F1 Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 Summary
In early March, the F1 season kicked off at the Bahrain International Circuit. While Aston Martin got off to a good start with veteran Fernando Alonso, it soon became clear that it could be a tough first half of the season for Lewis Hamilton. The British Mercedes driver could not match the pace of race winner Max Verstappen and team-mate George Russell's W14 wasn't fast enough either.
Bad luck for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari
Where Ferrari had hoped to be in contention for victory from the first GP, things were not going well for the Italian stable. Before the Grand Prix, the Scuderia already changed some components on Leclerc's engine. About ten laps before the end of the race, the Monegasque retired with an engine problem. Carlos Sainz also failed to make an impact for the Italian stable: he crossed the finish line in fourth place, behind Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso (respectively).
Work to do for McLaren
Not only Ferrari and Mercedes had a difficult weekend in the Middle East. McLaren also struggled. The team of Lando Norris and rookie Oscar Piastri lacked a lot of speed as well as car reliability issues. Piastri retired at the start of the race with an electronic problem and his teammate crossed the finish line last.
Stable debut for De Vries and Sargeant
Besides Max Verstappen, another Dutchman is driving in F1 this season: Nyck de Vries. De Vries recently made his debut for AlphaTauri. After some tentative opening laps, De Vries soon found himself connecting with the rest of the field. His lap times were largely similar to those of teammate Yuki Tsunoda and De Vries made no major mistakes. However, it was a Virtual Safety Car at the end of the race that threw a spanner in the works for the Dutch driver. With Charles Leclerc dropping out, the VSC was deployed and just at that moment De Vries drove past the pit lane. Unlike De Vries, his rivals were able to make a pit stop, which resulted in De Vries losing a few positions on old rubber in the following laps.
Logan Sargeant, rookie at Williams' tam, had a flawless race. The American had a neat opening phase and then mixed in the midfield. Sargeant finished in 12th place, just two places behind teammate Alex Albon.