LEWIS HAMILTON finished fifth and George Russell seventh in the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix with the seven time champion admitting the team had ‘gone backwards’.
Winning the Bahrain Grand Prix for the first time on his ninth attempt, Max Verstappen ensured Red Bull, who have not won in the country for 10 years (Sebastian Vettel in the last daylight race here in 2013), kicked off the season with serious intent.
With Sergio Perez finishing second on the podium it was the first time since the 2013 Abu Dhabi GP that Red Bull had qualified in positions one-two and then finished one-two in a race.
Hamilton and Russell ran a Soft/Hard/Hard strategy and battled throughout but disappointingly were unable to match the superior pace of the Red Bull, Ferrari and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, who finished in third place, only his second podium finish in his last 122 Grands Prix.
The Stevenage born racer made up two positions on the opening lap to run in fifth for most of the race. That became fourth when Charles Leclerc retired but he lost out to Alonso in the closing stages.
“We did the best we could today,” Hamilton said after the race.
“We are the fourth fastest team right now, and the Ferrari and Aston that we were battling were just quicker than us.
“It was close for a second with Sainz, but I couldn’t hang on and he just went away in the final laps. Big congratulations to Fernando and the whole Aston Martin team too.
“They did a great job today. It was a fun tussle we had for a moment, but he was too quick. We are lacking a lot of downforce, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to add more to the car. As soon as we put more load on the front and rear, we will be able to pick up our pace.
“We’ve just got to keep working; we know we are not where we need to be. I’ve got to stay positive, keep my head up and keep pushing the Team. I will be a positive light for them and get the best points I can.”
Team Principal & CEO, Toto Wolff said: “That was one of our worst days in racing. It was not good at all; we are lacking pace front, right, and centre.
“The Aston Martins are very fast, and the Red Bull is just on a different planet. It hurts that they are so far ahead; it reminds me of our best years where we put one second on everyone else. That is the benchmark.
“We need to put one foot in front of the other to come back but nobody in this team will throw in the towel. We need to dig deep, deeper than we ever have done before. And we can do that.”
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