Bahrain grand prix review

Written by Harley Parker

Max Verstappen glides to victory at Bahrain Grand Prix for season-opener

The 2x world champion won the first round of the Formula One calendar at Sakhir after an effortless drive ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.

Red Bull started well in qualifying Saturday afternoon securing top of the grid giving them their head start as the lights went out.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the downfall as he had to retire on lap 41 after his engine suddenly cut out after reporting on radio of having “no power”.

Image via @lance_stroll on Instagram

His teammate Carlos Sainz, managed to finish in fourth place behind fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso who battled his way around both Mercedes to grab a podium finish making that his 99th.

Both Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had a safe drive sitting comfortably next to each other in 5th and 7th place, listing 16 points between them both and putting the team 3rd in the constructor’s championship.

Lance Stroll squeezed himself between both Mercedes drivers despite his ongoing injury with a biking injury just days before the race. The bike crash resulted in two fractured wrists and a broken toe.

McLaren seem to have had the worst luck of the grid with 21-year-old rookie Oscar Piastri retiring with suspected gearbox issues. The team tried to resolve the issues by brining him in to pit to change his steering wheel. During this however, they encountered an engine cut which meant that an electronic problem was causing the original issue and therefore had to retire from the race.

Lando Norris qualified 11th place on Saturday but finished at the back of the grid 2 laps behind. The team are hoping to bring upgrades soon to resolve issues with the car.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the only driver to score points for the team with Frenchman Esteban Ocon having to retire before the chequered flag.

Ocon served a series of time penalties: a five-second time penalty for being in the wrong grid position, a 10 second penalty for not serving the penalty correctly and then another five second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Williams, Alfa Romeo and Haas all finished below the top 10 apart from Valtteri Bottas who bagged 8th place behind Mercedes’ George Russell.

Image via F1 Chronicle

There's a lot to take away from the first race of the season. We've seen domination from Red Bull already and we've seen an impressive change of pace at Aston Martin.

Jeddah is next, will we see the same stories told?

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