Bahrain GP Race Report: Red Bull Storms To 1-2 Finish As Ferrari Faces Disappointment

Redbull couldn’t have had a better start to the season with Max Verstappen winning the race and Sergio Perez finishing second for the team. Their rivals Ferrari however, had a disappointing run as Charles Leclerc who looked all set to finish third, retired from the race after facing an engine issue. Carlos Sainz then went on to finish fourth in the race which was certainly not the result the team would’ve desired. Another surprising development of the race was Fernando Alonso’s stellar podium finish in his debut with Aston Martin showcasing the team’s brilliant car development throughout the season. 

The first lap of the race saw Verstappen get off to a brilliant start, pretty much dominating the race from then on. Charles Leclerc however, managed to pull off a brilliant overtake on Sergio Perez snatching second place from him only to lose the position a few laps later owing to Redbull’s aggressive tyre strategy. The first few laps also saw a yellow flag after part of Nico Hulkenberg’s front wing came off his car. Lance Stroll also made contact with his teammate in the first part of the race, which didn’t seem to affect him for the rest of the race. Another driver who did a brilliant job was Valtteri Bottas who moved up 4 places to P8. Fernando Alonso had a brilliant battle with George Russell for P6, ending when he pulled off a brilliant overtake on the Mercedes driver. 

All teams opted to switch to hard tyres during the first pitstop except for Redbull, who preferred to use softs. This strategy would later pay off on a large scale as Sergio Perez would retake second place from Charles Leclerc and dominate the field alongside his teammate for the rest of the race. Oscar Piastri would retire from the race while pitting after facing an issue with the car making it a disappointing debut race for him. Lando Norris also had two very slow pitstops that caused him to finish last, making it a very painful race for Mclaren. The race saw Esteban Ocon receive a heap of penalties which began when he started the race in a position that exceeded the designated grid slot. He would then gain more penalties after speeding in the pits and failing to serve his first penalty properly. 

Williams started the race in a much better position than last year with Alex Albon finishing tenth and Logan Sargeant in P12. One of the highlights of the race was another one of Alonso’s battles, with his old Mclaren teammate Lewis Hamilton which saw them almost make contact quite a few times. This battle went on for a few laps before Alonso clinched the fifth position away from him. Charles Leclerc looked all set to comfortably take the third position before his car gave up following an issue. This enabled Alonso to then fight it out with Carlos Sainz in a battle that saw them making minor contact. However, he finally got the move done effectively securing a place on the podium. Hamilton then tried to snatch P4 from Sainz but was unsuccessful. 

Max Verstappen and Perez then led the rest of the race finishing first and second. Fans were also overjoyed to see Fernando Alonso back on the podium after nearly two seasons. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz managed to hold off Hamilton till the end finishing fourth in the race. Mercedes had a mediocre race at best with Hamilton finishing in fifth place and Russell in seventh. Two other drivers who had a good race were Valtteri Bottas who finished in eighth place in his Alfa Romeo and Pierre Gasly finishing ninth after starting from the very last position for Alpine. Haas F1, Mclaren and Alpha Tauri were the teams that finished the race scoring no points.