Can anyone stop Max Verstappen?
Formula 1 is back! The best sport in the world returns for its opening round of the season in Bahrain this weekend and the big question is can anyone stop Max Verstappen? Max enters 2023 as the back-to-back World Champion and he was absolutely dominant last year so it’s kind of hard to think anyone else is going to be able to match him both this weekend and over the course of the season. His teammate Sergio Perez will give it a good go though and the pressure is on Ferrari to start the season as well as they did last year. There’s also a lot of intrigue around Mercedes as to whether they're going to be right at the front again after an underwhelming 2022 season. We’ll only truly know if anyone can stop the Verstappen dominance at the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Will the results from Pre-Season Testing correlate to this weekend?
It’s fair to say that most people think that you can’t take much from what happens at F1 Pre-Season Testing. I totally agree, but it will be intriguing to see if the “pecking order” testing is the same during the first race weekend. Red Bull looked pretty dominant, Mercedes didn’t look as good as expected, Aston Martin were looking really good and people seem particularly concerned about McLaren’s performance. Personally, I’ll wait till qualifying to do my pecking order.
Same faces, new colours
Some experienced members of the Formula 1 grid will make their proper debuts for their new teams this weekend. Pierre Gasly, after spending his whole F1 career in the Red Bull family, finds himself driving for Alpine in 2023 and he will want to start the season well. Fernando Alonso starts his new chapter at Aston Martin after leaving potential championship rivals Alpine after two seasons whilst Nico Hulkenberg returns to the Formula 1 grid after three years on the sidelines to partner Kevin Magnussen at Haas. I think they could all have a good weekend.
Rookies making their Formula 1 debuts
For 2023, there will be 3 new rookies on the grid. Highly rated former back-to-back Formula 3 and Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri makes his debut for McLaren and it’s fair to say that there’s a lot of expectations on the young Australian’s shoulders. Former Formula 2 and Formula E World Champion Nyck de Vries finally gets his shot at the pinnacle of motorsport with Alpha Tauri whilst young American driver Logan Sargeant makes his Formula 1 debut for Williams this weekend. I’m very intrigued to see how all three men get on.
Will the Round 1 curse strike again?
Most people who don’t watch Formula 1 regularly will probably think that winning the first race of the season is amazing. Don’t get me wrong, it fills the team with a lot of confidence, but it has arguably been a curse for the last several years. Since 2017, the driver who has won the opening round of the season has finished the season as the runner-up in the standings. Those drivers include Sebastian Vettel (2017 and 2018), Valtteri Bottas (2019 and 2020), Lewis Hamilton (2021) and Charles Leclerc (2022). If you're going to choose a race that your favourite driver can’t win, it’d be wise to pick this one.
My Predictions for Bahrain Qualifying:
Max Verstappen
Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz
Sergio Perez
George Russell
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