Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 in Bahrain as Alonso storms to 99th podium

A dominant display by Max Verstappen saw him win the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.

After the long winter break, Formula 1 was back with speculation around the order of the grid filling the paddock under the night skies of Bahrain.

Verstappen, starting on pole position, led the pack after the first lap with Charles Leclerc jumping into second on the start. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso, arguably the headline of the weekend, saw his hopes of a podium crash after making contact with teammate Lance Stroll.

From there, Verstappen fled from the other 19 drivers, breaking away seven seconds after the first 10 laps. Red Bull would differ on strategy to the rest of the pack, pitting for soft tyres instead of hards.

Oscar Piastri opened his F1 career with an electronic issue, forcing the Australian out of the race while Lando Norris struggled with power unit unreliability – a poor start for McLaren.

Alonso would break past George Russell on lap 13, sizing up the Mercedes driver for several laps before pouncing at turn four. With his old rival hot on his heels, Lewis Hamilton would make a second stop earlier in hopes to cover off an Aston Martin undercut.

But Alonso would take his tyres longer, closing the gap to Hamilton while taking on fresher tyres. On lap 39, a beautiful switchback into turn 10 would see Alonso past, setting his sights on the Ferraris ahead.

On lap 41, Leclerc’s Ferrari ground to a halt, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car as the car was cleared.

Using this to his advantage, Alonso would close up to the second Ferrari driver of Carlos Sainz, breaking onto the podium with 11 laps to go. After the move, Alonso would voice his happiness on the radio, saying:

“Yes! Bye, bye.”

But it was Verstappen who took home 25 points, kicking-off his title defence in the best possible manner. Sergio Perez would cruise home to second, with Alonso third.

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