00:01And Formula One in 2023 is go!
00:04Poor getaway for Sergio Perez, great launch off the line from Charles Leclerc
00:08and they're very nearly making contact into turn number one.
00:11Verstappen leads, Leclerc is up to second place.
00:13Sainz is going to battle with Sergio Perez.
00:15Perez did not get a good launch off the line as they all battle through the opening corners.
00:20It's Verstappen, then it's Leclerc.
00:21Down a place goes Sergio Perez, they're fighting in the background now.
00:25The soft tyre works, that's an ambitious move to the inside.
00:28That's a way through, Lewis Hamilton getting past.
00:30Contact between the Astons and the Astons.
00:33And that was very, very, very tight.
00:35So through he goes, George Russell trying to follow his teammate through.
00:37Alonso losing a couple of places.
00:39It's Verstappen, then Leclerc, Perez, Sainz.
00:42Up two places goes Lewis Hamilton, Russell in sixth.
00:44And Alonso did not get the opening lap that he was looking for.
00:48On board with Stroll and he's fighting the Mercedes of Russell.
00:52And that's a whack, that's a whack on the right rear of Fernando.
00:56Big opportunity now for Fernando Alonso and George Russell knows it.
01:01He goes defensive to turn number one.
01:03Parks it up and Alonso will get another dose of DRS.
01:07He takes a different line, soaring left, soaring right.
01:10They're climbing the hill now and Alonso knows he's got to get the move done.
01:13Russell's run out of tyres.
01:15Aston Martin versus Mercedes and through goes Fernando Alonso to take fifth place.
01:20Oh, he gives him room and it's going to be tight as they go through.
01:24They're side by side who blinks first here.
01:26And it's Alonso who manages to keep hold of the position he won a couple of corners ago.
01:33That's Bottas ahead of both of them, by the way.
01:36Yes, yes.
01:36As Bottas has genuinely just jumped Alonso and Russell, stopped early.
01:40And on the hard tyres, no one really noticed him stealth his way into a genuine P6 right now.
01:48Alonso is surely going to be lining up Bottas for the pass here.
01:51Now Alonso out of the wheel tracks and ahead of the Alfa Romeo up to sixth place goes Fernando Alonso.
01:58A simple pass and he makes his way through.
02:01We saw Alonso get past Bottas last time around.
02:05That's the task ahead of George Russell.
02:07Fantastic sight of the Sparks out of the back as we go down to turn one.
02:12And Russell will line him up, try and do what Alonso did up the hill to four.
02:15These two aren't best buds, are they?
02:17Bottas used to be in this car and they had a bit of an infamous moment at Imola.
02:22This one should be fairly straightforward for Russell on the outside, but Bottas is fighting it all the way.
02:27And around the outside goes George Russell.
02:30He backed the grip and he backed the fact that his old teammate was going to make the corner.
02:39This is the battle for second place in the Grand Prix.
02:41This is Perez to the inside of turn number one.
02:45And through he goes, no defense offered at this point.
02:48But there will be now a chance for Charles Leclerc to do what he did one year ago and repass
02:53into turn four.
02:54But does he have the traction off the corner?
02:57He's going to go, he's going to launch it to the inside.
02:59But Perez has the place and it's a Red Bull 1-2.
03:02Through goes Sergio Perez.
03:04It's 3.8 seconds between Leclerc and Perez at the moment.
03:08Last time around, two tenths of a second.
03:10We're going to get a battle on track between Ferrari and Red Bull like we had last year.
03:15Battle on track right now is Lance Stroll.
03:17He's overcome the injury to both wrists.
03:20I think the speed of the Aston Martin has absolutely hastened his return, I think.
03:28Russell now coming in to cover off Stroll.
03:31And this could be pretty close because Stroll's done a good outlap.
03:33He's done the fastest middle sector of the entire race so far.
03:36And he was close behind George Russell so they're covering each other off.
03:40So Russell is going to have to bring those tyres to optimum temperature.
03:43It's going to be fairly tight for Russell.
03:45He knows it as well.
03:47Aston Martin directly behind.
03:49Tyres happier on Stroll's car as he climbs all the way through now.
03:54Russell having to defend this is very important for his race.
03:57And George Russell knows it.
03:59Can Stroll go around the other side?
04:01That's the difference in the tyre temperature.
04:03And through goes Lance Stroll past George Russell.
04:07With the fastest lap of the race.
04:09And you can bet that these two are going to be aggressive out there.
04:12The first dart out of the racing line for Alonso who will now climb the hill
04:17and try and get past his old teammate and racing rival.
04:20It's going to be really tight.
04:21He's got DRS again.
04:22Hamilton's got to cover the inside and he doesn't enough.
04:25Oh to the inside goes Fernando Alonso.
04:27That famous message all those years ago.
04:30All the time you have to leave a space.
04:32And that was so close on the inside.
04:35Hamilton did leave a space.
04:37Alonso slithered to the inside.
04:38And it was very slow on the apex.
04:41And it's Alonso behind Hamilton.
04:43What a strange moment at Turn 4.
04:47Again that wide wide wide line.
04:50Just soaring the Mercedes in half better traction.
04:54Millimetres between the pair of them as they go side by side.
04:57He's not going to try around the outside.
04:59But he is going to try the inside of Turn 10.
05:02Brilliant.
05:02What a superb move from Fernando Alonso.
05:06Absolutely brilliant.
05:08And I think that was just absolute top shelf from Fernando Alonso.
05:13Yes. Let's go.
05:16Oscar Piastri.
05:17It's the only retirement from the Grand Prix so far.
05:19No.
05:20But Asrae complete that's it.
05:21And Charles Leclerc is coming to a stop.
05:23No. No. No. No. No. Come on.
05:27What happened guys? No power.
05:29Charles Leclerc retires from the opening Grand Prix of the year.
05:33Two retirements now.
05:35Ferrari's reliability problems strike once again.
05:38And it's not the start that Monogas driver wanted.
05:41It's not the start that Fred Rousseau wanted.
05:43And it now means that Sainz and Alonso will scrap over the final podium place.
05:49Pierre Gasly took ninth position in the Grand Prix.
05:52Sending it down to Turn 1.
05:54Love a move on the brakes.
05:55And he swept all the way around the outside as well.
05:56You don't see too many of them.
05:59Yuki Tsunoda on the fresh soft tires.
06:01In a brawl with Joe Guanyu and his teammate as they climb the hill.
06:07His teammate's defense of Joe allowed Yuki to sweep past both of them.
06:11And they went very very close.
06:12The Alpha Tauri's up here.
06:13And Sainz and Sainz took the place.
06:16With the demise of Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso's maximum he knew at the start of the day was going to
06:22be a place on the podium.
06:24When his teammate hit him at this corner, he would have thought that it was falling away from him.
06:29But what sort of traction has he got now?
06:30Oh, he's getting into the back of his rival as they go down the hill.
06:34And Alonso had such better traction that he nearly creeped right into the back of Carlos Sainz.
06:39I tell you, we not only learned it's a fast car, we've learned it's a strong car.
06:43Because we had his teammate whack him.
06:46Is he going to do the same as he did to Hamilton?
06:48Is he going to go to the outside, to the inside?
06:51Dare he try it again?
06:52Oh, and Sainz was wise to it.
06:55But the lockup is going to mean that they're basically parked up as they apply the power now.
07:00And Alonso gets a little bit of slipstream.
07:02And he's making the move.
07:03Sainz is nearly driving him off the road.
07:05But Fernando Alonso is onto the podium once again in Formula One.
07:11What a debut he is having with Aston Martin.
07:15In 2021, Verstappen came into his first title fight with 10 career wins in six seasons.
07:22Two years later, he's heading to victory number 36.
07:25Max Verstappen dominates the Bahrain Grand Prix and takes victory at the season opener of 2023
07:33with a superb drive to lead home a Red Bull 1-2.
07:37That has got to be a satisfying feeling for the Constructors' Champions of the World.
07:43Please welcome back to the Formula One podium for the 99th time, Fernando Alonso,
07:48who weaves across the line and celebrates a dream debut with Aston Martin.
07:54Alonso heading back to the rostrum, heading back to the podium,
07:59having provided us with some phenomenal overtakes along the way.
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