It's redemption day for Sergio Perez in a race so convoluted that the final result couldn't even be determined within the 50 laps around the streets of Jeddah. There were mechanical failures, grid penalties and cars in walls, all before the race even began. Front runners out of position meant this one was all to play for so let's get into it!
First Off the Line
Red Bull dominance is clearly going to be the story of the season but don't lose all hope. You may be familiar with that age old saying: In order to finish first, first you have to finish...
Okay that was a bit dramatic, I'll admit, and it's much less of an issue when these problems creep into Qualifying rather than the race. Nonetheless, it can make life difficult and that it did for Max Verstappen who suffered a gearbox failure in Q2 that left him relegated to P15 for Sunday's Race. Charles Leclerc on the other hand put in a monumental lap to finish P2 and less than 2-tenths behind the remaining Red Bull of Sergio Perez! This was a big step up from what most thought the Italian cars were capable of, but sadly a third set of Control Electronics (out of 2 allocated for the season) resulted in a 10-place grid penalty and a big task on his hands come race day.
This left an all Spanish-speaking front row with Fernando Alonso lined up alongside the lead Red Bull. Now most will know that Fernando is more often than not, the quickest to pounce off the line and as for Sergio? Not so much. So it was no surprise when the lights went out and the Aston Martin was swiftly ahead upon arrival at turn 1. Despite this initial success, there wasn't long to relish in the excitement as we soon got to see the true spectacle of the Red Bull DRS system which, upon activation allowed Perez to breeze back past and fly off into the distance (I fear this scenario may play out in every one of my recaps throughout the season). Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll and the two Mercedes completed the front of the pack and continued in procession behind the leaders, meanwhile Leclerc and Verstappen were picking up places, fast.
Let's Not Talk About McLaren
Okay fine I will, but just know it hurts me to write this one. Qualifying produced a very bittersweet result for McLaren fans as Lando Norris clipped the wall early in Q1 ending his chances before he'd really got a chance to show what he could do and leaving him on the back row of the grid for Sunday. On the other hand, Oscar Piastri gave us all a glimpse of why he was so in-demand last year as he outperformed all expectations of his car with a cracking lap that put him P9 and subsequently got bumped up to P8 with Leclerc's penalty. If all went well, there was every chance of a points finish for the British team...
All was not well however, as the bright Pink Alpine of Pierre Gasly was not quite bright enough for Oscar to spot going into turn 2, resulting in a very broken wing and an orange endplate flying backwards into the pack. The Australian slowly slipped back down the order before pitting for new hard tyres and front wing change. As if this start wasn't catastrophic enough, that airborne endplate managed to land in front of none other than Lando Norris, who also subsequently suffered fatal front wing damage and peeled into the pits on lap 2. This left the two of them vying for position at the back of the pack for the rest of the race and though Piastri was able to pick off the Williams of Logan Sargeant on the last lap (on 49 lap old tyres I might add!), both will be greatly disappointed with how this season is beginning to unfold.
2023: The Year of Engine Failures
We are only 2 races into a 23-race season and we already have engines going bang up and down the grid. Well, not quite bang but you get the idea. A gearbox aborted Verstappen's qualifying, electronics sent Ferrari down the order and it wasn't long until Aston Martin became the next victim. Lance Stroll, continuing to suffer from his two broken wrists only a few weeks ago, was flying from the offset, putting in a fantastic move to pass Carlos Sainz's Ferrari around the outside of turn 13. The Canadian was building momentum in P4 behind the Mercedes of George Russell when all of a sudden, his team were on the radio shouting to stop the car on track. What could have been a race spent fighting for a podium position, ended in heartbreak for Stroll and, despite the car being parked off in an escape road, an early safety car to spice things up a little.
It was inevitable around these tight streets and it played beautifully into Max Verstappen's hands as he was able to pit and pop out in P4, ready to be bunched up behind the safety car with the front runners. Ferrari however were not so pleased with this timing as both had just pitted before the incident. It is a shame as the team had just made an ingenious (and dare I say out-of-character) strategy move a few laps prior, calling Sainz into pit as a dummy to trick the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in, releasing both of their cars into free air and successfully over-cutting the green team. This safety car period also allowed Fernando Alonso to serve his 5-second penalty with virtually no consequences after he incorrectly placed his car slightly to the left of his grid spot at the start. You may wonder what advantage this actually awarded him and how it is fair to penalise such a mistake but it is worth noting that this misalignment could prevent the track sensors from picking up on a false start, allowing the spaniard to get away quicker off the line.
Same old, Same old, FIA
The past few seasons have brought much discussion around the decision-making by FIA officials, or more specifically: their lack of decision-making. Delays in decisions can completely change the scope of a race and mean crucial championship points are awarded in a very controversial manor. It only takes one glance at the 2021 finale to see the drastic consequences of these actions; it can quite literally determine who picks up that coveted trophy and who is left in despair (too soon? sorry). So, it wasn't a total surprise when messages started to traverse the team radio channels suggesting that Alonso may suffer yet another penalty for incorrectly serving his first... around 30 laps after the incident actually occurred. The team warned him of another 5 second set back and the Spaniard was left with 2 laps to open up a gap to the Mercedes of George Russell to retain his podium position. This is Fernando Alonso however and the task looked almost too easy. Crossing the line in 3rd, this would be his 100th career podium, making him only the 6th driver in history to reach said milestone.
Why would I cover this incident in such detail you ask? Well, it's never simple in the world of FIA awarded penalties, and of course the celebrations had to be cut short as a 10 second time penalty made it's way into the books, demoting Aston Martin out of the podium positions, after having already been and picked up the trophy and popped the champagne (fizzy rose water actually but that doesn't quite have the same gravitas). George Russell was mid-interview when he was informed of his promotion in which he stated that he'd "happily take the trophy, but it is Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso who truly deserve it". Ever the gentlemen, he began to celebrate among his team and managed to get a hold of that third place trophy for some belated photo-ops. Fernando, also mid-interview, boldly noted that if he had been aware that it would be a 10 second penalty then he would have "opened an 11 second gap" to the car behind. No lack of confidence from the 2-time champ then!
Criticism of this decision from the FIA was not in short supply and naturally, Aston Martin went straight to the stewards to appeal the penalty. Note that the reason for incorrectly serving his original penalty was based on the pit crew touching the rear jack to the car before the 5 seconds had elapsed. So, all it took was a smattering of identical scenarios of teams touching the car in exactly the same spot during a time-penalty with no repercussions to convince them that this was an ill-advised decision. Three and a half hours after the race was completed, Fernando was finally reinstated on the podium as his penalty was struck from the record and all wrongs were righted. Sort of.
King of the Streets
Out of all of Max's teammates at Red Bull, it has to be said that Perez is keeping him on his toes more than most. After two years of supporting the 'number 1' driver, Sergio seems to be hungrier than ever to claim his place on that top spot. His chances don't get much better than this either as the Mexican is renowned for being unstoppable on the streets having had 3 out of his 4 career wins on such tracks. He also had a fire lit under him after losing out on the win here last year, from which he also started on pole position but an ill-timed safety car cost him 3 places and left him off the podium in P4.
Max didn't make it easy for him however and the battle went right to the last lap. Ultimately Perez was not willing to let Max close up to him and the race was as good as won, however, with the two drivers finishing the other way around in Bahrain, that number 1 spot on the leaderboard would be determined by that sneaky extra point for fastest lap of the race. Both drivers were haggling on the radio to know what the lap time to beat was and while Sergio was being told to "hold the pace", Max rebutted back to a remark from his team that they "didn't care" about the fastest lap with "no, but I do!". This inconsistency in communication across both sides of the garage led to a major effort from Verstappen to steal the final point away from his teammate who simply got the car to the line without the opportunity or incentive to also push.
Interactions between the two seemed frosty in post-race interviews (we even saw the moment that Perez became aware of Max taking the fastest lap on camera... totally devastated) however no one can take that spot on the top step away from Checo who didn't put a foot wrong and thoroughly deserved the accolade. Despite retaining his Championship lead, Verstappen was not happy to be taking second place, stating "I'm not here to come second, I'm here to win". Yikes. I for one am very hopeful that Perez will continue to keep in touch with the Dutchman and make his life difficult so we can at least have some excitement up front, albeit with only one team involved. What do you think? Let me know!
Final Standings
1 | Perez |
2 | Verstappen |
3 | Alonso |
4 | Russell |
5 | Hamilton |
6 | Sainz |
7 | Leclerc |
8 | Ocon |
9 | Gasly |
10 | Magnussen |
11 | Tsunoda |
12 | Hulkenberg |
13 | Zhou |
14 | De Vries |
15 | Piastri |
16 | Sargeant |
17 | Norris |
18 | Bottas |
DNF | Albon |
DNF | Stroll |
Alonso is on fire!!! 🏎️