Two time defending champ Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing started P1 and won in Bahrain by almost 12 seconds.  Sergio Perez also of Red Bull finished second.  Surprisingly Fernando Alonso (the 2005 and 2006 champ) of Aston Martin finished third but he was 38 seconds behind Max.  Lewis Hamilton finished 5th almost 51 seconds behind Verstappen.

This was complete, and I mean complete, domination by Red Bull.  Verstappen is my favorite driver so I am not unhappy but I am concerned that Red Bull will obliterate the competition this year.  Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, and Aston Martin all look to be distant second tier teams at this point.

F1 races in Saudi Arabia next weekend and they come to America in early May for the Miami Grand Prix.

Anyone else on BGP watching?  Thoughts?  Agree or Disagree on Red Bull?

Mostly a wash, rinse, and repeat today at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.  Red Bull finished one two (Perez and Verstappen swapped) and Alonzo finished 3rd again and he had a five second penalty for a start box violation at the beginning of the race.  Verstappen started 15th after an issue in qualifying with his drive shaft.  He drove through the field (other than Perez) and finished second.  At this point Red Bull is the clear number one and I don't see any way they won't win the Constructor Championship.  Also, Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari all look about equal.

The Australian Grand Prix is up next in two weeks.

One last thing, ESPN's no commercial coverage of F1 blows all NASCAR coverage away, it is night and day. 

From Fernando Alonso on Facebook:

I really like following F1.  All the different venues and tracks all over the world.  Way cool!

I have always liked Red Bull and Max V is a Super talented driver, but he is a jerk too.  BUT, all the great ones seem to be jerks as well (like Aryton Sienna for example) (although Lewis Hamilton, who may be the greatest driver of all time seems less jerky to me).

I have always been a big Fernando Alonso Fan!  He is 41 years old competing against guys half his age.  He is doing a hell of a job at Astin Martin, who hadn't done crap until Fernando got there.

@theguru is right, I'm not sure anyone can touch Red Bull this year.  But if you look further down pit row the battle between Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari is very entertaining.

Haas, Williams and AlphaTauri are also entertaining lower pack teams.

F1 this year will take a dedicated eye to be entertained as I think RedBull will run away with both Championships.  But that battle for 2nd will be fierce.  As will the battle for about  6th and 7th.

McLaren is just a dumpster fire right now.  They have a top driver in Lando Norris and have a absolute concrete sled for a car.  Sad really.

Australia should be fun this weekend!

I'm in a F1 Fantasy League with some friends and that makes it fun too.

27 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

I really like following F1.  All the different venues and tracks all over the world.  Way cool!

I have always liked Red Bull and Max V is a Super talented driver, but he is a jerk too.  BUT, all the great ones seem to be jerks as well (like Aryton Sienna for example) (although Lewis Hamilton, who may be the greatest driver of all time seems less jerky to me).

I have always been a big Fernando Alonso Fan!  He is 41 years old competing against guys half his age.  He is doing a hell of a job at Astin Martin, who hadn't done crap until Fernando got there.

@theguru is right, I'm not sure anyone can touch Red Bull this year.  But if you look further down pit row the battle between Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari is very entertaining.

Haas, Williams and AlphaTauri are also entertaining lower pack teams.

F1 this year will take a dedicated eye to be entertained as I think RedBull will run away with both Championships.  But that battle for 2nd will be fierce.  As will the battle for about  6th and 7th.

McLaren is just a dumpster fire right now.  They have a top driver in Lando Norris and have a absolute concrete sled for a car.  Sad really.

Australia should be fun this weekend!

I'm in a F1 Fantasy League with some friends and that makes it fun too.

I know on Max and like most sports, I mostly stay away from the fray and just tune in on race/game day.

I agree with your dedicated eye comment, exactly.  There are some good battles to watch but the lack of any apparent competition to Red Bull puts a bit of a damper on it for me.  Either way, the viewing experience (no commercials and going around the world) is second to none.

Finally, F1 heads down under to Melbourne this week for the Australian Grand Prix. 

Here is a headline from Formula1.com:

Max Verstappen claimed victory during a wild and action-packed Australian Grand Prix, overcoming battles with the Mercedes drivers, several Safety Cars and three red flags to lead home Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

===============

It was wild and action-packed, much more like a NASCAR race with all the crashes, red flags and safety cars.  But, the cream still rose to the top, here are the top five:

1  Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing    2:32:38.371    25
2  Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes    +0.179s    18
3  Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin    +0.769s    15
4  Lance STROLL Aston Martin    +3.082s    12
5  Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing

This was the podium from last week:

Really great race in Australia!  Makes me want to take a trip to Melbourne to check it out!

The RedBulls, as fast as they are (and they are lightning fast), don't seem to have the same pep on the starts, which leads to some awesome racing thereafter!  George Russell at Mercedes really smoked Max V at the beginning of the race and was in the lead until the first red flag.  Hamilton took over in first but was really a sitting duck after the 1st red flag restart.  It was Max's race after that.

But when Kevin Magnussen with Hass hit the wall with only a few laps to go, All heck unfolded with a final red flag and restart which equated to mass pandamonium!  Wrecks, going off track and mass confussion ensued as no one knew how the final order of cars would go.

Since that final restart didn't finish even 1 sector of the race course AND the total # of laps still had 1 to go.  They made the cars come out for a formation lap, which is typical at the start, but that ended up being the final lap.  NEVER seen that before!

But it was really exciting race.  I tried to add the highlights here, but F1 wouldn't let me.  Next race is the end of this month in Azerbaijan (east of Turkey on the Caspian Sea - pretty cool).

 

 

6 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

Really great race in Australia!  Makes me want to take a trip to Melbourne to check it out!

The RedBulls, as fast as they are (and they are lightning fast), don't seem to have the same pep on the starts, which leads to some awesome racing thereafter!  George Russell at Mercedes really smoked Max V at the beginning of the race and was in the lead until the first red flag.  Hamilton took over in first but was really a sitting duck after the 1st red flag restart.  It was Max's race after that.

But when Kevin Magnussen with Hass hit the wall with only a few laps to go, All heck unfolded with a final red flag and restart which equated to mass pandamonium!  Wrecks, going off track and mass confussion ensued as no one knew how the final order of cars would go.

Since that final restart didn't finish even 1 sector of the race course AND the total # of laps still had 1 to go.  They made the cars come out for a formation lap, which is typical at the start, but that ended up being the final lap.  NEVER seen that before!

But it was really exciting race.  I tried to add the highlights here, but F1 wouldn't let me.  Next race is the end of this month in Azerbaijan (east of Turkey on the Caspian Sea - pretty cool).

 

 

Well stated, it was a very exciting race.

That stinks on the highlights.  

Let me try it again!

Well, I think you can at least try to click the link to go watch on YouTube!  Take a look!

 

@Purple88 covered it all and then some in this thread:

In short, the Red Bulls are in a class of their own and after a red flag in Q3 Verstappen started 9th and still dominated the race and won after a long first run on the hard tires. 

Also, I didn't update this last week from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, here are the top five:

1. Sergio Perez
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Fernando Alonso
5. Carlos Sainz

20 hours ago, theguru said:

Also, I didn't update this last week from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, here are the top five:

1. Sergio Perez
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Fernando Alonso
5. Carlos Sainz

Pretty good race; the Ferrari's showed up which is nice to see.