The Latest Breaking News from Nico Hülkenberg

Verstappen beat his team-mate Sergio Perez, who incurred a penalty during the pitstops that didn’t impact the finishing order, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Fernando Alonso humbles Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz in wheel-to-wheel combat, then profits from Charles Leclerc’s engine failure to win the opening race of 2023. The two-time Formula 1 world champion’s Bahrain success marks his first victory since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

Leclerc was fastest in Free Practice 1, which was curtailed after only eight minutes due to a water valve cover working loose and smashing the bottom of team-mate Carlos Sainz’s car, and also paced FP2 with a fastest time of 1m35.265s.

Verstappen controlled the race, despite a restart following a shunt at Turn 1 at the original start that required barrier repairs.

Verstappen controlled the race, despite a restart following a shunt at Turn 1 at the original start that required barrier repairs.

Verstappen jumped ahead of Norris at the first corner to win the final sprint event of the season by over 4s.

Verstappen will start ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Verstappen will start ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Verstappen grabbed the lead from third on the grid after powering past the Ferraris that had locked out the front row. His team-mate Sergio Perez tried to follow him around the outside of the first corner, but bounced off Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and was forced out of the race.