MAX Verstappen has yet to win a F1 season-opener or the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix but Red Bull’s double world champion can tick both boxes at Sakhir on Sunday and start where he left off last year.
This weekend’s sold-out F1 spectacle at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) is set to be a truly global event as nearly 90 racers – flying the flags of no less than 33 nations from across five continents – are set to hit the track at ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’ from tomorrow to Sunday.
The 25-year-old Verstappen won 15 races in 2022 including the final one in Abu Dhabi and showed in testing last week that he again has the car to beat.
There will be no complacency, however, after starting on the front row in Bahrain last year but retiring three laps from the finish while in second place.
In 2021 the Dutchman led all three practice sessions and started on pole position – only to end up second to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton after having to hand back the lead late on for exceeding track limits.
Verstappen was also second in the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix and crashed out of the Sakhir Grand Prix that followed at the same circuit.
He retired in three of the five previous Bahrain Grands Prix.
Verstappen led the championship last year from the sixth round in Spain, which means another win on Sunday would stretch his run as championship leader to 18 races in a row.
Red Bull fully expect Verstappen to be even better this season as he chases a third title in a row and starting off on top of the podium is one immediate way to do it.
F1 boasts 20 of the world’s biggest motor racing superstars, while there will be 22 competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, 29 in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, and another 18 in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East.
The majority of the drivers are coming from Europe, representing countries including Great Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Monaco, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Estonia, Sweden, Italy, Bulgaria and Poland.
North America boasts drivers from the US, Canada, Mexico and Barbados, while South America sees competitors from Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
There are also drivers from Australia, while Asia is being represented by contenders from Japan, Thailand, China, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The host nation is being represented on track by its very own Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa, a talented racer with many years of experience, who will be competing in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East.
Shaikh Salman excelled in the British Formula Three Championship earlier in his career and was the 2010/2011 champion of the one-make, BIC-based Porsche series, when it was known as the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.
This season marks Shaikh Salman’s return to competitive circuit racing after being away for over eight years.
The Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 opens the new FIA F1 World Championship this weekend and it will be the 19th edition of the world’s famous desert F1 race.
Tickets for the race weekend have been completely sold out, and fans are in for a treat with three days of top-class motorsport being complemented by plenty of entertaining attractions.
For all information, including the weekend timetable and gate opening times, visit bahraingp.com or follow BIC’s official social media channels.