The 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season got underway this weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which meant Scuderia Ferrari started their challenge for both championships after missing out to Oracle Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen last season.
Carlos Sainz Jr. had a difficult race weekend and looked to be really struggling for pace. Friday practice saw a real lack of confidence in the car and a spin in FP2, while he could only manage fourth on the grid at the Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday.
He kept that fourth place for large parts of the race, failing to challenge his team-mate or the two Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers up ahead. A podium looked likely for the Spaniard once his team-mate retired but fellow countryman Fernando Alonso had too much pace for Sainz, passing him with ease in his first race for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team leaving Sainz to finish in fourth position after defending from Lewis Hamilton.
“It was a challenging Sunday. We knew already from testing that it was going to be tough here in Bahrain and now we need to focus on improving for the upcoming races. Time to put our heads down, work hard and see how we can close the gap to the top. It’s only race one, so we’ll keep pushing no matter what.”
Charles Leclerc – “We had a great start and everything felt good.”
The 2023 season got underway for Charles Leclerc and despite new found hopes for a championship challenge, the Bahrain Grand Prix ended like many races did in 2022, with retirement for the Monegasque driver due to an engine failure.
Leclerc was having a good race at the point of his retirement and was well up the road ahead of the chasing Alonso, meaning a podium was more or less guaranteed, but yet another engine failure saw him not finish the race, which is even more worrying considering the problems he had with the car after qualifying on Saturday that saw a number of components changed.
Ferrari and Leclerc are unsure as to what caused the issue as of yet but the driver has ensured that they are looking into the causes ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in two weeks.
“We had a great start and everything felt good. We had a solid gap behind us and were managing the pace well until unfortunately, we lost power. It’s a shame and we will look into the causes to make sure we understand what happened.”
