“Formula 1” started on the knurled – Newspaper Kommersant No. 38 (7483) dated 03/06/2023

The Formula 1 World Championship kicked off as predicted with a victory for reigning title holder Max Verstappen. For his Red Bull team, the Bahrain stage turned out to be brilliant in general, because the Dutch team-mate Sergio Perez came second to the finish line. But they were not the heroes of the evening. They became Fernando Alonso. The 2023 Aston Martin of the Spanish veteran was so successful that it allowed him to become the third.

The Bahrain Grand Prix, which opened the new season of the Formula 1 championship, went as expected. Another pre-season test, held at the same track in Bahrain, showed that the championship has a team of Red Bull, acting in their league, and there are all the rest. For Bulls fans in general and Max Verstappen in particular, this was great news. For everyone else – so-so. With all due respect to the talent of the Dutchman, his dominance last year (a record 15 wins in a season) was already detrimental to the spectacle. But many fans, even after Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez took the first row of the starting field, probably hoped to the last that, say, Ferrari or Mercedes still hid some trump cards, that they were not so much inferior to Red Bull that the fight for victory on the track will be.

These hopes were shattered immediately after the start. Verstappen worked it out clearly, calmly increased the gap from his pursuers, after which his participation in the race was reduced to not doing stupid things and calmly getting the first victory of the season (and the first in Bahrain in his entire career) victory. Perez let us down a little. The Mexican start missed, which Charles Leclerc immediately took advantage of. However, 25 laps later, Perez caught up with and overtook the Ferrari leader. And on the 40th lap, Leclerc also had a power plant failure. So Perez got the opportunity to quietly roll to the rightful second place – he is not entitled to the first according to his status in Red Bull. It is good that the rules allow only two cars from one team to participate in the race. Otherwise, the entire podium would be occupied by the bulls.

But the audience still saw the fight. Even if only for third place, but there really is no choice. Fernando Alonso became the hero of the day. The 41-year-old veteran seems to have guessed right with the choice of the team. His transition to Aston Martin from Alpine was perceived by many with skepticism, apparently remembering that the Spaniard chose the wrong team more than once during his long career (the only one hundred percent hit was Renault, playing for which he became world champion in 2005 and 2006). However, it was Aston Martin that made the most progress over the winter. But Alonso already on the first lap, after being hit by teammate Lance Stroll, rolled back from fifth to seventh. This did not prevent him from subsequently coping with both Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and bypassing Ferrari number two Carlos Sainz. The latter tried to repel the attacks of the idol of his childhood, but he had no chance. They demanded from the pits to hold on, but in response they heard that aggressive protection would only lead to an early death of the tires and would not give anything in the end. It seems that Ferrari has not yet been able to cope with last year’s misfortune – increased tire wear (without solving this problem, there can be no question of competing with Red Bull). So there is almost no doubt that if Leclerc had not had an engine breakdown, Alonso would have coped with him (Leclerc himself later, however, assured that he would have fought back).

After the finish, Alonso, referring to the team, said: “This is a great car, you have done a fantastic job!” An audio recording of this statement should have been continuously played at the headquarters of the Mercedes team, which had nothing to rejoice in Bahrain (Hamilton – fifth, Russell – seventh). After all, the boss of the strongest championship team not so long ago, Toto Wolf, admitted that Aston Martin was half assembled from Mercedes components. Moreover, these are key components (power plant, gearbox, rear suspension, etc.). How it happened that a much less wealthy and equipped team, dependent on Mercedes supplies, produced a much better product is not clear. But it is clear that Mercedes went somewhere wrong. Actually, Wolf is already forced to admit that the current car is no good, a new one is needed.

Alexander Petrov