Max Verstappen won the race, but the Bahrain Grand Prix belonged to Fernando Alonso. Fernando Alonso’s podium on his Aston Martin debut not only showed the excitement around the team car (if not a bit overblown on points this week) but saw one of the most talented drivers of the modern Formula One era back competitive.
Fernando Alonso goes back the years
Fernando Alonso, the grid’s oldest and most experienced driver, is a lot of fun to watch when he’s in a competitive car, and Sunday evening was no different.
The man who told Netflix he’s glad to be the antihero of F1 was a defender of the opening race, which otherwise would have been seriously lacking in genuine entertainment. What’s more, Aston Martin looked like it could be a regular podium this year.
“So it feels good to perform because it was on qualifying,” said Fernando Alonso. “I think the last few times I was competitive, like Canada last year, it was a weight qualifying…there were always special circumstances.
“We were very strong in testing, strong in free practice, and strong in the race. So proud to be a part of this organization right now. These are just starting points, we’ve changed the concept, so it’s a new philosophy and We need it to get more exposure in the coming months.”
The result included some spectacular pieces of overtaking. Fernando Alonso and Hamilton are considered great rivals but actual track battles between them have been rare in recent years.
They had a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle in Hungary 2021 when Fernando Alonso’s defensive moves helped his then-teammate Esteban Ocon win the race. The pair also clashed in Belgium last year, after which Fernando Alonso suggested Hamilton only knew how to run when he was at the front.
There was no clash this time, as the two men – who have a combined nine world championships and 135 race wins – treated fans to a spectacular wheel-to-wheel battle through the course of the race.
It was great to see Fernando Alonso’s move to pass his former McLaren teammate on the inside of Turn 10, as was their tight battle for position over the last two laps. Hamilton deserves credit for a great undercut that saw him retain position at Turn 4, but the Aston Martin’s pace was clear.
Fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who grew up idolizing Fernando Alonso, was next. After a short contact, Fernando Alonso made light work of the Ferrari driver on the back straight on lap 45, taking the opposite line through Turn 10, which he took in his battle with Hamilton. It showed that Fernando Alonso’s race craft is as clever as ever.
He later explained: “The problem with that corner… Either you like Lewis, and you leave the door open from the inside, or you like Carlos and you close the door and then You are very vulnerable when you are out. So I had a good hand on me at that moment.
“I had more grip and better tyres, so they couldn’t hold me down for so long.”
In the final stages of the race, Fernando Alonso radioed his team to say “what a lovely car to drive”, and after the race, it was clear, as it has been for several weeks now, What a lot of fun Fernando Alonso is having driving his new team car. Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin may not be able to win races with outright pace, but this is the Spaniard’s best car in nearly a decade.
With the opening race of the season (at least) set to be dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso could be a man to watch.
Stroll almost ruins Fernando Alonso’s big day
It could have all been very different for Fernando Alonso had the events of the first lap played out slightly differently. The day was almost ruined by his teammate and son of team owner Lawrence, Lance Stroll.
Stroll, who deserves credit for getting back in the car this week with a broken and broken wrist as well as a broken toe, sent an audacious lunge inside Turn 4 and directly into Fernando Alonso’s right rear. Gone in the tyre. Remarkably, both cars escaped unscathed and managed to make it to the end.
There were concerns about Stroll’s fitness for the race when video emerged of him struggling to get out of the car after Friday practice, but he said the incident had nothing to do with it.
“Lucky, really lucky,” Stroll said afterward. “I braked late to stay in front of George. Fernando Alonso went for it, cut back on Hamilton in Turn 4 and really bad timing we came together. Really lucky to have gotten away with that one. “
Stroll reveals that he fought back tears to deal with the pain in his wrists as he avoided the rear of a sister’s car. Fernando Alonso has been very complimentary of Stroll since joining – saying the Canadian, who has yet to win an F1 race, is a future world champion – and he continued to do so despite his near-miss after the race. kept.
“He is my hero,” said Fernando Alonso. “If you look at his arms and legs… he deserves a good podium soon.”
Running 6th place, underlining how strong the car is.
Max in a league of his own
We will get used to watching Max Verstappen disappear into the distance this year.
Apart from a minor wobble in terms of where it was with the car during Friday’s practice session, Red Bull looked comfortably better than the rest in Bahrain.
Once Verstappen had the lead going into Turn 1, only a reliability issue was seen to stop the two-time world champion. Apart from some concerns about his offside, Verstappen’s race seemed pretty drama-free.
With Sergio Pérez unlikely to mount a title challenge and Ferrari showing worrying unreliability in the early races, this could be a very long season from a competitive point of view. George Russell later gave an ominous assessment of things, stating that Red Bull had already won the championship and should claim victory in every race.
New era, same Ferrari?
A combo of off-season and a new team principal in the 2022 season that went from title challenge to full-blown capitulation in six months have kept the expectations around Ferrari muted. However, it wasn’t hard to imagine this year would be more of the same old Ferrari, given what its opener revealed.
Charles Leclerc never looked close to challenging Red Bull but was comfortably third until his car stalled 40 laps from the finish. Leclerc had mentally set his expectations as one of the championship contenders last year and it was clear to see the early disappointments in what turned out to be a long and frustrating campaign far from the pace.
“I can’t say it feels good,” said retired Leclerc about retirement. “Obviously there was a lot of work on that but we need to keep working as the first race and the first reliability problem … yeah, not good.”
Leclerc’s car had two new engine parts fitted before the start of the race, which is very unusual at this stage of the season.
McLaren in real trouble
McLaren went into the race for a tough weekend but not even the most pessimistic member of the team would have predicted their race.
Australian rookie Oscar Piestri was the first driver to retire this season, while Lando Norris spent most of the race fighting Alpine’s Esteban Ocon for last place.
Bahrain has always been unkind to McLaren and it is hard to imagine that the team would have been so poor throughout the season. It started 2022 in similar positions but struggled to challenge Alpine for fourth place in the championship.
This year the team is targeting a major upgrade at the fourth race of the year in Baku. If this goes wrong, McLaren could be in for an incredibly humbling campaign.
Sergeant impresses on debut
American rookie Logan Sargent ran himself very well in his first weekend, narrowly missing out on a spot in Q2 on Saturday and then finishing 12th on Sunday, just two places behind teammate Alex Albon.
“I just looked for gaps and tried to fill them,” said the Floridian. “I didn’t ask for too much, but just felt my way … I really enjoyed it. I loved every second of it, I loved the on-track battles. It was great fun.”