Bahrain 2023! Everything You Need To Know...

Updated: Mar 5

After a long 3 months Formula 1 is back! Welcome to the first Grand Prix of the 2023 season in Bahrain.

This is the first time we get to see the new cars on track to race along with seeing how the rookies perform for the first time under the pressure of an F1 race.

I'll be updating this post over the weekend when new results/news come up!

JUMP TO:

Bahrain Schedule

About The Track

Free Practice Updates

Championship Standings

Bahrain Schedule (GMT)

Friday 3rd March 2023:

Free Practice 1: 11:30 - 12:30

Free Practice 2: 15:00 - 16:00

Saturday 4th March 2023:

Free Practice 3: 11:30 - 12:30

Qualifying: 15:00 - 16:00

Sunday 5th March 2023:

The Race: 15:00

About The Track

The Bahrain International Circuit was built in 2002 with the first Grand Prix being held in 2004.
The circuit has three DRS zones with a speed trap just before Turn 1.
The race will have 57 laps of the 5.412km circuit.
The lap record was set by Pedro de la Rosa at 1:31.447 in 2005.

Image taken from official Formula One website

Free Practice Updates

Free Practice 1 -

Times By Teams:

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas: P9. 1:34.689. Completed 20 laps.
Zhou Guanyu: P8. 1:34.575. Completed 18 laps.

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda: P13. 1:35.015. Completed 20 laps.
Nyck De Vries: P16. 1:35.402. Completed 25 laps.

Alpine

Esteban Ocon: P15. 1:35.105. Completed 20 laps.
Pierre Gasly: P17. 1:35.455. Completed 22 laps.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso: P2. 1:33.196. Completed 22 laps.
Lance Stroll: P6. 1:34.298. Completed 17 laps.

Ferrari

Carlos Sainz: P20. 1:36.072. Completed 21 laps.
Charles Leclerc: P5. 1:34.257. Completed 17 laps.

Haas

Kevin Magnussen: P7. 1:34.402. Completed 20 laps.
Nico Hulkenberg: P14. 1:35.043. Completed 22 laps.

McLaren

Lando Norris: P4. 1:34.165. Completed 21 laps.
Oscar Piastri: P12. 1:34.997. Completed 24 laps.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: P10. 1:34.917. Completed 13 laps.
George Russell: P11. 1:34.966. Completed 20 laps.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen: P3. 1:33.375. Completed 21 laps.
Sergio Perez: P1. 1:32.758. Completed 21 laps.

Williams

Alex Albon: P19. 1:36.018. Completed 15 laps.
Logan Sargeant: P18. 1:35.749. Completed 24 laps.

Overall Rankings For FP1:

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1:32.758
2	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+0.438
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.617
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+1.407
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+1.499
6	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+1.540
7	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+1.644
8	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa ROmeo	+1.817
9	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	+1.931
10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+2.159
11	George Russell	Mercedes	+2.208
12	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+2.239
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+2.257
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+2.285
15	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+2.347
16	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri	+2.644
17	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+2.697
18	Logan Sargeant	Williams	+2.991
19	Alex Albon	Williams	+3.260
20	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+3.314

Free Practice 2 -

Times By Teams:

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas: P12. 1:31.793. Completed 28 laps.
Zhou Guanyu: P10. 1:31.586. Completed 27 laps.

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda: P18. 1:32.525. Completed 27 laps.
Nyck De Vries: P19. 1:32.605. Completed 28 laps.

Alpine

Esteban Ocon: P11. 1:31.608. Completed 25 laps.
Pierre Gasly: P7. 1:31.475. Completed 24 laps.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso: P1. 1:30.907. Completed 25 laps.
Lance Stroll: P6. 1:31.450. Completed 28 laps.

Ferrari

Carlos Sainz: P14. 1:31.956. Completed 28 laps.
Charles Leclerc: P4. 1:31.367. Completed 26 laps.

Haas

Kevin Magnussen: P16. 1:32.110. Completed 18 laps.
Nico Hulkenberg: P5. 1:31.376. Completed 25 laps.

McLaren

Lando Norris: P9. 1:31.570. Completed 27 laps.
Oscar Piastri: P15. 1:32.024. Completed 27 laps.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: P8. 1:31.542. Completed 27 laps.
George Russell: P13. 1:31.882. Completed 25 laps.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen: P2. 1:31.076. Completed 24 laps.
Sergio Perez: P3. 1:31.078. Completed 26 laps.

Williams

Alex Albon: P17. 1:32.440. Completed 28 laps.
Logan Sargeant: P20. 1:32.749. Completed 29 laps.

Overall Rankings For FP2:

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:30.907
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.169
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+0.171
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.460
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+0.469
6	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+0.543
7	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+0.568
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+0.636
9	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.663
10	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	+0.679
11	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+0.701
12	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	+0.886
13	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.975
14	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+1.049
15	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+1.117
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+1.203
17	Alex Albon	Williams	+1.533
18	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+1.618
19	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri	+1.698
20	Logan Sargeant	Williams	+1.842

Free Practice 3 -

Times By Teams:

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas: P17. 1:33.629. Completed 14 laps.
Zhou Guanyu: P12. 1:33.180. Completed 13 laps.

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda: P16. 1:33.475. Completed 15 laps.
Nyck De Vries: P20. 1:34.082. Completed 18 laps.

Alpine

Esteban Ocon: P11. 1:33.116. Completed 16 laps.
Pierre Gasly: P10. 1:33.064. Completed 13 laps.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso: P1. 1:32.340. Completed 13 laps.
Lance Stroll: P7. 1:32.919. Completed 16 laps.

Ferrari

Carlos Sainz: P8. 1:32.945. Completed 21 laps.
Charles Leclerc: P5. 1:32.624. Completed 21 laps.

Haas

Kevin Magnussen: P14. 1:33.381. Completed 21 laps.
Nico Hulkenberg: P15. 1:33.423. Completed 23 laps.

McLaren

Lando Norris: P13. 1:33.202. Completed 16 laps.
Oscar Piastri: P9. 1:33.045. Completed 12 laps.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: P4. 1:32.555. Completed 17 laps.
George Russell: P6. 1:32.731. Completed 17 laps.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen: P2. 1:32.345. Completed 13 laps.
Sergio Perez: P3. 1:32.446. Completed 12 laps.

Williams

Alex Albon: P19. 1:33.882. Completed 15 laps.
Logan Sargeant: P18. 1:33.665. Completed 15 laps.

Overall Rankings For FP3:

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:32.340
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.005
3	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+0.106
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+0.215
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.284
6	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.391
7	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+0.579
8	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+0.605
9	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.705
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+0.724
11	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+0.776
12	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	+0.840
13	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.862
14	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+1.041
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+1.083
16	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+1.135
17	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	+1.289
18	Logan Sargeant	Williams	+1.325
19	Alex Albon	Williams	+1.542
20	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri	+1.742

Qualifying Updates

Eliminated in Q1 -

Nyck De Vries

Oscar Piastri

Alex Albon

Logan Sargeant

Kevin Magnussen

Eliminated in Q2 -

Nico Hulkenberg

Yuki Tsunoda

Valtteri Bottas

Lando Norris

Zhou Guanyu

Through to Q3 -

Charles Leclerc

Max Verstappen

Sergio Perez

George Russell

Esteban Ocon

Lance Stroll

Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz

Fernando Alonso

OVERALL RESULT OF QUALIFYING:

*this does not take into account any penalties, final starting grid can be found under 'The Race' section*

The time listed shows the driver's fastest qualifying lap for their respective final qualifying sessions. Blue is for Q3, red is for Q2, and no background colour is Q1. For the driver's times for Q1, Q2, Q3, see below in 'Qualifying Results by Team'

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:29.708
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1:29.846
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:30.000
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:30.154
5	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:30.336
6	George Russell	Mercedes	1:30.340
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:30.384
8	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:30.836
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:30.984
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	1:30.809
11	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:31.381
12	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	1:31.443
13	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	1:31.473
14	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1:32.510
15	Alex Albon	Williams	1:31.461
16	Logan Sargeant	Haas	1:31.652
17	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren	1:31.892
18	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:32.101
19	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri	1:32.121
20	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:32.181

Qualify Results By Team -

Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas: P12. Q1 = 1:31.504. Q2 = 1:31.443.
Zhou Guanyu: P13. Q1 = 1:31.615. Q2 = 1:31.473.

AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda: P14. Q1 = 1:31.400. Q2 = 1:32.510.
Nyck De Vries: P19. Q1 = 1:32.121.

Alpine

Esteban Ocon: P9. Q1 = 1:31.508. Q2 = 1:30.914. Q3 = 1:30.984.
Pierre Gasly: P20. Q1 = 1:32.181.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso: P5. Q1 = 1:31.158. Q2 = 1:30.645. Q3 = 1:30.336.
Lance Stroll: P8. Q1 = 1:31.184. Q2 = 1:31.127. Q3 = 1:30.836.

Ferrari

Carlos Sainz: P4. Q1 = 1:30.993. Q2 = 1:30.515. Q3 = 1:30.154.
Charles Leclerc: P3. Q1 = 1:31.094. Q2 = 1:30.282. Q3 = 1:30.000

Haas

Kevin Magnussen: P17. Q1 = 1:31.892.
Nico Hulkenberg: P10. Q1 = 1:31.204. Q2 = 1:30.809.

McLaren

Lando Norris: P11. Q1 = 1:31.652. Q2 = 1:31.381.
Oscar Piastri: P18. Q1 = 1:32.101.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton: P7. Q1 = 1:31.543. Q2 = 1:30.513. Q3 = 1:30.384.
George Russell: P6. Q1 = 1:31.057. Q2 = 1:30.507. Q3 = 1:30.340.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen: P1. Q1 = 1:31.295. Q2 = 1:30.503. Q3 = 1:29.708.
Sergio Perez: P2. Q1 = 1:31.479. Q2 = 1:30.746. Q3 = 1:29.846.

Williams

Alex Albon: P15. Q1 = 1:31.461.
Logan Sargeant: P16. Q1 = 1:31.652.

Pre-race Penalties

It's the first race of the season so I'm hoping for no pre-race penalties, but, we'll see...

The Race

Starting Grid -

Position	Driver	Team
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
5	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
6	George Russell	Mercedes
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
8	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
11	Lando Norris	McLaren
12	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
13	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
14	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
15	Alex Albon	Williams
16	Logan Sargeant	Williams
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
18	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
19	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri
20	Pierre Gasly	Alpine

Fastest Lap - Pierre Gasly

Race Updates -

Lap 1 - Leclerc gets away good and moves in P2. Stroll makes contact with Alonso into turn 4 - Alonso, luckily, doesn't have any punctures but does lose a couple of places because of it.

Lap 10 - Gasly pits for hards. Verstappen told to switch to Strategy 8, whilst Leclerc is told to go to Plan A.

Lap 11 - Norris has to pits for new tyres and for engine issues.

Lap 12 - Albon, Bottas, Hulkenberg, and De Vries all put for new tyres.

Lap 13 - Hamilton pits. Alonso is on the tail of Russell and Alonso battles with him through the first few corners. After a good battle, Alonso prevails and moves into P5 out of turn 6.

Lap 14 - Leclerc pits and it's going to be a double stack for Ferrari's pit stops. Russell also pits, but seems to have issues with the left rear and so it's a slow stop. Piastri seems to have issues with the gear box and told to box to swap the steering wheel, and the engine seems to dead.

Lap 15 - Verstappen pits onto another set of pits. Ocon seems to have damage to the front wing and a 5 second time penalty for being in the incorrect position on the starting grid.

Lap 16 - After a few minutes in the pits, Piastri has to retire the car.

Lap 18 - Norris goes into the pits with the air canister being used again!

Lap 25 - Battle for P2, Perez is all over Leclerc.

Lap 26 - Perez takes P2 at turn 1, making it a 2-1 for Red Bull.

Lap 28 - Ocon has served his 5 second penalty incorrectly and given a time penalty for that, along with another 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Lap 35 - Perez pits for hards.

Lap 37 - Verstappen pits for hards. Alonso has DRS down the main straight behind Hamilton, but isn't able to perform the overtake into Turn 1. However, out of the corner, Alonso battles again, taking P5, but out of the exit of the turn, Hamilton has the better exit reclaiming his spot.

Lap 38 - Alonso goes down the inside of Hamilton and pulls away brilliantly out of Turn 10.

Lap 41 - Leclerc has no power and it's a yellow flag in Sector 3 with a virtual safety car. Power unit problems has cost Charles Leclerc the race.

Lap 42 - Safety car ending. Gasly and Tsunoda pit.

Lap 43 - Ocon retires.

Lap 45 - Alonso pressures Sainz for P3. Sainz manages to cover but Alonso almost makes contact. Sainz reports that his tyres won't last if he keeps at this pace. Going into Turn 11, Alonso manages to overtake!

Lap 49 - Norris pits once again to top up the engine air supply. Ferrari confirm that they had lost the engine on Leclerc's car.

Lap 50 - Hulkenberg gets the black and white flag for track limits.

Lap 54 - Hulkenberg given a 5 second time penalty for breaching track limits but this won't hinder him too much as Norris is currently over a minute behind.

Lap 55 - Norris given a black and white flag too.

Lap 57 - Verstappen takes the chequered flag to make this his 35th race win.

Race Results -

Position	Driver	Team	Gap	Pit Stops
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull		2
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	+11.987	2
3	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+38.637	2
4	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	+48.052	2
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+50.977	2
6	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+54.502	2
7	George Russell	Mercedes	+55.873	2
8	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	+1:12.647	2
9	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1:13.753	3
10	Alex Albon	Williams	+1:29.774	3
11	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+1:30.870	3
12	Logan Sargeant	Williams	+1 Lap	3
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+1 Lap	3
14	Nyck De Vries	Alpha	+1 Lap	2
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	+1 Lap	3
16	Zhou Guanyu	AlphaTauri	+1 Lap	3
17	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 2 Laps	6

DNFs:

Oscar Piastri

Charles Leclerc

Esteban Ocon

Driver of the Day - Fernando Alonso

Any Other News

05/03/23 - Leclerc had some issues with his battery and has had to have that replaced before the race.

Championship Standings

World Driver Championship -

Position	Driver	Points	Gap
1	Max Verstappen	25
2	Sergio Perez	18	7
3	Fernando Alonso	15	3
4	Carlos Sainz	12	3
5	Lewis Hamilton	10	2
6	Lance Stroll	8	2
7	George Russell	6	2
8	Valtteri Bottas	4	2
9	Pierre Gasly	2	2
10	Alex Albon	1	1
11	Yuki Tsunoda	0	1
12	Logan Sargeant	0	1
13	Kevin Magnussen	0	1
14	Nyck De Vries	0	1
15	Nico Hulkenberg	0	1
16	Zhou Guanyu	0	1
17	Lando Norris	0	1
18	Charles Leclerc	0	1
19	Esteban Ocon	0	1
20	Oscar Piastri	0	1

World Constructor Championship -

Position	Team	Points	Gap
1	Red Bull	43
2	Aston Martin	23	20
3	Mercedes	16	7
4	Ferrari	12	4
5	Alfa Romeo	4	8
6	Alpine	2	2
7	Williams	1	1
8	AlphaTauri	0	1
9	Haas	0	1
10	McLaren	0	1

Bahrain 2023! Everything You Need To Know...

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