2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

The 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 5 March 2023 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the opening round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen took pole position and won the race, ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez in what was their first 1-2 finish of the season. Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin in third. This was only Alonso's second podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, and the first of eight for the season. The race also saw the debut of 3 new drivers in Formula One: Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant.

Background

The event was held across the weekend of 3–5 March. It was the opening round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant made their Formula One Grand Prix season debuts with McLaren, AlphaTauri and Williams, respectively, although De Vries made his Formula One Grand Prix debut at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix for Williams. This race also marked the return of Nico Hülkenberg, who last raced in the final race of the 2019 season, this time, Hülkenberg returned to drive for Haas.

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

Track changes

The third DRS activation point was moved farther ahead, being positioned after turn 15.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 4 March 2023 at 18:00 local time (UTC+3).

Qualifying report

At the beginning of Q1, a piece of the front wheel brow of Charles Leclerc's car fell off during a lock-up at turn one, causing the session to be red flagged. At the end of Q1 Lando Norris and Logan Sargeant set the same exact time to place fifteenth and sixteenth, but Norris was moved through to Q2, having completed his lap before Sargeant. During Q2, Alexander Albon went off track at the turn 5/6/7 esses, preventing him from setting a time. After the first runs of Q3, Charles Leclerc was seen getting out of his Ferrari, sparking reliability concerns for the Monagasque's car, but he later revealed that the team made the decision to save a set of tires for the race. Ultimately, Max Verstappen took pole position by nearly two tenths of a second, with a time of 1:29.708.

Qualifying classification

Notes
* – Lando Norris and Logan Sargeant set identical lap times in Q1. Norris advanced to Q2 as he set his time earlier.

Race

The race was held on 5 March 2023 at 18:00 local time (UTC+3).

Race report

Max Verstappen led comfortably from the start, only losing the lead briefly during the first round of pit stops. Sergio Pérez was slow away at the start and lost second place to a fast starting Charles Leclerc. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton battled on the run down to turn 4, Alonso was hit by his teammate Lance Stroll, causing both Aston Martins to lose positions. Alonso came out on top in a wheel-to-wheel battle with George Russell on lap 13, both drivers lost out in the pit stops to Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo.

Oscar Piastri retired after 13 laps in his Formula One debut with an electrical failure. Meanwhile his teammate Lando Norris also had engine issues, this time with the hydraulics, requiring six pit stops to manage the problem. Esteban Ocon picked up a five-second time penalty for lining up in his grid spot incorrectly. He did not serve the full five seconds in the pit, and was given a subsequent ten second time penalty, and then a further five second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane while serving the second penalty.

Pérez made it past Leclerc on lap 26, with Red Bull Racing the only front running team to use the soft tyre for both the first two tyre stints. After the second round of pit stops, Stroll, who was racing with a broken wrist and toe, overtook Russell as the latter came out of the pit on cold tyres, with Stroll having pitted a lap earlier. Alonso and Hamilton engaged in a battle for fifth place. Alonso overtook Hamilton into turn 4 on lap 37 before a snap of oversteer on the corner exit for Alonso allowed Hamilton back past. One lap later Alonso pulled off an overtake at turn 10.

Leclerc's race came to an end on lap 41, with his car suffering a mechanical failure while running in third, bringing out the virtual safety car. Alonso overtook Carlos Sainz Jr. using DRS on the run down to turn 11 on lap 45. Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly overtook Alexander Albon for ninth place, having started from last. Zhou Guanyu pitted on the penultimate lap for soft tyres, and set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

Verstappen took his first win in Bahrain by almost 12 seconds ahead of teammate Pérez and gave Red Bull their first win in Bahrain since Sebastian Vettel won in 2013. Alonso finished third, his first podium since the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix and Aston Martin's first since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Race classification

Notes
* – Nico Hülkenberg received a 15-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. His final position was not affected by the penalty.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

* 2023 Sakhir Formula 2 round
* 2023 Sakhir Formula 3 round

Notes

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

Bahrain
Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix