The Dutch World Champion picked up where he left off last season, dominating the first race of the season.

Sergio Perez with Red Bull and Carlos Sainz with Ferrari completed the podium.

Start

The cars took their places on the grid as usual, with poleman Max Verstappen in first place and Charles Leclerc next to him. The red lights went out for the first time this year and Verstappen managed to turn first despite an attack from Leclerc, who was alongside him on the outside of turn one but chose not to risk an attack.

Further back, George Russell was 3rd, ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, with Alonso and the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri following and Hamilton and Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.

British attack

Verstappen from the very first lap started to pull away from Leclerc and immediately opened up a gap of over 1 second. Leclerc, on the other hand, not only mightn’t get away from Russell, but saw the Brit overtake him on lap 3 and drop him to 3rd.

A few places further back, another Brit, Lando Norris, was also very aggressive and overtook Fernando Alonso to take 6th and drop him to 7th. A little later, Oscar Piastri also passed Alonso. The Aston Martin Spaniard was something of a stationary target at that point as it wasn’t long before he lost another place to Hamilton and dropped to 9th.

The race was not going well for Leclerc either. The Ferrari Monegasque, following losing 2nd place to Russell, tried to attack the Mercedes Briton. In this attempt he did not avoid a small mistake, which however gave Perez the opportunity to pass him and drop him into 4th place and into the “claws” of Saint, who also managed to pass a little later, turning the race into a nightmare for Leclerc.

Pit stop No 1

All this was of little concern to Verstappen, who did what he knows best: he constantly opened his gap to the runner-up and completely dominated the race.

So when it came time for the drivers’ first pit stop, he was the last to enter the pits. But behind him, the changes had already taken place. Sergio Perez, despite returning to the track behind George Russell, managed to pass him and move up to 2nd place.

Further back, Leclerc, who stopped a few laps before Saint, managed to undercut and get back in front of his stable mate. Saith wasn’t regarding to give up though and with a nice move a little later he managed to get through once more.

Flying Spaniard, Space Dutchman

Saint was very fast at that point in the race and following “untangling” Leclerc, he immediately attacked Russell and with another very nice move managed to pass the Briton on the inside and take 3rd place. The Spaniard of Ferrari even slowly started to approach Perez.

The adjective “fast” in the previous paragraph was relative to Sainz, but it seems entirely out of place and time when we include Verstappen. The Dutch champion in his first laps following the pit stop began to write one fastest lap following another and very quickly opened his gap to Perez to double-digit seconds. The Dutchman already from the first match “cut the cough” of those who thought they would threaten him.

Behind the podium positions, Russell was experiencing an engine problem and was unable to attack. Leclerc, who reported a brake problem, was far behind and his attention was more behind him on the McLarens and less in front, followed by Hamilton, Alonso.

Pit stop No 2

The most interesting thing regarding this second pit stop was that the two leaders, Verstappen and Perez, changed their hard tires to soft ones, while the rest put on another set of hard rubber.

Aston Martin’s strategy with Alonso was unusual as they kept the Spaniard on track for several laps in the 2nd stint and when he returned to the track he was 11th and out of the points. Alonso, however, on fresh tires immediately passed Zou to take 10th place.

Formula One: Like last year’s fine wine Max

The laps went by and Verstappen remained comfortably in first place and with a significant difference from Perez. The Mexican, however, had not yet calmed down from Saint’s pressure and had to be careful.

The least comfortable of all, however, was Russell with Mercedes. The Briton was under suffocating pressure from Leclerc, who seemed to have overcome the problems of the early rounds. This pressure brought the mistake and Leclerc managed to pass and take 4th place. Alonso’s strategy paid off as the Spaniard managed to pass his stablemate Lance Stroll and move up to 9th.

By the end of the race, the most interesting event was RB’s order to Tsunoda to let Ricciardo pass, which the Japanese didn’t like at all, but he obeyed and stepped aside.

Thus, Max Verstappen reached his first victory of the year, which is the 55th of his career, with typical comfort and with his well-known dominant style. Perez capped off a magical night for Red Bull with 2nd place and Carlos Sainz took a very important 3rd place to take the podium. Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Alonso and Stroll followed.

Next race is the Saudi Arabian GP in a week, on the 3-day March 7-9. Again the match will be held on Saturday.

Source: gazzetta.gr