Formula 1 - Bahrain Grand Prix predictions with 13/8 & 4/1 tips
Content Editor at Free Super Tips, Alex was born in the shadow of Old Trafford and is an avid Man Utd fan. After graduating from university he combined his love of football, writing and betting to join FST and now closely follows goings-on in all of the top European leagues.
Formula 1 returned to our screens on Friday for the start of the 2023 season as the ten team took to the circuit at Bahrain for FP1 and, following on from our F1 2023 season outright predictions, we’re back with a host of tips for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
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Bahrain Grand Prix track guide
Debut season – 2004
Track length – 5.41km
Number of turns – 15
Most wins – Lewis Hamilton (5)
Most poles – Seb Vettel & Lewis Hamilton (3)
2022 winner – Charles Leclerc
The 5.4km, 15-turn circuit in Bahrain treated us to a great curtain-raiser last season as Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen exchanged blows in a multi-lap battle for the lead before Verstappen’s unfortunate retirement later in the race.
Nevertheless, fans can expect plenty of overtaking opportunities, with three DRS zones and a 1.2km pit straight helping proceedings.
That straight, aided by DRS Zone 3, offers the best overtaking opportunity, while the difficult Turn 10 is the site of the most driver errors.
The abrasive track surface tends to be quite harsh on the tyres, pushing most teams towards a two-stop pit strategy and providing more options for undercuts and overcuts.
Bahrain Grand Prix predictions & tips
Max Verstappen to be fastest qualifier and to win race
Once again, Red Bull looked like the team to beat in pre-season testing and nothing that happened in FP1 suggested anything has changed.
Sergio Perez topped the timing board by four-tenths ahead of Fernando Alonso but once things get competitive it is hard to back against Max Verstappen, who was third in FP1.
Verstappen achieved eight pole positions last season despite Ferrari’s hot-lap advantage. That advantage seems to have disappeared in the off-season, with Charles Leclerc down in fifth in FP1.
Of course, Verstappen’s main strength lies in his wheel-to-wheel racing and there is every chance he could run away with the race on Sunday. He took the chequered flag first 15 times last season and won nine of the last 11 races.
He converted six of his eight pole positions into race wins and I’m backing him to do the same on Sunday.
Leclerc & Verstappen podium, Perez & Sainz top 6 finish, Hamilton & Russell points finish
Red Bull and Ferrari are quite clearly still the top two teams at the start of the 2023 season and seeing all four of them inside the top six, with Verstappen and Leclerc sharing the podium, would not be a surprise at all.
Leclerc and Verstappen shared the podium eight times last season and these four drivers all finished inside the top six on nine occasions.
Mercedes don’t look to have closed the gap on the two leading teams but they are still one of the best teams on the grid and a points finish should be the very least they expect. Ten of the last 14 Grand Prix last year saw both Mercedes drivers in the points and they were tenth and 11th in FP1 despite neither running the soft tyre.
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