It didn’t take long into the new Formula One season for Max Verstappen to remind everyone Red Bull is still a grade above the rest of the class.
The pole-sitter and three-time reigning world champion never relinquished the lead and cruised to victory during Saturday’s opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
With Charles Leclerc starting next to him on the front row, Verstappen covered off the Ferrari heading into the first turn and took off, never having to glance in his rearview mirrors again.
Even during his pair of pit stops, Verstappen remained comfortably in control with enough of a time cushion that he wasn’t under any threat of losing position.
Verstappen also picked up the bonus point for having the fastest lap, just for kicks.
Flawless victory, indeed.
It was the eighth consecutive victory for Verstappen, stretching back to last season’s Japanese Grand Prix in late September, and the 55th of his career.
Sergio Perez came in second to make it a 1-2 Red Bull finish but even then, Verstappen’s teammate crossed the line a distant 22.457 seconds later.
Still, it was a great effort from Perez, who started fifth on the grid and drove a brilliant race including an outside-inside snaking manoeuvre to get past George Russell of Mercedes on Lap 14 to move up into second.
The Red Bulls have set the bar high once again to start the season, now it’s up to the competition to catch up.
SAINZ’S STOCK PRICE TO THE MOON
Let the bidding war begin for Carlos Sainz. With Lewis Hamilton set to replace Sainz at Ferrari next season, the soon-to-be free agent made a statement with his P3 finish.
Sparks were flying literally as Sainz, who started fourth, passed teammate Charles Leclerc and appeared too close for comfort as they made it through the first corner on Lap 11.
Finding himself behind Leclerc once more after pitting, Sainz swooped by his teammate a second time on Lap 17. Sainz then picked off Russell on the following lap to grab the final spot on the podium.
Meanwhile, Leclerc came close to securing pole position during Friday’s qualifying — and even posted the fastest time of the day during Q2 — but a tire change for the final session was enough to slip into second. Leclerc, who signed a contract extension with Ferrari during the off-season, struggled with brake balancing issues and locked up numerous times. He managed to hold it together though and got by Russell, who had his own issues to deal with, on Lap 46 as the Mercedes driver went wide off the track.
Given how far ahead the Red Bulls were, a third and fourth place were the best Ferrari could hope for.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Russell managed to finish in fifth place while Hamilton ended up in a McLaren sandwich between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in seventh.
Neither Mercedes driver had the best of starts to the season though no fault of their own. While Russell experienced battery charging issues and an overheating engine, Hamilton complained over his team radio about his seat breaking. Still, Hamilton improved from his starting position of ninth on the grid to kick off his final season with Mercedes.
Even Alex Albon over at Williams, who use Mercedes engines, appeared to be having some issues. McLaren and Aston Martin, both Mercedes engine customers as well, seemed fine though.
McLaren wasn’t in contention for the podium but they got off to a much better start in Bahrain than last year. (Flashback: neither driver finished in the points as Piastri retired early due to electrical problems while Norris was the last car to cross the line in 17th.)
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished ninth but kudos to teammate Lance Stroll for picking up a point in 10th. The Canadian driver started 12th and dropped to the back of the field after he was hit from behind by Nico Hulkenberg of Haas and spun around near the first corner of the opening lap. Fortunately for Stroll, he didn’t sustain any critical damage (Hulkenberg needed a new front wing) and recovered to secure the final points-paying position.
THE FIGHT IS ON AT RB
As we said in our season preview, it’ll be an entertaining battle if anything at Red Bull’s sibling squad Visa Cash App RB F1 Team (aka RB). Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda are out to prove they’re worthy of being Verstappen’s teammate next season with Perez’s contract up for renewal.
Ricciardo set the tone with the fastest time during the first Free Practice session Thursday although he had to settle for 14th on the starting grid while Tsunoda qualified 11th.
Tsunoda was chasing Haas driver Kevin Magnussen late in the race for 12th with Ricciardo, on the soft compound tires, on his tail when RB ordered their drivers to swap positions.
“Are you kidding me, now?” Tsunoda replied on his team radio.
As Tsunoda didn’t pull over immediately, Ricciardo added, “Yeah, I don’t need to say anything.”
It wasn’t until the following lap when Ricciardo was able to get by as Tsunoda said, “Yeah, thanks guys. I appreciate it,” and later griped about about his teammate needing to speed up.
Magnussen remained ahead though as Ricciardo and Tsunoda had to settle for 13th and 14th — neither earning points, only headaches. As if that wasn’t enough, the two came close to colliding as Tsunoda passed Ricciardo on the cooldown lap after the finish. As you can imagine, Ricciardo had some words we can’t publish without asterisks here.
LE PAIN
Let me be the 3,720th person to remind you that Alpine is an anagram of Le Pain and it couldn’t be more fitting.
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly qualified 19th and 20th, respectively, to start on the final row. Although they finished in the same order 17th and 18th, they were essentially still last given who was behind them. Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas (19th) had a problematic pitstop while Williams driver Logan Sargeant (20th) went off the track and remained stationary for a significant length of time before rejoining the race.
We heard rumblings from Alpine that things were grim during pre-season testing as their car arrived late and overweight but just how bad could it be? Pretty bad as it turned out.