F1 2023: Red Bull Continues to Dominate, Alonso’s Strong Debut for Aston

Alonso, at 41, still has some fight left in him, as the veteran racer grabbed a podium in the season-opening Grand Prix. 

Last night, Red Bull and Max Verstappen gave a glimpse of how they are going to dominate the rest of the Formula One season by winning the season opener Bahrain Grand Prix. Red Bull also completed a one-two because Verstappen’s partner, Sergio Perez, secured the second position.

However, 41-year-old veteran racer Fernando Alonso was undoubtedly the show-stopper who grabbed a podium in the debut race for Aston Martin. To be honest, almost everybody was shocked by the performance of the two Aston Martin cars around the circuit. The braking of the two cars was on point, which helped the two drivers manoeuvre their cars with ease.

Alonso’s statement

"To come here and finish on the podium in the first race of the year, it is amazing what Aston Martin did over the winter to have the second-best car in race one. This is just unreal," he told the crowd after the finish," said Alonso.

Surprisingly, Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll also did well with an eighth-place finish after having a poor start. Not to forget, only a few weeks ago, Stroll had a wrist injury because of which he missed the entire pre-season testing.

Verstappen’s words

After the win, Verstappen said, "Very lovely that, really good result. We had a good race pace. "Very happy with that. Thank you, guys. That's exactly the start to the season we wanted and needed. A perfect one-two." Last night was Verstappen’s first win at the Bahrain Grand Prix and was also his first season-opener win.

Unreliability hits Ferrari again!

Scuderia Ferrari, which was expected to give a tough fight to Red Bull, once again got hit with reliability issues as championship contender Charles Leclerc’s car lost power in the 17th lap. On the other hand, Sainz could do nothing against Alonso’s experience as the veteran squeezed past the Ferrari in the 45th lap.

Mercedes lacked pace

The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team has not found the pace they need to fight the Red Bulls as the two cars tumbled down the order with a fifth-place finish from Lewis Hamilton and a seventh-place finish by George Russell.

Piastri’s retirement

Rookie driver Oscar Piastri, who had an unpleasant breakup with Alpine last season, had to retire from his debut race for McLaren because of an electronic issue in his steering. McLaren, who are also supposed to fight for the championship, were all over the place. Season driver Lando Norris also could not turn things in the team’s favour.

Alex Albon impressed everyone once again by winning a point in a slow-paced Williams, whereas Gasly also brought two points for his new team, Alpine.