Dear F1 fans,
this week we have the first F1 Grand Prix of 2023 taking place in Bahrain. Beautiful country with interesting track. Let’s have a quick look!
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain is an island in Western Asia. The first Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on April 4th in 2004. This circuit has 57 laps and is 5.412 km long. The title of most wins for constructors has Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton is the driver with the most wins - 5 in total. Grand Prix was held in Bahrain 18 times.
Let’s not forget about the Bahrain Curse - it is said that if the driver wins the Bahrain Grand Prix, it is not possible for him to win the Championship.
Last year, we had Leclerc to win the first race of 2022 in Bahrain and the start of the season did look good for him. But let’s be honest, the Championship did slip through his fingers during the season.
I found beautiful video by FIA about the Numbers of Bahrain:
Now let's move to some interesting info about the circuit:
The turn 1 is named after Michael Schumacher who was the first driver to win the Bahrain GP in 2004.
On this track we have 3 DRS - 2 is section 1 and 1 in section 2 and we have 15 turns on the track.
You might see a little bouncing
It is a night race that starts 20 minutes after the sunset which means that the floor is cooling down.
You will also see slight changes in results during Practices and Qualy and Race because of the temperature difference. Also the race is in the middle of a dessert so there is also possible wind issue.
Now to the actual race:
The practice was quite exciting to see, but as you may have seen, they did not give everything into it, at least not all teams.
Qualifying was more interesting and you could have seen that teams gave it more. The results to qualifying were:
And now to the race itself, look into my notes during the race:
Sunday 5th March 2023
It is 4:30 pm and we are right now on lap 17, LEC, SAI and also VER did a tyres change so they lost for quite a moment their top possitions, VER giving his lead to PER
(1 - VER, 2 - LEC, 3 - PER, 4 - SAI)
4:32 - PER went to the pit and gave up his pole position to VER and we are again back to the begining positions.
Many people favorite, ALO is in 6th place. Almost everyone made their first pit stop. And our McLaren Rookie PIA is OUT of the race.
4:46 - PER overtook LEC and gained 2nd place right behind his team mate VER. HAM is 5th, breathing on the back of Ferrarie’s SAI in 4th. OCO did get 5 second penalty, twice already.
4:53 - Fastet lap set by HUL - 1:36.981 who is now at 18th place.
TOP 5 - VER - PER - LEC- SAINZ - ALO
4:57 - Lap 32 - TOP 5 after few pit stops: VER - PER - LEC - ALO - SAI
Best time - Stroll 1: 36.546, Ocon 15 second penalty
It is 5 pm, we are on lap 34, TOP 5 - VER - PER - ALO - LEC - SAI - PER and ALO boxing and changing positions to VER - PER - LEC - SAI - HAM
5:04 - ALO to set the fastest lap 1:36.15, overtake fight between ALO and HAM, ALO winning it (5:07)
5:10 - Lap 40 - TOP 5 - VER - PER - LEC - SAI - ALO, PIA OUT and now we have Ferrari no. 16 LEC retirement and Yellow flag - total system failure -> LEC is OUT!
TOP 5 - VER - PER - SAI - ALO - HAM
5:16 - SAI and ALO chase for 3rd place, SAI trying to keep his position. HAM also right behind SAI (SAI having degradeted tyres, he is not really able to push hard)
5:18 - Lap 45 - ALO overtook SAI and is now 3rd.
TOP 5 - VER - PER- ALO - SAI - HAM.
OCO also OUT!
5:22 - Lap 47- SAI and HAM hunt for 4th place and only 10 laps left. SAI mentioning big bouncing on lap 49.
5:26 - Lap 51 - black and white flag for HUL - track limit
5:30 - Lap 53 - TOP 5 still - VER - PER - ALO - SAI - HAM, only 5 laps left
5:32 - TSU chasing ALB for 10th place - battle for a point, HUL under investigation for breaking track limits - penalty 5 sec
5:33 - Lap 55 - 3 laps to go, VER still the leader of the race, 11.946 sec faster then PER
5:36 - Lap 57 - final lap, TOP 5 - VER - PER - ALO - SAI - HAM,
OCO, LEC and PIA out
5:38 - checkered flag, VER winning his first ever Bahrain Grand Prix.
1st VER
2nd PER
3rd ALO
4th SAI
5th HAM
Full results:
in: VER - PER - ALO - SAI - HAM - STR - RUS - BOT - GAS - ALB - TSU - SAR - MAG - DEV - HUL - ZHO - NOR
DNF: PIA - LEC - OCO
Interesting race, full of emotions. Now the question is: Is the Bahrain curse real? And what will it mean for our two-times F1 Champion, does it mean the end to the reign of VER for 2023 season or is he the one to break the curse? We will see, the whole seson in front of us and so many raxes to see, next on we have the Saudi Arabia GP on 17 - 19th March.
Till next time, do not forget...Lights out and away we go!!
Natalie Kika
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