A new season, the same winner. Max Verstappen dominated the Bahrain GP and has made an excellent start to a new year of Formula 1. It is already his 55th GP victory. Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz were allowed to join the Dutchman on the podium.
At the Bahrain International Circuit, Max Verstappen was in the lead from start to finish. The Dutchman cashed in on his pole position with gusto and was already out of reach of the DRS on the third lap. Away tension.
Then the fight in second place was more exciting. That was initially a fight between George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. Although the Ferrari duo quickly had to step aside. They even briefly clashed in the battle for P4.
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Perez, meanwhile, extended his hand into second place by pushing past Russell. And things didn’t go well for the latter. Because after Sainz also managed to pass the Brit, he also had to deal with an engine problem. The way was open for Leclerc to come back.
Pechvogel Russell
And Max Verstappen? It steamed along quietly unthreatened at the front. In between he also achieved the fastest lap. The Dutchman fared much better than George Russell, who still had to lose one place. Leclerc had already made a number of attempts, but in the final phase he had caught Russell.
Nothing had changed in the top three in the second half of the race. Max Verstappen stood head and shoulders above the rest and immediately took his first GP victory in Bahrain. The four-time world champion had a lead of no less than 22 seconds over teammate Sergio Perez, who completed the party for Red Bull. Carlos Sainz was third on the podium.
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Top ten
1. Max Verstappen
2. Sergio Perez
3. Carlos Sainz
4. Charles Leclerc
5. George Russell
6. Lando Norris
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Oscar Piastri
9. Fernando Alonso
10. Lance Stroll
The Bahrain GP was already held on Saturday because next week’s Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia was also postponed to Saturday – due to Ramadan, which starts a day later – and there must be at least seven days between two races.