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F1 action is back after nearly four months with the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP, and drivers and teams cannot wait to hit the asphalt.
Red Bull will come into the new season as the team to beat after a dominant display last year that saw them romp to both the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships. They will be hoping to continue where they left off.
Under the watchful eye of Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey, the factory back at Milton-Keynes appears to have one of the fastest cars on the grid in the RB19. They believe it suits the driving abilities of both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Ferrari reshuffled their stables a bit after their title bids imploded in 2022. Mattia Binotto has been moved out, and Frederic Vasseur has been brought in from Alfa Romeo as the new team principal.
The Scuderia's former head of strategy, Inaki Rueda, has also been moved to a factory role, with Ravin Jain replacing him in the hot seat. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz sealed a one-two for the Prancing Horse at this venue last year and could be in with a shout once again with a less draggy and quicker SF-23.
Mercedes will hope to have learned from their mistakes after a relatively tough season with the W13 and narrowly out on P2 in the Constructors standings in 2022.
The Silver Arrows are still sticking to their minimal sidepods concept with the W14 but appear to have drastically reduced the porpoising they experienced last year. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will hope they can find more pace this season and be a perennial force in the title fight.
Alpine are keen to retain P4 and try and bridge the gap to the front-runners, and they have an all-French driver line-up to help them reach that target. Esteban Ocon and new recruit Pierre Gasly will need to try and get the best out of the A523, which did have the slowest pace of all cars during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
McLaren have replaced one Australian with another after signing Oscar Piastri to race alongside Lando Norris in the MCL60. However, Zak Brown has admitted that the team did not meet their expected targets during pre-season testing, and it could be yet another arduous campaign for the Woking-based outfit.
Alfa Romeo's driver pairing remains unchanged, and Valtteri Bottas is hopeful that he can return to contesting for podiums while also mentoring teammate Zhou Guanyu in his sophomore season.
Aston Martin have big ambitions for 2023 after bringing on Fernando Alonso to fill the seat vacated by four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. They could be without the services of Lance Stroll for the season opener after the Canadian missed pre-season testing owing to a cycling injury. Reigning F2 world champion Felipe Drugovich could fill in as the team's reserve driver.
Haas, AlphaTauri, and Williams all have one new driver in their line-up, and it will be interesting to see how things shake up between them at the tail end of the grid.
With so many narratives playing out, it will be interesting to see how the elements impact the race in Sakhir. So, what sort of weather can we expect for the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP?
Weather forecast for the 2023 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend (March 3 - March 5)
Here's some information regarding the weather forecast at the Bahrain International Circuit for the upcoming 2023 F1 Bahrain GP weekend, according to accuweather.com.
Friday, March 3 – FP1 and FP2 weather
Conditions: Pleasant with plenty of sunshine; a high UV index of 7 and NNW winds blowing at 13km/h, with wind gusts at 20km/h, and no probability of a thunderstorm.
Maximum temperature expected: 24°C | 75.2°F
Minimum temperature expected: 16°C | 60.8°F
Chance of rain: 0%
Saturday, March 4 – FP3 and Qualifying weather
Conditions: Pleasant with plenty of sunshine; a high UV index of 7 and NNW winds blowing at 11 km/h, with wind gusts at 20km/h and no probability of a thunderstorm.
Maximum temperature expected: 25°C | 77°F
Minimum temperature expected: 18°C | 64.4°F
Chance of rain: 0%
Sunday, March 5 – Race weather
Conditions: Pleasant with plenty of sunshine; a high UV index of 7 and SSE winds blowing at 13km/h, with wind gusts at 19km/h, and no probability of a thunderstorm.
Maximum temperature expected: 27°C | 80.6°F
Minimum temperature expected: 20°C | 68°F
Chance of rain: 0%
"The new C1 can be a valid option for the race" - Pirelli Motorsport boss Mario Isola on 2023 F1 Bahrain GP tires
Pirelli have confirmed the tire compounds that will be provided to all teams for this weekend's 2023 F1 Bahrain GP.
For the first race of the season, Pirelli have chosen the hardest of their newly-formulated tires, with the C1 compound as the white-walled hard tire, the C2 will be the yellow-walled medium tire, and the C3 compound as the red-walled soft tire for the race.
Pirelli Motorsport boss Mario Isola believes the C1 tire could play a big role this race weekend. In his pre-race de-brief, he said:
"The first race of the championship will be an important test bench to validate all the development work we have carried out last year, which allowed us to further improve the structure of the tyres and introduce a new compound.
"Our latest C1 will make its debut at Sakhir: an entirely new compound based on last year’s C2, which allows us to reduce the performance gap between the harder compounds in the range."
Isola feels the use of the new C1 could end up influencing F1 teams to try possible 'undercut' strategies come race day. The Italian went on to add:
"We expect it to be a valid option for the race this weekend as well. The ‘undercut’ is often pivotal to the Bahrain Grand Prix, so it will be interesting to see how the teams make use of this new element in the trio of compounds that are nominated for Sakhir.”
Viewers in the US can tune in to ESPN and ESPN Deportes to watch all the action live from the race weekend, while UK viewers can catch the proceedings on Sky Sports. Indian viewers will need a subscription to F1 TV Access or F1 TV Pro now that StarSports and Disney+ Hotstar no longer have the rights to broadcast F1 content in the country.
