Greetings to all F1 enthusiasts worldwide and welcome to Race Day Sunday. We are in the country of Bahrain at the Bahrain International Circuit for the first race of the 2023 season. It was an amazing start to this years Championship season for some drivers and constructors. We saw a few sneak attacks from the midfield teams, but before we leap into the race let’s do a quick review of the first two days before the race.
Day One
Practice 1; Sergio PEREZ of Red Bull Racing topped the timesheet with a time of 1:32.758, followed by Fernando ALONSO of Aston Martin. Yes!, I said ALONSO of Aston Martin, the oldest driver and championship driver in the past years, top second on the timesheet with a time of 1:33.296. In third was VERSTAPPEN of Red Bull Racing with a time of 1:33.375. NORRIS of McLaren and LECLERC of Ferrari rounded out the top 5.
Special note on the three Greenback “rookies” to make this season. Logan SARGEANT of Team William’s, the first American driver since 2005. Nyck DE VRIES of Alpha Tauri and Oscar PIASTRI of McLaren. All extremely fast, skillful and naturally talented divers. Look out for these “rookies”.
Practice 2; Back in the top 5 was ALONSO of Aston Martin with a time of 1:30.907, followed by Max VERSTAPPEN with a time of 1:31.076. PEREZ of Red Bull Racing, LECLERC of Ferrari and HULKENBERG of Haas F1 Team rounded out the list.
Day Two
Practice 3; We again saw ALONSO of Aston Martin in the top five on the timesheet finishing with a time of 1:32.340, followed by the two Red Bull Racing drivers VERSTAPPEN with a time of 1:32.345 and PEREZ with a time of 1:32.446. Rounding the top five we saw HAMILTON of Mercedes finish with a time of 1:32.555 and LECLERC finish with a time of 1:32.624.
The day finished with qualifying results in the slightest of margins between, dare I say it!! Yes! two, not one! Two Aston Martins in the top ten on the grid to start the race on Race Day Sunday.
The qualifying results for the race for the top ten looked like this.
P1 – VERSTAPPEN, P2 – PEREZ, P3 – LECLERC, P4 – SAINZ, P5 – ALONSO, P6 – RUSSELL, P7 – HAMILTON, P8 – STROLL, P9 – OCON and P10 – HULKENBERG.
Very impressive to see three midfield teams in the top 10 to start the race. Two Aston Martin teammates ALONSO and STROLL. OCON of Alpine and HULKENBERG of Haas F1 Team.
Race Day Sunday
For the first race of the season we saw Red Bull Racing very quickly in front of the pack and very focused teammates VERSTAPPEN and PEREZ finished one and two on the podium. Followed them was ALONSO of Aston Martin finishing in 3rd.
Magnificent driving all weekend and today by Alonso, he went hunting for two Mercedes and a red prancing horse (Ferrari) with precision driving and prompt overtakes. It was a sight to see.
This season is just getting started and already we see a midfield team of Aston Martin, taking down some big points off the board from Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren.
Very exciting, another team fighting from the get-go to land on the podium.
Podium
The top three drivers that landed on the podium this race were, VERSTAPPEN of Red Bull Racing finishing in 1st place with a time of 1:33.56.736. In 2nd was PEREZ of Red Bull racing +11.987s, and in 3rd place was ALONSO of Aston Martin +38.627s.
Fastest Lap
The fastest lap went to ZHOU of Alfa Romeo with a time of 1:33.996.
Quotes of the Day
I will leave with these quotes of the day, just exuberant for the next race!
“We started in P5, but we are not happy with that, it isn’t enough but the car felt fantastic. We dream of fighting with the Ferraris,” Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
As the race started and finished we end with this quote.
“First of all, congrats to Lance, my teammate, for surgery 12 days ago and now he’s fighting with everyone. Finishing on the podium, second best car in the race, it’s just unreal,” Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin
Not too shabby for the oldest driver on the circuit! My hat goes off to you Alonso!
Up Next
Stay viewed and excited for the next F1 race of the season the STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from March 17-19 2023.
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