Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix to get his title defence off to the perfect start.
Verstappen led from lights to flag unchallenged except when he lost the lead in the opening round of pit stops to his Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez who finished second after overtaking Charles Leclerc on lap 26.
For Red Bull, it also represented their first one-two finish in both Qualifying and race since the 2013 Abu Dhabi, in which Mark Webber took pole but Sebastian Vettel took victory on that occasion.
Leclerc retired on lap 41 with a power unit failure which meant that two-time champion, Fernando Alonso snatched a third-placed podium finish on his Aston Martin debut, having passed Carlos Sainz on lap 45 into Turn 11.
Sainz finished fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll, George Russell, Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, whilst Gasly gained a bonus point for the fastest lap.
In the driver standings, Verstappen heads Perez and Alonso with ten points separating the trio.
At lights out, Verstappen made a clean start to keep his lead but Perez was slow off the line and almost punted Sainz into the pit exit wall as he covered off the Spaniard but lost second to Leclerc.
Further behind the front four, Hamilton jumped Russell and Alonso for fifth as the Spaniard then got tagged by his Aston Martin teammate, Stroll but both escaped without much damage although Stroll lost eighth to Bottas yet regained the position on Lap 5.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly meanwhile triggered the first round of pit stops as almost everyone switched from soft tyres to hard tyres, except for Verstappen and Pere who opted for another set of soft tyres whilst Kevin Magnussen had started on the hard tyre.
McLaren’s rookie driver, Oscar Piastri meanwhile retired on Lap 14 with an electronic issue whilst Lando Norris struggled with an air pressure issue throughout the race.
Up front, Verstappen comfortably dominated the race after he regained the lead from Perez on lap 18, as the Mexican dropped to third but his soft tyre gamble saw him reclaim second from Leclerc on lap 26 into Turn 1.
Elsewhere, Hamilton and Russell found themselves focused on protecting their tyres throughout much of the race, which enabled Alonso to pass Russell for fifth on Lap 13 after Hamilton pitted and the Spaniard eventually hunted Hamilton down following their second stops on Laps 31 and 34.
Alonso almost passed Hamilton on inside of Turn 4 on lap 37 only to lose out on traction into Turn 5 but eventually got past a lap later, as he launched an inside move at Turn 10 to seize fifth from the seven-time champion.
Leclerc who had enjoyed a comfortable race inside the top three suffered a sudden power failure on Lap 41 down the back straight between Turns 13 and 14, which caused the brief deployment of the Virtual Safety Car.
Alonso consequently capitalised upon Leclerc’s retirement as he rapidly reeled in Sainz and clipped his Spanish compatriot’s rear on Lap 45 out of Turn 4, only for Sainz to lock up out of Turn 10 which allowed Alonso to pass into Turn 11 with DRS.
Sainz eventually fought Hamilton off to finish fourth ahead of the Brit whilst Stroll finished sixth after he passed seventh-placed Russell on lap 32, as the Brit exited the pit lane after making his final stop.
Bottas and Gasly finished eighth and ninth respectively ahead of Alex Albon who rounded out the top ten, as the Thai-British driver gained a point in Williams’ first race under new Team Principal, James Vowles.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 57 | 1h 33m 56.736 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 57 | + 11.987 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 57 | + 38.637 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 57 | + 48.052 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 57 | + 50.977 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 57 | + 54.502 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | 57 | + 55.873 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 57 | + 72.647 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 57 | + 73.753 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | 57 | + 89.774 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 57 | + 90.870 |
| 12 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Nyck de Vries | AlphaTauri | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| 17 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 41 | Mechanical |
| RET | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 40 | Power |
| RET | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 14 | Electronic |
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