The dust has barely settled in the sands of Abu Dhabi, and neither has the champagne stopped pouring in the garage of the Red Bull team - who were last season's double champions - but a new season of Formula One is upon us once more, and if the first race of the season is anything to go by, we are in for a hell of a ride from now till the end of the year. With a host of changes across the drivers' lineup and a year of adjusting to the new F1 car and rules from the 2022 season, it's safe to suggest the number of surprises and/or shocks should be kept at a minimum. However, this is Formula One, and stranger things have happened.
Since replacing Melbourne as the curtain raiser for the F1 season, the Bahrain Grand Prix has offered a lot of exciting moments; from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's opening day tussle at the start of the 2021 season to Kevin Magnussen's impressive fifth-place finish in the Haas car in 2022. And 2023 proved to be no different, as we witnessed quite an exciting race. Here are some of the talking points from the weekend in Bahrain.
Red Bull remains the team to beat...
The defending champions might have secured a 1-2 finish at the end of the dry and humid race in Bahrain, with Max Verstappen winning the race in extremely comfortable fashion whilst teammate Sergio Perez looked unperturbed all through. However, it's their dominance of the entire race weekend that has me worried for the entire chasing pack. Red Bull had both drivers in the top three of the standings during all three free practice sessions before proceeding to secure a 1-2 position at the end of qualifying. If not for a poor start to the race that saw Perez slip to third place, Christain Horner's men looked in control for the entire podium and also seem like the safest bet to secure this season's constructor's and driver's championship.
A lot of people - pundits and fans alike - expect Red Bull to be challenged by Ferrari and Mercedes this season, but if what we saw at the Bahrain Grand Prix and as well as during the preseason testing is anything to go by, the Milton Keynes-based team might run away from its supposed rivals even before the season starts.
Preseason testing isn't overrated...
Speaking of pre-season, I remember seeing the Mercedes W13 struggle with porpoising and pace during the 2022 preseason but the experts insisted the Brackley-based team would fix their issues before crunch time. However, it turned out to be the opposite, as they struggled all through the 2022 season, winning just one race whilst watching Verstappen and Red Bull run away with both titles.
The 2023 preseason testing showed Red Bull is still the team to beat on track but provided a new twist with Aston Martin its closest challenger. Fast forward to the first race of the season and Aston Martin's preseason pace is proving to be no fluke as Fernando Alonso ended the race with a podium finish - 3rd - and his injury-hampered teammate Lance Stroll secured sixth position despite being sidelined for the entirety of preseason training.
Even the consistently disappointing Williams F1 team translated their preseason testing performance to race pace, with drivers Alex Albon and Logan Sergeant securing 10th and 12th positions respectively.
New team principal, new livery, same old Ferrari...
Scuderia Ferrari made the third change to their pit wall in four years, with Frederic Vasseur replacing Mattia Binotto as the new team principal, as the Italian F1 team hope for a change in fortunes in the 2023 season. However, whatever reliability issues the team has been suffering over the past two years refused to go away with Binotto, as Charles Leclerc suffered a DNF due to car troubles, losing a comfortable podium place to teammate Carlos Sainz who eventually failed to stop Fernando from getting past him.
I could make the argument that Charles Leclerc could have been crowned champion last season or at least given Max Verstappen a run for his money had it not been for the unrepentant car reliability issues the Scuderia Ferrari team was plagued with. The Monegasque secured the hat-trick -pole position, race winner, and fastest lap - of the Bahrain GP last year but could only secure two more race victories from the remaining 22 races, including three DNFs. All thanks to Ferrari's reliability issues.
If Vasseur is to succeed where predecessors Mauricio Arrivabene and Mattia Binotto failed, he has to start by finding a solution to Ferrari's reliability issues. Otherwise, the 2023 season might just turn out to be one filled with disappointments for 15x driver's championship winners.
Toto and Mercedes are starting to feel the heat...
After an underwhelming 2022 season, a lot was expected from the Mercedes AMG team and its team principal Toto Wolff, and so far it seems like the solution isn't in sight for the 2021 constructors' championship winner. Mercedes struggled with porpoising and pace at the start of last season and while the porpoising issues seem to be a thing of the past, the lack of pace in the W14 is still a major issue.
The Milton Keynes-based F1 team was massively disappointing during pre-season with a few pundits suggesting that perhaps Toto and the rest of the Mercedes team didn't want to show their hand. However, after watching them struggle during practice, qualifying, and the race proper (fifth and seventh place finishes for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell respectively), I think it's safe to say Mercedes have nothing hiding under their hood. And unless things start to change in the positive direction, it's hard to see Lewis Hamilton secure his ninth (sorry, eight) driver's championship and the once-untouchable Toto Wolff might start to look insecure - at least in terms of his job as team principal of Mercedes.
Age is just a number, at least to Fernando Alonso...
There's a reason Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton allegedly had "anti-Alonso" clauses in their contracts at some point. The two-time F1 champion is a tough customer for anyone at any time and on any track and at the "young" age of 41, he's still showing off the driving skills that have made him one of the best in the history of the sport. Alonso finished top of the time sheet during the second and third practice sessions and while he fell off the pace a little during qualifying -fifth place- he made amends with an impressive podium finish during the race.
The former Scuderia Ferrari driver pulled off impressive overtaking moves on the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, before easily dispatching Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to secure only his second podium finish since Hungary, in 2014. Alonso surprised the F1 world when he made the shock move from Alpine to Aston Martin but after their impressive performances during pre-season and a third-place finish in Bahrain, it's safe to say, it looks like a match made in heaven - at least for the time being.
Well, there you have it for the opening weekend of the 2023 F1 season. Please let me know what you think of the new season and your favorite moment from the Bahrain GP in the comments. And you can also engage the On About Nothing crew on all things sports, entertainment, and lifestyle on our social media platforms.
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