Max Verstappen dominated in Bahrain as Sergio Perez completed a Red Bull 1-2. Behind them, Carlos Sainz completed the podium as Ferrari and Mercedes fought hard for the whole race.
The first three drivers kept their starting position even after turn 1, while Sergio Perez overtook Carlos Sainz. In the first corner, Lance Stroll spun as Nico Hulkenberg broke his front wing while making contact with the Canadian.
Already on lap 3, George Russell passed Charles Leclerc on the outside at turn 4, showing great pace with his W15. Meanwhile, the Ferrari driver seemed to struggle as Perez was close. Lando Norris also made a move on Fernando Alonso, advancing to P6. Oscar Piastri did the same a few laps later.
The battle for P2 involved 4 drivers, as Russell, Leclerc, Perez, and even Sainz were close to each other. Verstappen had 4 seconds of advantage after 5 laps.
On lap 7, Perez overtook Leclerc at the exit of turn 9. The Monégasque was suffering from understeer, and he didn’t feel the balance was all right. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton also overtook Alonso.
On lap 10, Logan Sargeant stopped in the run-off area at turn 4 and seemed to retire, but he managed to resume the race. In the meantime, Sainz forced his way past his teammate to get up into P4.
On lap 12, both Russell and Leclerc pitted to fit hard tires. Verstappen was extending his lead to almost 10 seconds, and Perez dived into the pits as well as Hamilton. Both opted for hards.
Perez made a great move on Russell and overtook him at the exit of turn 4. Sainz also pitted after a positive first stint. Leclerc was struggling with the front brakes, but he was managing to keep Russell’s pace.
Sainz ended up behind Leclerc after the pit stop, but he managed to regain the position in turn 1 with an amazing overtake going very late on the brakes. While Leclerc was still arguing with the pit wall due to issues with his brakes, his teammate overtook Russell for P3.
After the first pit stops, there wasn’t much going on track until Valtteri Bottas was stuck in the pits due to an issue with his front left on lap 32. Meanwhile, Russell also pitted for new hard tires as well as Norris.
Leclerc also pitted a few laps later, and with him, Piastri did the same. At the exit, Hamilton jumped the Australian, who tried to keep the position but went wide in turn 1. Sainz changed tires one lap later, too.
Both Red Bull pitted with 20 and 19 laps to go and, unlike others, they opted for the soft tires. Meanwhile, Leclerc was still dealing with breaking issues, but his pace looked better, and he was closing it to Russell.
With ten laps to go, Leclerc was pressurizing Russell, who made a mistake in turn 10 and the Ferrari driver managed to overtake him.
Nothing much changed in the last laps, with Verstappen winning the race ahead of Perez and Sainz. Leclerc managed to grab P4, with Russell and Norris fighting until the end for P5 and P6. Hamilton, Piastri, Alonso, and Stroll completed the top 10.
My mental health can’t deal with another Verstappen domination year
start paying for a psycologist then…
boring race, give max the championship already…
Oh stop crying, at least I’m hoping we will get a better midfield battle this year.