugglesCredit: Splash
      He could only manage a P5 finish in BahrainCredit: Getty
      With Mercedes openly questioning their car designCredit: PA
      Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell has joined fans in already anointing Verstappen as the season’s champion.
      And while the Flying Dutchman’s display has laid down a big marker for the rest of the grid, Hamilton is choosing to remain optimistic.
      Asked whether he was concerned about the team’s progress, the Brit replied: “Concerned wouldn’t be the word.
      “There is nothing I can say, I don’t want to say too much. We’ve just got to keep working.
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      “We know we are not where we need to be, and we know that this isn’t the right car. It is a difficult one.
      “But I’ve just got to try and stay positive, keep my head up and keep pushing the guys. Keep trying to be a positive light for them and get the best points I can.”
      Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described Sunday as one of his “worst days in racing”.
      Hamilton and Russell finished P5 and P7 respectively, unable to get near the pace of Red Bull and also finding Aston Martin to be too much to handle.
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      This was particularly the case with Fernando Alonso, who clinched his 99th career podium after completing overtakes on Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to take P3.
      Hamilton also dismissed any suggestions the team were closer to the podium than they expected, adding the tyre degradation the team suffered last year had repeated itself.
      He added: “We were miles away. There was a Ferrari that would’ve been ahead of him [third-placed Alonso], so we would’ve really been sixth. So a podium was nowhere near.
      “It generally felt the same as last year [the car]. When we did the strategy in the morning I told the guys it wasn’t going to go as far as they said it was going to go, and it didn’t.
      “We have just got a lot of work to do. We have just got to add downforce to the car, we’re lacking a lot of downforce.
      “That is really where the time will come. As soon as we put more load on the rear and the front we’ll pick up that pace.

      Complete F1 2023 race calendar – details on every Grand Prix this year
      Following a dismal qualifying session on Saturday, Wolff also admitted Mercedes may need to scrap their car design entirely.
      He said: “I don’t think this package is going to be competitive.
      “We gave it our best over the winter and now we need to regroup, sit down with the engineers — there are no holy cows — and decide what development direction we want to pursue in order to win races.
      “The moment comes when the stopwatch showed we are not good enough.”
      However, despite Verstappen’s early dominance, a trend dating back to 2017 suggests Hamilton and Co are still in with a very good chance of landing the title.
      This is because the winner of the opening race has NOT gone on to win the championship at the end of the season in each of the last six years.
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      Furthermore, the chart-topper of Free Practice Two (FP2) on the curtain raiser has gone on to win the championship in every season since 2017.
      This would suggest Alonso is in line to land his third world title and his first since 2006. More

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      F1 chiefs confirm new qualifying format for 2023 in shock shake up leaving Max Verstappen furious

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      FORMULA ONE bosses have confirmed a new qualifying for 2023 – but reigning world champion Max Verstappen has been left unhappy with the changes. Fans can expect Saturdays to run differently on two occasions this season as the usual method is shaken up.
      Verstappen enjoyed a comfortable win in the opening race of the 2023 seasonCredit: Getty
      Normally qualifying sees teams have a free choice of tyre compound – soft, medium or hard – as they look to set the fastest lap times possible across three sessions to set the grid for the Grand Prix.
      But in the new trial teams will have to run the hard tyre in the first qualifying session, the medium tyre in the second qualifying session and the soft tyre in the third qualifying session.
      It is not clear how this might affect the usual order but it is possible some teams may excel or struggle on certain tyre compounds on certain tracks, potentially leading to some surprise scenarios in qualifying.
      It is not confirmed when the new system will be trialled but it is speculated that the first race weekend when fans will see it will be at Imola in May.
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      Two-times world champion Verstappen – who began the new campaign in dominant fashion yesterday – is not a fan.
      The 25-year-old said: “I hope it’s not going to be cold in Imola, otherwise it’s going to be quite tricky.
      “It’s the same for everyone but I don’t think we need to actually do these kinds of things in qualifying. I don’t really see the benefit of it.
      “It’s better if we make sure that all the cars are close to each other and more competitive instead of spicing things up in that way, which I think is probably for the show.”
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      Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, 33, was in agreement.
      He said: “We do not really need to change anything. We’ll see once we try it but I don’t think there’s a need to change something that is working well.”

      This is far from the first time F1 bosses have introduced new concepts to try and improve race weekends.
      Among the more successful are the Saturday sprint races, which divide fans but have seen exciting track action across the last few seasons.
      Other ideas have fallen apart almost immediately.
      The decision to award double points in the final race of 2014 was met with widespread derision, while a new elimination qualifying format in 2016 was binned after only one session. More

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      Russell predicts Red Bull have F1 title sewn up after ONE race and believes Verstappen’s car will win EVERY GP

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      GEORGE RUSSELL is in no doubt who will win this year’s F1 title.In fact, he thinks Max Verstappen’s Red Bull will win ALL 23-races such is the superiority of the Dutchman’s car.
      George Russell finished P7 in BahrainCredit: PA
      Russell has predicted Max Verstappen to win EVERY Grand Prix this seasonCredit: PA
      “Red Bull have got this championship sewn up,” said the Mercedes man after Verstappen won in Bahrain and he finished seventh.
      “I don’t think anyone will be fighting with them this year. They should win every single race this year, is my bet.
      “With the performance they’ve got. Their pace seemed weaker this weekend than it was in testing, but they’ve got it easy at the moment.
      “They can do what they like. They might not be on pole all the time because we know Ferrari are very competitive in qualifying, but when it comes to race pace they’re in a very strong position.”
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      Let’s take nothing away from Christian Horner’s team who, thanks to the pen of designer Adrian Newey, have an absolute rocketship of a car.
      It is an improvement on last year’s model – which the cynics are suggesting is remarkably like this year’s Aston Martin, which propelled Fernando Alonso to third-place at the Sakhir Circuit.
      But the reality for F1 fans tuning into this season’s opening race with such expectation is that it could turn into a long, hard watch.
      That could prove to be a problem for Formula One, who until last year at least had been treated to some pulsating battles to keep things interesting.
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      F1 does have a history of seeing a team dominate.
      Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes have dominated for spells in the modern era.
      However, the difference is now the sport is enjoying a booming spell of popularity and the question is whether this new generation of fans, converted by the Netflix series, will remain suitably entertained.
      If Verstappen is winning week after week by a considerable margin, and Ferrari and Aston Martin are alternating for third place, the novelty will soon wear off.
      Make no mistake, Red Bull’s advantage is huge.
      Not even a cost-cap penalty of a £7million fine and a reduction in wind tunnel testing has slowed them down.
      If anything, they are quicker by virtue of Mercedes’ dreadful design that has been produced after pigheadedly sticking with a failed concept, which has now been consigned to the bin.
      And while Ferrari looked to offer some hope they could put Red Bull under a bit of pressure, their old Achillies heel proved to be their weakness when Charles Leclerc pulled over with an engine issue and failed to finish the race.
      There were rare moments of excitement.
      Two-time world champion Alonso battled with Lewis Hamilton on lap 38 with the Spaniard getting past the Brit with an excellent piece of driving through turns nine and ten.
      In truth, Hamilton, who was fifth, was a sitting duck as he delivered his assessment after the opening race of the year.
      He said: “We’re miles away. There was a Ferrari that would’ve been ahead of Alonso so we would’ve really been sixth, the podium was nowhere near.
      “We’ve just got a lot of work to do, we’ve just got to add downforce to the car, we’re just lacking a lot of downforce.”
      Alonso then swooped past Carlos Sainz on lap 45, to take a place on the podium for the first time since the 2021 Qatar GP.
      Esteban Ocon provided some light relief with a shocking performance that at least made us laugh.
      He was penalised for being out of position on the startline.
      He then failed to serve the five-second time penalty correctly, triggering another sanction.
      And in making his pitstop, he was penalised for speeding in the pitlane before eventually retiring from the race.
      Other than that, it was all fairly routine for the rest, apart from McLaren who are in a crisis.
      Oscar Piastri was forced to retire on his debut GP with a gearbox problem and team-mate Lando Norris came last after stopping SIX TIMES.
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      The saving grace is the stat that since 2016, no driver who has won the first race of the season has then gone on to lift the title.
      That is likely to change this year.
      Lewis Hamilton finished the season opener in P5Credit: PA More

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      F1 fans fears 2023 season title is over after just ONE lap of Bahrain Grand Prix after Max Verstappen’s dominance

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      FORMULA ONE fans believe the battle to win the 2023 title is over after just one lap as Max Verstappen continued his dominance. The new season got underway in Bahrain with the Red Bull driver winning the opening race of the season as he aims to make it three world championship victories in a row.
      Max Verstappen raced into a huge early leadCredit: Getty
      Fans believe there could be a lack of competition at the top this seasonCredit: Getty
      And Verstappen got off to a great start, racing into an early lead, picking up from where he left off in the previous campaign.
      The 25-year-old started on poll with his team-mate Sergio Perez in second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third.
      After the first lap of the track, Verstappen was already 1.2 seconds ahead of Leclerc, who had jumped ahead of Perez.
      Four laps in, the Dutchman further extended his lead to 3.4 seconds.
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      By the eighth time around the track, he was an incredible 6.3 seconds ahead of his closest rival.
      Verstappen did pit and was briefly behind Perez before regaining his lead to 13.7 seconds by lap 29.
      He ended up winning the first race of the season 12 seconds ahead of his Mexican team-mate and a remarkable 38.6 seconds in front of third place Fernando Alonso.
      Fans were left in disbelief by his start and feared the new season could soon become a procession.
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      One supporter said: “The championship is finished after one race.”
      Another suggested his dominance will last until the final race of the year: “Verstappen is basically getting ready to take the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi he’s that far ahead.”
      A third reacted: “Red Bull seemingly on a different level at the moment.”
      More called him “unbeatable”, claiming it is a “sign of the season ahead.” More

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      F1 Bahrain Grand Prix LIVE RESULT: Verstappen LEADS with Leclerc trailing, Piastri OUT – updates

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      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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      F1 Bahrain Grand Prix RESULT: Verstappen WINS, Leclerc, Ocon and Piastri all RETIRE, Hamilton finishes 5th – REACTION

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      MAX VERSTAPPEN kicked off the 2023 Formula 1 season in style, with a HUGE win at the Bahrain Grand Prix.Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez finished second, and Fernando Alonso, who started fifth, claimed a podium finish.
      Lewis Hamilton finished fifth, while Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri all retired during the race.

      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…
      Max stamps authority on defence
      Max Verstappen has laid a marker today in his defence of his F1 world title in the 2023 campaign.
      He will take some stopping in the Red Bull car this year as Ferrari showed issues in the opening race.
      The gap between him and Lewis Hamilton in this race will ask real questions of whether he can even push Verstappen this year.
      Credit: AFP
      The stars were bright, Fernando
      Fernando Alonso’s third place finish was a win itself.
      Nobody before qualifying would have been placing money with bookies on an Aston Martin podium
      The way the Spaniard dealt with his on track battles with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were nothing short of brilliant.
      And boy did he enjoy it.
      Credit: AFP
      Credit: Reuters
      Worry for the rest of the field
      As the dust settles on the Bahrain Grand Prix the reality is setting in with the drivers.
      Max Verstappen is going to take some stopping this season.
      He won this race at a canter, never troubled by anyone.
      Bahrain applauds its three amigos
      The 2023 F1 season has begun in spectacular style today.
      With it being a great day for Red Bull, taking two of the three podium places.
      Meanwhile, Aston Martin celebrate only their second podium finish.
      Credit: Getty
      Quiet day in the office for Verstappen
      Max Verstappen pulls his car into its space as the race winner.
      From the grid he led the race and nothing changed for the duration.
      With his team taking first and second, it confirms one thing.
      Red Bull…….it gives you wins.
      Credit: AP
      Spark gone out of Leclerc challenge
      Charles Leclerc will be bitterly disappointed having to bow out of the race today in Bahrain.
      After starting third on the grid, he will have had high hopes of what he could achieve today.
      The electrical problems his Ferrari was having before the race came back to haunt the Monegasque driver.
      Credit: Splash
      F1 season starts in style
      This race did not fail to disappoint today.
      So many questions needing answering going into the first race of the 2023 campaign.
      Here are the all important results from Bahrain:

      1st – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
      2nd – Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
      3rd – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
      4th – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
      5th – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

      Credit: Getty
      Max Verstappen wins Bahrain Grand Prix
      Lap 57/57 – Verstappen wins Bahrain Grand Prix
      Defending world champion Max Verstappen gets the 2023 F1 campaign off to the perfect start.
      Teammate Sergio Perez finishes exactly where he started on the grid.
      The big story is Fernando Alonso, who started in fifth, taking a podium finish.
      Spanish eyes on Alonso as he takes Aston Martin’s second ever podium finish.
      Lap 55/57 – Verstappen leads, Alonso in third
      This race is now all about the battle for third.
      What a great drive this has been by Verstappen also.
      He has not been troubled by anyone at all today and has led from start to finish.
      Machine.
      Credit: Getty
      Lap 53/57 – Verstappen heading for victory
      Max Verstappen is looking set for the first win of the season.
      He leads Perez by 10.8 seconds now.
      Perez has a gap over over 24 seconds on Alonso.
      More importantly for the Spaniard, he has a 7.3 second gap on Sainz in fourth.
      Lap 51/57 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton in fifth
      It is debatable whether Lewis Hamilton has seen Max Verstappen’s car since the grid earlier today.
      No doubt he will have his reasons, usually problems with Mercedes’ ability to give him a decent car.
      Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is showing everyone what driving ability can do as he thrives in this new Aston Martin.
      Lap 49/57 – Verstappen leads Perez
      The real race now is for that final podium place.
      Failing anything drastic happening to their cars, Verstappen and Perez look nailed on for the first and second spots.
      Alonso meanwhile has a 3.7 second lead on Sainz.
      Lando Norris comes in for his fifth stop to get that air supply topped up.
      Lap 47/57 – Alonso into third place
      Form is temporary, class is permanent.
      The oldest driver in the F1 season, Fernando Alonso gets into the slipstream of Sainz and then uses DRS to get better pace to go passed the Ferrari.
      Amazing driving, Alonso now has the chance to finish on the podium today.
      Meanwhile, Verstappen is having a leisurely Sunday drive leading the race from Perez in second.
      Credit: AFP
      Lap 45/57 – Perez closes gap on Verstappen
      Sergio Perez reduces the gap to under ten seconds on his teammate.
      Fernando Alonso can taste blood now as he is only 0.3 seconds behinds Sainz.
      For Sainz to keep the pace to hold him off, his tyres will not be able to see this race out.
      Aston Martin has only ever had one podium finish before.
      What a chance for the experienced Alonso.
      Lap 43/57 – Leclerc out of race
      Not the opening race of the season Charles Leclerc wanted.
      Another unreliable Ferrari car costs him.
      It has opened up the race for a place on the podium for somebody else now.
      Red Bull will be glad that it was only a virtual safety car in place.
      Leclerc off the track, virtual safety car out
      Charles Leclerc experiences complete power failure.
      The virtual safety car is in place.
      He was having battery issues before the race and it seems the problems have back to haunt him.
      Lap 41/57 – Red Bull dominate, Alonso into fifth
      This is some drive by Fernando Alonso this evening.
      If he can finish above the two Mercedes, it will be some achievement.
      There is no love lost between the two drivers from their time together before.
      Meanwhile, Verstappen is having a comfortable drive.
      Lap 39/57 – Ferrari seem content with podium
      It seems with hard tyres being fitted to both cars now that Ferrari have given up on catching Perez.
      The most interesting battle is between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
      Coming into turn ten the Spaniard takes Hamilton.
      This is a great watch.
      Credit: Getty
      Lap 37/57 – Verstappen leads, Alonso drops
      Max Verstappen has a huge lead from his teammate now, some 12.2 seconds.
      Leclerc and Sainz hold third and fourth.
      Alonso’s pitting cost him as he drops into sixth behind Hamilton.
      The Spaniard does have fresher tyres than the Englishman though.
      This is turning into a great battle between the pair.
      Lap 35/57 – Alonso moves into third
      Fernando Alonso is one of the only drivers to have not pitted twice so far.
      He is managing his tyres to try and build his lead.
      Verstappen meanwhile is 14 seconds ahead of Perez as he comes into the pits and it is the hard tyre that is fitted.
      Alonso finally takes his second pit of the race which sees Leclerc move back into third place.
      Lap 33/57 – Verstappen leads, Alonso into fourth
      Aston Martin have performed the undercut which sees Stroll get ahead of Russell coming out of the pits.
      Alonso is putting in some real fast lap times but is 22 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
      The Spaniard still needs to pit but is looking to build more of a lead to come out of them ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
      Lap 31/57 – Red Bull dominate pace, tyres key
      The last thing Red Bull would want to see in this race is the safety car.
      While they hold the front two places, tyre management is key for them now.
      They need to go onto a harder tyre.
      With Alonso putting pressure on Hamilton, threatening an undercut, his team tell him to pit.
      Credit: Reuters
      Lap 29/57 – Verstappen leads from Perez
      Perez is some 13.7 seconds behind his Red Bull teammate.
      Leclerc needs to focus on trying to break this Red Bull dominance but sits 5.1 seconds behind.
      Sainz then is a further 12.5 seconds behind.
      Ocon nightmare continues
      Esteban Ocon is having a race from hell today.
      Starting in the wrong position on the grid, he was awarded a five second penalty.
      Then, he was given a further ten second penalty for not carrying out the previous one correctly.
      Now he is being investigated for speeding in the pit lane.
      All of this and he sits in last position.
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      in Motorsport

      Lewis Hamilton reveals how his Mercedes compares to rivals Red Bull ahead of F1 opener after being dominated last year

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      FRUSTRATED   Lewis   Hamilton admits his Mercedes F1 car is lagging even further behind Max Verstappen’s  all-conquering Red Bull than it was last year.And he fears his machine’s controversial slim design — without the sidepods designed to channel the airflow — means he might NOT be able to close  the gap.
      Sir Lewis Hamilton admits his Mercedes car is lagging even more this seasonCredit: Getty
      Hamilton failed to win a single Grand Prix in 2022 — the first winless season in his illustrious career.
      And Britain’s seven-time world champion was again left for dust in the desert.
      After finishing a lowly eighth in practice for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton said: “The gap wasn’t as big last season as it is now.
      “We found out we’re a long way off. We knew that a little bit in the test but it’s a big gap.
      Read More on F1
      “Do I believe we can close the gap at some stage? Yes. But it’s quite hard with the concept we have.
      “It’s going to be milliseconds, not ­closing the gap of a second.”
      Hamilton, 38, had hoped his Merc ­engineers had designed a better 2023 car that would put him back into contention for a record-breaking eighth world title.
      But while last year’s “undriveable” bouncing issues have been cured, his car is much slower than his main rivals’.
      Most read in Motorsport
      The Brit continued: “We’ll continue to tweak little bits here and there but it’ll be small bits.
      “It’s difficult for everybody, and not where anyone at the team wants to be, or where everyone at the team deserves to be, but we’re just on the wrong track.
      “There was good progress through last year but the gap wasn’t as big as it is now.”
       Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell was even further adrift in 13th spot while Fernando Alonso rolled back the years and was quickest in his Aston Martin.
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      Red Bull star Max Verstappen dominated Formula One last seasonCredit: Reuters
      Alonso, 41, has joined the team for this season and set a faster time than world champion Verstappen, who was second-quickest.
      Alonso, who last won a race at the 2013 Spanish GP when he was driving for  Ferrari, continued the hype surrounding Aston’s car for this season.
      Meanwhile, Hamilton had earlier escaped punishment for another piercing and was granted special permission to race on medical grounds.
      Last year he had fallen foul of an FIA ruling that outlaws  drivers from wearing jewellery under their race suits before being granted an exemption for a nose stud.
      But he now has a second piercing, in his left nostril, and that triggered another breach of the rules.
      However, he successfully argued that by removing the offending stud, he would be at risk of “disfigurement”.
      Formula One legend Lewis Hamilton didn’t win a single Grand Prix last seasonCredit: Getty
      A statement from the FIA said: “The stewards ­consulted the FIA medical delegate, who viewed the report, examined the driver and concurred with the ­opinion.
      “We have determined to take no further action as there are concerns about disfigurement with frequent attempts at removal of the device.”
      His Mercedes team have also snapped up a former Red Bull employee to become their team’s new special adviser.
      Red Bull’s ex-HR director Jayne Poole had been Christian Horner’s confidante for years but has been signed to work with ­Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and oversee team infrastructure.
      Read More on The Sun
      She could fill a similar role held by Shaila-Ann Rao, the  lawyer who left Mercedes to join the governing body last year.
      Rao has since left the FIA but was a central figure in the cost-cap ruling that saw Red Bull punished for breaching the spend limit. More