Bahrain GP 2023: Verstappen’s dominant victory, Alonso’s podium

This was the Dutchman’s 36th career Formula 1 win, but his first at the circuit in question. The second stage of the podium was taken by another driver of the Austrian team, Sergio Perez, proving that the RB19 is a good car overall.

Fernando Alonso made his debut for Aston Martin when he finished on the podium, ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton. Disappointment for Ferrari, which saw Charles Leclerc retire with a mechanical problem on his SF23 engine, while Sainz never showed he had the pace to do more.

All drivers – apart from Kevin Magnussen, who was on the hard tire – started the race on the soft tyres, with Verstappen reacting well, putting everyone behind him at the red light. However, Perez lost second place to Leclerc, while Carlos Sainz could not do the same, finishing 4th.

The two-time world champion opened his gap to the Monegasque, and saw the checkered flag around 12 seconds. The Red Bull drivers followed similar strategies, with a soft-hard ball.

Carlos Sainz finished in 4th place, behind Lewis Hamilton, who was pressuring him in the closing laps of the race. Hamilton took the points for 5th place, followed by Lance Stroll, the second Aston Martin, who got between the two Mercedes.

This meant that Russell finished 7th, while Valtteri Bottas took advantage of his rivals’ poor start to finish 8th, collecting valuable points for Alfa Romeo.

Pierre Gasly managed to recover from the last place he fell at the start of the race to finish in 9th place, despite stopping three times for tire changes. Alex Albon rounded out the top 10, making a strong start to the season for Williams, while Yuki Tsunoda missed out on the final stage.

7Day driver

Of course, the driver who stood out today was Fernando Alonso, delighting F1 spectators around the world who named him the driver of the day.

The Spaniard collected 53.3% of the audience votes, followed by Pierre Gasly (6.5%), Max Verstappen (6.3%), Lewis Hamilton (5.5%) and Charles Leclerc (4.4%).

9Fastest lap

The fastest lap of the race was set by Zhou Guanyu on lap 56, with a time of 1:33.996, but he did not get any bonus points as the Chinese finished 16th. Pierre Gasly followed with 1:35.068, Lando Norris with 1:35.822, Logan Sargeant 1:36.037 and Fernando Alonso at 1:36.156.

11Next match

The next Grand Prix will be held next weekend, March 17-19, in Saudi Arabia.

12Results

13Drivers championship

14Manufacturer Rating