Bahrain GP: Verstappen leads dominant Red Bull to 1-2 finish as classy Alonso grabs podium

Reigning Formula 1 Driver’s World Champion Max Verstappen and his Championship winning Red Bull team showed exactly why they are the side to beat once again in the new 2023 campaign as the Dutchman led the Milton Keynes based side to a 1-2 finish alongside teammate Sergio Perez in the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday evening.

Having managed to get pole position on Saturday, the two time champion dominantly controlled the race from start to finish as he grabbed his maiden win in Bahrain on the tenth time of asking ahead of Perez who followed over eleven seconds later.

"It was a very good first stint where I basically made my first gap. Thereafter it was just about managing the race because you never know what is going to happen later. Overall, I am also very happy to win here for the very first time. I think we have a very good race package and thank you to the team for giving us this car," Verstappen said after the race.

But while Red Bull showed their dominance, driver of the day Fernando Alonso rolled back the years as he grabbed third position for his 99th podium finish in what was his debut race for the much improved Aston Martin car.

The Spaniard made crucial overtakes from his starting fifth position as he clinically dispatched seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on his way to joining the Red Bull party.

While Sainz finished behind Alonso, his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who had a chance of splitting the Red Bull drivers, saw his season start in agony as he failed to finish the race after developing power related issues in lap 41 of the overall 57 with Hamilton helping his Mercedes over the line to close the top five places.

Everyone, bar Kevin Magnussen who elected to have the hard tyres, started the race on the soft compound and Verstappen had a solid getaway, but Perez did not and lost out second place to Leclerc in the opening lap.

Aston Martin's hopes of making the podium places seemed to have been handed an early blow when Lance Stroll made a lunge on teammate Alonso into Turn 4 and hit the rear-right of the Spaniard's car, allowing Mercedes' Hamilton and George Russel through.

After the short dramatic moment, the race settled nicely and Perez managed to regain his second place from Leclerc on lap 26 but it is thirteen laps later where the epic battle between Hamilton and Alonso ensued as the two veterans with nine championships between them scrapped for fifth place, Alonso winning the battle in the end with some daring overtake down the inside of Turn 10.

And with Leclerc retiring two laps after, Alonso went on a warpath as he chased down a podium finish behind a struggling Sainz. He once again showed his mettle as he overtook his country man to seal his first podium since Qatar 2021.

Stroll managed to finish between the two Mercedes as Russell crossed the line in seventh after being undercut.

Valtteri Bottas capitalised on poor starts for his rivals and finished a solid eighth for Alfa Romeo, while Pierre Gasly recovered from P20 for Alpine, pitting three times, to finish ninth. Alex Albon finished 10th for Williams after a great start, while Yuki Tsunoda narrowly missed out on the final point in his AlphaTauri.