🇧🇭 F1 '23: R1 - The green monster arrives

Way back in 2021, as part of this silly little F1 blog, I wrote about Sebastian Vettel’s disastrous risk-taking day in Istanbul, switching to dry tyres too early and burning a pit stop - and with it, any chances of gaining points that day.

In 2022, I looked at the disaster weekend they had in Australia, and the awful start to Aston Martin’s season. Whether you’re reading this blog for the first time, or for some reason, you’ve read this since 2021, thank you for your continued support.

But a couple of years ago, I also wrote: “There is an ambition to be fighting at the front on the regular, rather than as a one-off, putting them in a fascinating microscope in years to come”

After the Bahrain GP, there’s an argument to say that the day has arrived. A happy and relaxed Fernando Alonso finished third, grabbing the team’s first podium since Sebastian Vettel mopped up the chaos with a second in Baku 2021, and a surgically-repaired Lance Stroll finished in sixth, marking Aston Martin’s best-ever weekend in F1.

 But while you can’t extrapolate an entire season from one race for a variety of reasons, they might also have just taken a giant leap forward. Perhaps it’s earlier than they expected too, with 23 points making a massive indent into the 55 they won all last season.

 Now the hard work has to start for Aston Martin. Teams that do well in the first race now have the job of staying where they are, because they’ve been lit up and there is a target on them. Haas (who were largely nowhere today) act as a precautionary tale in 2022. After a 2021 season of misery, late preseason replacement Kevin Magnussen came in and finished fifth, gaining 10 points when they’d gained three in the past two years combined.

However, it was something of a false dawn after never reaching those heights again in 2022. Mick Schumacher grabbed a sixth in Austria, but didn’t develop as well as the team wanted, at the same time other teams developing their vehicles, bringing new upgrades and pushing ahead at a faster pace than Haas. 

Collecting 37 points and an eighth-placed finish was a wonderful result for the team, but it does feel like there was a “what could have been” scenario for them, possibly borne out by Schumacher being ditched for a veteran hand in Nico Hulkenberg.

And speaking of veterans, it literally does not get more veteran than two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso. The Spanish driver had a perfect race, finishing third for the first time since Qatar 2021 and announcing that a team from outside the traditional powerhouses that 2023 could see a new name near the front. And on pace too, not because of a weird F1 race or any other reason.

While Alonso collected his 99th podium, there are still question marks as to whether it will be one Aston Martin up there or two. Lance Stroll had a miserable preseason, injuring his wrist and a toe and needing surgery which put his participation in doubt. Despite F2 champion Felipe Drugovich waiting in the wings, the Canadian made it back, but changed his driving style post-surgery in practice.

He then whacked his teammate in the opening stages of the race, but recovered well to take a sixth place, undercutting George Russell and then taking the benefits of Charles Leclerc’s engine failure. Stroll drove potentially his most mature race, not chasing down overtakes that aren’t there or getting penalty point for dangerous driving.

This is a crucial season for Stroll, and the ironman drive in Sakhir would have helped. It’s also a big test for his father, who owns the team. Finishing sixth actually equals the Canadian’s best result at Aston Martin, and perhaps he’s better in night races, with Singapore 2022 and Qatar 2021 the other times he’s matched it. But being able to compete as well as he did while still recovering should help his reputation.

But if he was to continue his descent down the rankings in a good car, can you justify keeping him in the seat? In 2020, he scored 75 points. Despite five more races in 2021, he collected just under half that and last season, he was worse again with 18 points - six of those came from tenth, showing that he can scrap and salvage the final point.

 It’s even worse if your teammate is good, because you’re always going to be compared to the other side of the garage. It’s also intriguing to argue about what insulates you more from poor performance. Is it being a two-time world champion and being the driver’s driver, or is it having your dad own the team, with internal pressure all-but neutralised? 

With Aston Martin looking to stay where they are right now, Mercedes and Ferrari will be looking at their new rivals and wondering what they have to do to earn the right to be the number one contenders to champions Red Bull, and how they get past their new rivals on the way towards the very front of the grid.

F1 has a short break before moving to Jeddah and the twisty Saudi Arabian track. A test of all the teams and drivers, it will be fascinating to see if Aston Martin continues to be a genuine contender and how the rest of the grid - top four or otherwise - adapts to keep pace with the new threat to the established order of Formula 1.