MANAMA, Bahrain – Max Verstappen has yet to win a Formula One season-opener or the Bahrain Grand Prix but Red Bull’s double world champion can tick both boxes at Sakhir on Sunday and start where he left off in 2022.
The Dutch 25-year-old won 15 races last season, including the final one in Abu Dhabi and showed in testing last week that he again has the car to beat.
There will be no complacency, however, after starting on the front row in Bahrain nearly a year ago but retiring three laps from the finish while in second place.
He said on Wednesday: “I stayed out after that test, so it has been nice to lead up to the race like that and we head into the weekend in a good position.
“There’s a lot to be said about reading into the data from testing, but each track is very different in terms of how a car can behave.
“So, I think that we, as a team, now have to focus on improvement and carry on throughout the year. We have three positive days, but this is when it counts – at the race.”
In 2021, he led all three practice sessions and started in pole position – only to end up second to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton after having to hand back the lead late on for exceeding track limits.
Verstappen was also second in the 2020 Bahrain GP and crashed out of the Sakhir GP that followed at the same circuit.
He retired in three of the five previous Bahrain Grands Prix.
Verstappen led the 2022 championship from the sixth round in Spain, which means a win on Sunday would stretch his run as championship leader to 18 races in a row.
Red Bull fully expect Verstappen to be even better this season as he chases a third title in a row and starting off on top of the podium is one immediate way to do it.
“He’s been in a great place for the last few years now and I think he’s at a stage in his career now where his confidence is obviously very high, he’s got that experience and he just gets in and turns it on,” said team boss Christian Horner.
“Physically he’s in great shape and excited to start the season.”
Charles Leclerc won in Bahrain last March in a Ferrari one-two from pole position with Carlos Sainz, and with the fastest lap thrown in. Repeating the feat would be the perfect start for new team boss Fred Vasseur.
Leclerc said last week that “the car is working really well”, but conceded: “Red Bull seem to be very strong in these three days. I feel we have some work to do.”
Ferrari could be Red Bull’s closest rivals, with Mercedes fixing the bouncing that tormented the team early last season but seemingly still lacking some performance.
Just how much remains to be seen, with Sunday’s floodlit race the real test after weeks of car launches and fighting talk.
“We’ve got to go in with a bit of an open mind,” said George Russell, who took the team’s sole win in 2022 while seven-time world champion and fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton – a five-time winner in Bahrain – drew a blank for the first time in his career.
“Red Bull look very, very strong but everybody is working flat out to get Mercedes back on top.”
Team principal Toto Wolff added: “We didn’t have the smoothest test. We had reliability problems and struggled with set-up on day two, but we did lots of learning and made progress on the final day.
“Our expectations are that we will be playing catch-up to the front.”
The evidence from testing suggests Aston Martin could be challenging for the podium, although they only on Thursday confirmed who is partnering new recruit and double world champion Fernando Alonso.
Lance Stroll is still dealing with the effects of a bicycle crash in Spain and the team, owned by his billionaire father Lawrence, on Thursday confirmed his availability for the season opener.
Brazilian reserve Felipe Drugovich had been on standby, as Stroll has so far had just 17 laps at a damp Silverstone in the new car.
In a statement, the 24-year-old said: “It was an unfortunate accident, I fell from my bike when my tyre caught a hole in the ground, but thankfully the damage was not significant and a successful minor surgery on my right wrist fixed the problem very quickly.
“Since then, I’ve been working hard with my team to ensure that I am fully fit to compete this weekend.”
American Logan Sargeant, at Williams, and Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) will be making race debuts.
AlphaTauri’s Dutch driver Nyck de Vries prepares for his second start after filling in for Williams’ Alex Albon at Monza in 2022.
REUTERS, AFP
