Track Torque: Verstappen on form in season opener
With the reduced gaps and closeness of the cars, let us hope that we have some nailbiters as the year progresses.
Max Verstappen was in absolute control as he dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix and did a ‘Jim Clark’ on everyone by disappearing into the distance.
The new Red Bull RB20 seems to be another brilliant machine from the pen of Adrian Newey as Verstappen took pole position in qualifying, making everybody else look ordinary.
Sergio Perez made it home in second place in the other Red Bull, but was not able to put pressure on his teammate.
There were glimpses of brilliance from Ferrari and Mercedes, so let us hope that they can transfer this into action in the coming races.
In third place was a very determined Carlos Sainz, who led his teammate Charles Leclerc home by 15 seconds.
The Mercedes of George Russell was next up in fifth place after difficulty with battery power during the race, he definitely had the potential to do better.
Lando Norris finished sixth in his McLaren, only two seconds behind Russell, and also two seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the other Merc, in seventh spot.
The intermediate gaps do, in fact, show that racing was quite close down the field to seventh position.
Oscar Piastri was a further six seconds behind while the two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, in ninth and 10th places respectively, were each almost 20 seconds apart.
The race was not uninteresting, although the form was fairly similar to last year.
With the reduced gaps and closeness of the cars, let us hope that we have some nailbiters as the year progresses.
The Grand Prix now moves a short distance in the Middle East desert from Sakhir to Jeddah for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on March 9, also with a Saturday race day format.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Fever’s Facebook page
