The 2023 Formula 1 season finally got underway in Bahrain at the weekend – and it provided a familiar tale as Max Verstappen cruised to victory to open his title defence.
But who kept the two-time championship winner company in starring at the season opener? And who has come away from the first race with work to do having flattered to deceive?
Max Verstappen: 9.5
Qualified: P1, Race: P1
The reigning World Champion made it count when it mattered in qualifying to claim pole position relatively comfortably and he was then utterly flawless throughout the race.
He had it easy, but the true greats tend to make a habit of winning in dominant cars look even easier than it is.
Sergio Perez: 8
Qualified: P2, Race: P2
Perez could count himself unfortunate that starting on the dirty side of the grid meant he immediately dropped behind Charles Leclerc and lost the chance to challenge Verstappen.
His closeness to Verstappen in qualifying – under two-tenths – was the most promising sign of his weekend, especially when Perez is likely to be the only driver who can stop the Dutchman on the evidence of the relative pace shown in Bahrain.
Charles Leclerc: 9
Qualified: P3, Race: DNF
The Ferrari star produced arguably as impressive a drive as anything that was seen on Sunday considering the performance he pulled off in the machinery he had.
Having elected to save a fresh set of Soft tyres in qualifying, it looked to be an inspired decision when Leclerc executed the start superbly to steal second place away from Perez.
However, he was powerless to defend against a dominant Red Bull equipped with softer tyres in the second stint.
From that point onwards, the Monegasque driver managed the tyres expertly to be well clear of the chasing pack and on course for a comfortable third place until cruel fate intervened.
Carlos Sainz: 5.5
Qualified: P4, Race: P4
Despite positive remarks emanating from the Spaniard during pre-season, Sainz struggled all weekend to match the pace of Leclerc – arguably even more than last year.
Sainz was troubled immensely by the tyre troubles his team-mate combated, which led to him ceding a podium place to the charging Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in the closing stages.
Lewis Hamilton: 7
Qualified: P7, Race: P5
Having been marginally pipped in qualifying by his team-mate George Russell, a strong start granted Hamilton the race-changing platform to come home as the lead Mercedes runner.
Ultimately, Mercedes’ pre-race fears about the lacklustre pace of the W14 came true as both drivers tried unsuccessfully to fend off a faster Aston Martin package.
Profiting from unreliability striking Ferrari to clinch a top-five finish was all the seven-time champion could realistically muster with the substandard machinery at his disposal.
George Russell: 6.5
Qualified: P6, Race: P7
Despite coming out on top in the intra-team Mercedes battle on Saturday, a more sluggish opening lap than Hamilton witnessed him slip behind his more experienced team leader.
That would ultimately be Russell’s primary undoing as it led to the Brit receiving secondary treatment on strategy, thus paving the way for Lance Stroll to utilise an undercut to eventually pass the Mercedes, dropping him down to seventh.
Esteban Ocon: 5
Qualified: P9, Race: DNF
A weekend to forget is the best summary of how the beginning of Ocon’s fourth year with the Enstone-based outfit developed.
A fantastic qualifying effort had heralded him a starting spot inside the points, but his good work from the previous day counted for nothing when a starting infringement landed him a five-second time penalty.
An operational mess on Alpine’s behalf saw him collect a further penalty before Ocon compounded his own misery when he was caught on the wrong side of the regulations for a third time for speeding in the pitlane.
Pierre Gasly: 7.5
Qualified: P20, Race: P9
Gasly’s debut weekend for Alpine could not have got off to a worse start when the Frenchman fell at the first hurdle in qualifying.
But, to his credit, the ex-AlphaTauri driver rebounded admirably to make up 11 places on race day and score two vital points to instantly open his account with his new team.
Lando Norris: 7
Qualified: P11, Race: P17
Norris was unsurprisingly able to extract the most out of a struggling MCL60 car to comprehensively beat his team-mate by six tenths in Q1, before then setting a time good enough for P11 in Q2.
Unfortunately for the Brit, a pneumatic issue early in the race meant he had to make multiple pit stops throughout to even make it to the chequered flag.
Without the recurring problem, Norris would surely have been in contention for a points finish otherwise, having already gained a place at the start.
Oscar Piastri: 5.5
Qualified: P18, Race: DNF
Piastri learned the hard way in his maiden F1 qualifying session that mistakes get punished, with the rookie’s slight snap coming out of Turn 2 bringing an early end to his Saturday evening endeavours.
Nevertheless, he was making solid progress at the start of his first-ever grand prix and had passed Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas for P13 until an electronic issue forced him into an unfortunate retirement.
Valtteri Bottas: 8
Qualified: P12, Race: P8
He may not have been able to repeat the exploits that yielded a sixth-place finish on his Alfa Romeo debut from last year but crossing the line in eighth still left Valtteri Bottas pleased.
Making up positions on the opening lap and the team’s choice to go aggressive on strategy was the key to the Finn unlocking the improved race day potential of the Alfa Romeo C45 car.
Guanyu Zhou: 6
Qualified: P13, Race: P16
Unlike his Alfa Romeo partner, Zhou didn’t get away optimally as he suffered wheelspin at the start, dropping him several places. That momentary lapse culminated in him then getting stuck in DRS trains and being resigned to a subdued evening showing.
The Chinese racer’s end result was eventually skewed by a late pit stop to steal the fastest lap point away from Alpine. However, it didn’t impact the pointless return he was already set for.
Fernando Alonso: 9.5
Qualified: P5, Race: P3
After several years spent in the wilderness of the midfield in uncompetitive and unreliable machinery, Alonso finally appears to have a car that can enable him to mix it at the sharp end on a consistent basis.
Although Alonso conceded two positions in the opening exchanges, the Spaniard rallied to reclaim those lost places, including a lovely set-up move on Hamilton into the tight, downhill left-hander at Turn 10.
The superb long-run pace of the Aston Martin and its strength in preserving the tyres better than its immediate competitors facilitated Alonso’s successful pursuit of a flailing Sainz to grab a merited podium on his Aston Martin debut.
Lance Stroll: 8
Qualified: P8, Race: P6
Considering Stroll was still evidently struggling in the aftermath of his cycling accident only two weeks prior to the race weekend during Friday practice, being within 0.5s of Alonso in qualifying and then finishing inside the top six represented a monumental effort.
Other than overexuberance on the brakes causing slight contact with his team-mate on the first lap, the Canadian’s performance was largely faultless.
A well-executed move on Russell to take sixth was undoubtedly the highlight of a confidence-boosting return to action for Stroll, who will be aiming to support Alonso in Aston Martin’s continued attempts to upset the sport’s established order.
Kevin Magnussen: 5
Qualified: P17, Race: P13
While Magnussen wasn’t exactly expecting to be in a position to replicate the heroics of his F1 comeback last season, the Dane wouldn’t have been anticipating qualifying so far down the order, almost seven tenths down on his team-mate.
In an attempt to make up ground, Haas elected to start Magnussen on the hard tyre. He was the only driver to do so, and the offset strategy would prove to be an uninspired choice.
The Haas slipped to the rear of the field on the opening lap, leaving Magnussen past the point of being able to recover to a position where he ever threatened the points.
Nico Hulkenberg: 5.5
Qualified: P10, Race: P15
Hulkenberg hauling himself into the shootout for pole position looked set to be the catalyst for his return to full-time F1 action producing a points finish.
Sustaining minor damage to his front wing on the opening lap in the race, however, ended those hopes, leaving Haas frustrated that it didn’t maximise what it hoped would be a good race car.
Yuki Tsunoda: 7.5
Qualified: P14, Race: P11
Tsunoda worked wonders in an underperforming AT04 car to reach Q2 and emphatically thrash his new AlphaTauri team-mate Nyck de Vries by seven-tenths in the process.
However, the reward of getting into the second stage came at the cost of using up all his tyres, leaving him without the opportunity to contend for an unexpected spot in Q3.
The Japanese driver, now in his third season, backed up his qualifying prowess with an honourable performance in the race to only end up one second short of stealing a point.
Nyck de Vries: 4
Qualified: P19, Race: P14
As one Dutchman soared to victory, the Netherlands’ newest incumbent on the F1 roster failed to make quite the same impression as his native friend.
De Vries struggled hugely with the constraints of the car and subsequently ended up second best of the two AlphaTauri drivers by a landslide margin.
The ex-Formula E champion suffered a resounding qualifying defeat to Tsunoda, along with then setting the slowest average race pace of all to mark a disappointing debut outing for AlphaTauri’s latest recruit.
Alex Albon: 8.5
Qualified: P15, Race: P10
Without the front wing damage that curtailed his run in Q2 Albon could have been looking at a potential Q3 appearance in a car that had been tipped to be the slowest of all after testing.
As it was, the Thai representative lined up in only P15 on the grid, but a surprise turn of speed from the FW45 in race trim powered Albon to an even stronger run in the race.
After making up ground on the opening lap, he had improved on his starting slot by four places to be best-placed to inherit a place inside the points when Leclerc’s retirement promoted him up the order.
In delivering Williams’ best result at the first race of a season since 2017, Albon has continued where he left off last season as a valuable team leader for the Grove side.
Logan Sargeant: 7
Qualified: P16, Race: P12
After missing out on a place in Q2 through the technicality of setting his lap time second to Norris, Sargeant strung together a respectable race that culminated in him ending up the highest-placed rookie and only nine seconds behind Albon.
The largest amount of praise that can be attributed to the American newcomer, though, is how his F1 race day debut went largely under the radar.
Sargeant didn’t commit any noticeable unforced errors – typically expected of a driver making their grand prix debut – and he completed the race distance to get valuable mileage under his belt.
