2023_Bahrain_Grand_Prix

2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

First round of the 2023 Formula One season

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.[2] It was the opening round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.

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Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant made their Formula One Grand Prix season debuts with McLaren, AlphaTauri and Williams, respectively. 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.[5]

Background

The event was held across the weekend of 3–5 March. It was the opening round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.[2]

Entrants

See also: 2023 Formula One World Championship § Entries

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[6]

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.[7]

Tyre choices

Further information: Formula One tyres

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[8]

Track changes

The third DRS activation point was moved 80 metres (260 ft) farther ahead, being positioned 250 metres (820 ft) after turn 15.[9]

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.[10] 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.[10] During Q2, Alexander Albon went off track at the turn 5/6/7 esses, preventing him from setting a time.[10] 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.[10] Ultimately, Max Verstappen took pole position by nearly two tenths of a second, with a time of 1:29.708.[10]

Qualifying classification

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Notes

  • ^1 – Lando Norris and Logan Sargeant set identical lap times in Q1. Norris advanced to Q2 as he set his time earlier.[11][13]

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.[14]

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.[14]

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.[14]

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.[15][16]

Race classification

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Notes

  • ^1 – Nico Hülkenberg received a 15-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. His final position was not affected by the penalty.[15]

Championship standings after the race

For full season standings, see 2023 Formula One World Championship § Results and standings.
More information Pos., Driver ...
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

Notes

  1. At the time of the event Formula One planned to hold twenty-three Grands Prix.[1]

References

  1. [1]
    "Formula 1 update on the 2023 calendar". Formula 1. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  2. [2]
    "Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 – F1 Race". Formula 1. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  3. [3]
    "Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 – F1 Race - Circuit Information". Formula 1. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  4. [4]
    "Record Attendance at Sold Out 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix". f1destinations.com. 6 March 2023. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  5. [5]
    "'I thought the podium was gone' – Fernando Alonso on his thrilling final-lap battle with Sergio Perez". Formula 1. 5 November 2023. Archived from the original on 6 November 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  6. [6]
    "2023 Bahrain Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 3 March 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  7. [7]
    "'This is a very special moment' – Rookie drivers Piastri, De Vries and Sargeant speak ahead of season opener in Bahrain". Formula 1. 2 March 2023. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  8. [8]
    "2023 Tyre Compound Choices – Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia". Pirelli. 15 February 2023. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  9. [9]
    Wood, Ida (1 March 2023). "Bahrain's main DRS zone shortened for 2023 grand prix". Racefans.net. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  10. [10]
    "Verstappen beats Perez to pole for 2023 opener in Bahrain GP qualifying thriller". Formula 1. 4 March 2023. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  11. [11]
    "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 – Qualifying". Formula 1. 4 March 2023. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  12. [12]
    "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 – Starting Grid". Formula 1. 4 March 2023. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  13. [13]
    Cooper, Adam (9 March 2023). "Sargeant didn't want to be "too greedy" on Bahrain F1 debut". Autosport.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  14. [14]
    "2023 Bahrain Grand Prix race report and highlights: Verstappen leads 1-2 in Bahrain season opener as Leclerc retires and Alonso takes final podium place in style". Formula 1. 5 March 2023. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  15. [15]
    "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 – Race Result". Formula 1. 5 March 2023. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  16. [16]
    "FACTS AND STATS: Red Bull end a long wait for success in Bahrain – as does Alonso". Formula 1. 5 March 2023. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  17. [17]
    "Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 – Fastest Laps". Formula 1. 5 March 2023. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  18. [18]
    "Bahrain 2023". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  19. [19]
    "Bahrain 2023 – Championship". Stats F1. 5 March 2023. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
Previous race:
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
2023 season		 Next race:
2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2022 Bahrain Grand Prix		 Bahrain Grand Prix Next race:
2024 Bahrain Grand Prix
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