Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Bahrain Grand Prix
Photo courtesy of Formula 1
We’re back!
After a long offseason, Formula 1 is back and in an exciting way.
Here are this weeks winners & losers.
Losers
5. Nikita Mazepin
Boy, it must suck to lose your seat right before the Haas car gets good.
To be honest, there weren’t five losers today. So I had to pick someone.
Fare thee well, Nikita. We will not miss you.
4. Pierre Gasly
Gasly had a great race, before his power unit exploded. Not at all his fault, but still a tough result on the opening race of the season.
3. Mick Schumacher
Mick’s 11th place finish is the best of Mick’s career.
That’s good!
But you’re judged based off your teammate in this sport, and unfortunately 11th isn’t good enough considering where his teammate finished.
But we’ll talk about him later.
2. Red Bull Racing
This was a dream start to the season for Red Bull.
They were competitive against Ferrari and fighting for a win to build off of Max Verstappen’s championship.
But, the dream turned into a nightmare.
Verstappen suffered an engine failure and had to retire, but it’s ok. Sergio Perez still had a chance at a podium.
Well he did. But then he completely lost it coming around the first corner on the final lap.
A likely 2nd and 4th place finish ended up with zero points.
1. McLaren
Hey so, McLaren is actually bad.
That sucks, doesn’t it?
Winners
5. Zhou Guanyu
Zhou Guanyu wasn’t really considered by many to be fast enough to be in Formula 1. But, with being the first Chinese driver, would bring in a good amount of money.
He answered those critics in a big way, finishing 10th and securing points in his first ever start.
4. Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes was not lying. They’re not fast enough to compete for wins.
Still, Lewis kept his head down, stayed out of trouble and found himself on the podium thanks to the Red Bull mistakes.
3. Valtteri Bottas
Bottas is free!
Finally able to race without being compared to Lewis Hamilton, one of the best drivers ever, Bottas was able to race relaxed.
Tbe result? Qualifying and finishing the race in 6th.
A lot of people are going to look foolish with how they held Bottas to impossible standards.
2. Ferrari
I had a gut feeling about Ferrari.
Mattia Binotto knows how to build a car, and they have a talented driver lineup. Maybe the best on the grid.
A dominant car and a 1-2 finish is the perfect start they were looking for.
Ferrari is back.
1. Kevin Magnussen
It’s not easy to just jump back into Formula 1 after an entire year of sitting out.
Not to mention, only getting the seat on very short notice after Nikita Mazepin was forced to give up his seat after losing sponsorship money due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In stepped Magnussen, and my goodness did he not lose one single step.
Don’t be fooled by his 5th place finish. It was far from a fluke.
He was fast all weekend and showed he belonged in the sport.
What an incredible drive, and a fantastic performance for the American team after a few, let’s say “difficult” years…
