Bulls, Stars and Horses: Bahrain GP — Shake-up in the pecking order?
The first race of the 2023 season sees a familiar face on the top of the podium, but a lot of surprises up and down the grid. So let us breakdown the top 3 things that we learnt from the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Aston Martin shine under the lights, as others fade
There were murmurs up and down the pit lane about the potential of the Aston Martin package, but realistically it always seemed like a pipedream that a team that finished P7 in the championship last year could even think of challenging for the podium. Well that’s exactly what happened. After impressing across the weekend, Fernando Alonso unleashed his well known speed and grit to beat the established players in the form of Merc and Ferrari (more on them later) to claim a podium spot with a P3 finish. While Aston took a massive step forward this year, the more established teams like McLaren and Alpine seemed to have taken a step back in terms of their development since last year.
Max Attack — is the 2023 title already sealed?
While the battle for the podium places was quite interesting and thrilling, one man remained unfazed by everything — Max Verstappen stamped his authority on the race and his champion credentials by dominating the race from the start to finish. The sheer speed of the Max-Red Bull combo seems ominous for the competition, with many going as far as to claim that the combo will be sweeping the season completely with little to no competition from anyone else. What are your thoughts on this? Do let me know in the comments down below.
The prancing horse and the shining star falter
Ferrari had a lot of hopes pinned to them as being the closest challenger to Red Bull this season, yet they had a horrendous GP, with reliability issues that plagued the team all through last year rearing its ugly head once again. And with Charles Leclerc already on the verge of picking up an engine penalty and Aston Martin overtaking Carlos Sainz on the road, it seems like the prancing horse has broken its leg and faltered in its fight against the raging bull.
Meanwhile the record champions — Mercedes — who boldly stuck with their size zero sidepod concept were in no man’s land against the front runners. Possibly the most humiliating thing is the fact that their customer team — Aston Martin — who buys the engine and rear suspension from Mercedes, swept the floor with them. Do Merc finally admit that their design language is inferior and have major overhauls, or do they stick with the concept and find ways to unlock the full potential of the car? Only time will tell.
All in all it was a pretty thrilling race, as Bahrain often produces. Special mention to Fernando Alonso who came up trumps and produced some thrilling overtakes (Especially the overtake on Lewis Hamilton on Turn 9… sheeeeeeesh!). Next up is Jeddah, with a lot of question marks on the pecking order expected to be cleared up due to the difference in the nature of the track to Bahrain.
Highlights link: https://youtu.be/f9j8nhMNYO4
