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Max Verstappen will head the all-Red Bull front row at the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP after clinching his 21st pole position on Saturday.
There were fears before the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP weekend that Red Bull will dominate the entire weekend and run away with wins. Well, that's not the case. Aston Martin is in contention, and so is Ferrari, while Mercedes is a bit of a question mark at the moment.
Having said that, what can we expect from the first race of this extensive 23-race season? Let's take a look.
#5 The midfield is going to be intensely competitive
It has been absolutely stunning to watch how bunched up the entire field is. There were fears earlier that Williams and AlphaTauri might have fallen behind the midfield group. Well, that's not really the case as both Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon put together stunning laps and made it to Q2.
The race is going to be very interesting because there are quite a few drivers that are possibly out of grid position. Drivers like Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen were eliminated in Q1 and both have their teammates in the top 10.
Having said that, the gaps in performance are not really there between these midfield teams. It's going to be very interesting to see how competitive all these teams are in the race.
#4 Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris score points, Lance Stroll doesn't
Esteban Ocon starts the race in the top 10 and compared to the midfield, he showed strong long-run speed. Unless he finds himself entangled in a first-lap incident (something he often did last season), and keeps his nose clean, a decent points haul is surely a possibility for the French driver.
Looking at Lance Stroll during his long runs, it was evident that he was in extreme pain while driving. Lest we forget, he was still driving on his own on Friday.
During the race, he will have to exert himself a lot more. The decision to race does not seem judicious enough anyway but the prospect of Stroll racing with cars around him is not the best either.
In the case of Norris, this is entirely us backing the immense talent of the McLaren driver to shine once again at the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP.
#3 Ferrari and Mercedes might struggle a bit in the race
So now that we know that Ferrari was probably sandbagging a bit on Friday, it's safe to say that the expectations from the team have increased. Having said that, it cannot be denied that the car's excess tire usage has been a concern since the first test and it showed up on Friday as well.
Can the team challenge for the win? Having a fresh set of soft tires might help but it remains to be seen if it would be truly helpful or not.
Mercedes, on the other hand, has somewhat remained where it was on Friday. The car was half a second down on Red Bull, during the Friday of the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP race weekend. It's still there or thereabout.
Mercedes did have a marginally better tire life than Ferrari on Friday, so that should be a help. But the team might struggle against others when it comes to the race pace.
#2 Fernando Alonso secures a podium finish at the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP
Aston Martin was always supposed to struggle on a single-lap pace. This had been the pre-season expectation heading into the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP. The car's early race weekend pace seemed to mask this deficiency quite a bit.
Having said that, P5 is a strong starting grid and while the short runs can be deceiving, the long runs might just hold a little more credence.
Alonso's long runs were at par with what Max Verstappen was able to put together. To add to this, the straight-line speed of the Aston Martin is nothing to scoff at. Finally, as the last key ingredient, add Fernando Alonso's hunger and brilliance and you have a combination that can score a podium.
#1 Max Verstappen wins the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP
It's hard to determine whether it was the right call by Ferrari to save an extra tire for the race. This might prove to be a masterstroke for all intents and purposes, but there is one thing that needs to be looked at as well. The move gives Max Verstappen a free path at the start of the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP.
For the Bahrain GP, Max Verstappen, the best driver on the grid, has arguably the best car on the grid in the race trim. To add to this, Red Bull is not a team that makes grave errors during a race.
Unless there is an unforeseen issue, a poor start, or a first-lap collision, Max Verstappen is the runaway favorite to win the race.
