Verstappen Wins F1 Season-opener Grand Prix

Max Verstappen defeated his teammate, Sergio Perez, to win the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix for Red Bull. Fernando Alonso finished third, while Charles Leclerc withdrew from the competition

- Kurt Morris

MAX VERSTAPPEN  made a strong start from the grid. Only Max and Kevin Magnussen (P15) started the race on soft tyres. While Sergio Perez slipped back and lost second place to Leclerc. Carlos Sainz was unable to overtake Red Bull in third place. With a commanding advantage, the defending champion extended his legs and eventually prevailed by more than 10 seconds. Similar soft-soft-hard techniques were used by Perez and the other Red Bull drivers to finish one-two.

As Lance Stroll lunged at his teammate, Alonso, into Turn Four and hit the rear right of his vehicle, letting both Mercedes ahead, Aston Martin's hopes of disrupting the podium battle appeared to have been dashed on lap one itself.