Dutch maximum verstappen and your team Red Bull restarts as favorites to win championships of the 2023 Formula 1 World Cup, which is a year Fernando Alonso took back the illusion He hopes to be at the level of Mercedes and Ferrari, where there should be options to break the monopoly of the Austrian team. Carlos Sainz ready to step.

The World Cup, which kicks off this Friday at the Bahrain International Circuit, looks set to continue as it did last year. A very authoritative ‘Mad Max’ on paper. The two-time world champion dominated the first day of official pre-season testing at Sakhir with his RB23, while on the second and final day of testing he came very close to a surprising Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo).

Verstappen is willing to turn the ‘Great Circus’ into his ‘garden’ without offering the rest of the options from the start. In 2022, he raised his same season win record to 15 and beat Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) by 146 points. And his prowess, combined with the support of his trusted aide Sergio Pérez, has allowed energy drink enthusiasts to break Mercedes’ dominance in the Builders’ World Championship they’ve won over the past eight years.

Without losing its more strategic and cold character, a little ‘crazy’ self behind the wheelmake him a pilot with no apparent weaknesses, along with an RB23 that seems unlikely to turn its back on him and sets the bar for the rest of the applicants. Only two teams, Ferrari and Mercedes, begin as serious contenders to conquer their thrones with the task of preventing Red Bull from repeating or improving its golden four-year period (2010-2013) with four “duos” (World Championship for drivers and builders). same year ) thanks to retired Sebastian Vettel.

‘Scuderia’ faces countless opportunities to show that it is the competitive team not seen on the circuits since 2007., when its driver, Kimi Raikkonen, became world champion. His commitment is unwavering and this season, with Fréderic Vasseur as team leader, he repeats the Leclerc-Sainz formula to attack the crown. In the pre-season, the Italians were consistent and showed some improvement in reliability that ruined them in 2022.

Bahrain GP schedule

Friday, March 3

Free practice 1: 12.30 – 13.30 hours

Free app 2: 16:00 – 17:00

Saturday, March 4

Free practice 3: 12:30 – 13:30

Classification: 16:00

Sunday, March 5

Race: 16:00 (57 laps)