The Formula One (F1) season blasted off with a dramatic and exciting Bahrain Grand Prix. To no F1 analyst’s surprise, Max Verstappen won the season premiere, with second driver Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez taking second place, giving Red Bull Racing a strong 1-2 finish.
The Red Bull Reign
There isn’t much more that needs to be said about Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s start to this year. They are dominant. Verstappen is at the height of his powers, and doesn’t have any ideas about slowing down. He made no mistakes in Bahrain, creating a comfortable gap early in the race. Even with an easy win, Verstappen’s radio chatter was all business with his engineer.
“It’s only a sample of one (race), all the circuits are different but it’s a great start for us to come out the blocks unlike last year when we were sitting here with zero points,” said Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull about his team’s performance. “We came here determined to try and address that this year and we’ve done it in the best possible way.”
An intriguing aspect of Red Bull’s current reign will be their second driver Sergio “Checo” Perez; a defensive driver who has shown he can defend his position well, and more importantly, Verstappen’s. Perez is the next car directly in Darth Alonso’s sights for podiums and race wins in the well-made, and heavily Red Bull-inspired AMR23.
Fernando Alonso on the podium
Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso have been the talk of the Paddock since pre-season testing. They looked quick, and have remained quick into the premiere race. Alonso’s racing mind and technique showed with his clever and daring overtakes in Turn 4 and Turn 9, two of the more technical corners of the Sakar circuit. “This is just the beginning,” Alonso said after Round 1 in Bahrain. “This is not the final car; this is just the starting car of this concept that we changed over the winter.”
Aston teammate Lance Stroll’s P6 finish while still recovering from hand and arm surgeries, and foot fractures (yes all at once) is an amazing feat of athletics, and shows that all those years of finishing in the bottom positions could have been because he didn’t have a competitive car. But now Aston Martin does have a competitive car, battling to be the new member of the “big three,” currently usurping both Mercedes and Ferrari, and launching into second place in the constructor’s championship.
A P3 or P4 finish in Qualifying on Saturday will place Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso in a great position to use the AMR23’s speed and Alonso’s technique to attack the Red Bulls.
Mercedes admits their concept is wrong
Whatever hopes Mercedes fans had for the Silver Arrows this year have been dashed early. The W14 is a step forward, but Mercedes is still two or three steps behind the competition. The W14 is still lacking consistent downforce to reach its projected race-pace. Lewis Hamilton finished P5 some 50 seconds behind Verstappen, and George Russell arrived in P7 — not at all the race-winning performance that was speculated coming into 2023.
“Everything is bad,” said team principal, Toto Wolff. “The single-lap pace is still good but in the race, we saw the consequences and to put it bluntly we are lacking downforce and sliding the tires and going backwards,” Later, he admitted that Mercedes’ philosophy and concept are wrong.
Engineering director, Andrew Shovlin said the team is looking at “radical changes” for the W14’s design, assuring that potential upgrades are coming in the next few races as the gap from Red Bull to Mercedes will only grow larger between now and Imola — the traditional time when teams implement their first major upgrade packages in May. Otherwise, it may be too late for Mercedes to remain in the Big 3 this season.
Back to the races
Since its debut in 2021, Jeddah’s street circuit has been an exciting race with all sorts of drama along a stunning venue. Fast and technical, with high-speed straights and curvy bends lined by narrow and unyielding walls — it’s a track designed to challenge even the most experienced racer.
If there isn’t a battle in the top positions, the mid-field has the chance to provide the grittiest action. The teams will be close, and not just in Qualifying times — the tight walls of the track will pen drivers in. They’ll need to be precise and daring when overtaking — committed to their maneuvers. Backing out won’t be a safe option, and a mistake can be deadly.
To watch the Grand Prix live, check out TSN or F1TV on March 19. For a post-race discussion, check out The F World, Mondays at 1 p.m. on CIVL Radio 101.7 FM, civl.ca, and on-demand on Spotify.
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.
