World champion Max Verstappen has won the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain. The Red Bull driver celebrated his 36th Grand Prix success on Sunday in the stone desert of Sakhir. Fernando Alonso raced to third place in an Aston Martin. International media write about the race:
Great Britain:
"The Sun": "Super Max."
"Daily Mail": "Max Verstappen opened his F1 title defence with an ice-cold emphatic victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix."
"The Guardian": "Verstappen won with flawless precision from pole to the chequered flag (...)."
"The Telegraph": "If there was a silver lining on the opening weekend of the 2023 season, a weekend when this year's title race was worryingly declared dead right at the start, it was the emergence of Aston Martin."
Spain:
"Marca": "Max Verstappen wins in Bahrain, Checo Pérez is second, but it is the day of Fernando Alonso's comeback."
Mundo Deportivo: "Fernando Alonso is happy. The Asturian finally has a car to fight for important things with and the podium in Bahrain in his first race with Aston Martin proves it."
"Sport": "Alonso did magic again in Bahrain. Reality has overtaken fiction. A brutal race of the Asturian."
"As": "Alonso reinvents the podium and makes Hamilton look old. Verstappen and Pérez are in a different league, but the protagonist is Alonso."
Austria:
"Kurier": "Lessons from the Formula 1 start: Alonso stole Verstappen the show."
Switzerland:
"Blick": "Red Bull gives Ferrari a first slap in the face."
"Tages-Anzeiger": "Fernando Alonso duped them all – almost all of them."
Netherlands:
"Trouw": "Formula 1 seems to have changed little in the new season. Max Verstappen continues his autocracy, the competitors are struggling with themselves and with their cars."
"De Volkskrant": "Verstappen and Pérez force the rivals into a modest supporting role. Max Verstappen continues where he left off last year, unattainable he wins in Bahrain. The mood after the victory: Let's be happy about the battles behind Red Bull."
Italy:
"Gazzetta dello Sport": "World champion Verstappen does not want to hand over the scepter to any rival. He overcomes all the minor problems, he starts like a number one. Defeating him and this Red Bull car seems to be mission impossible for the opponents."
"Corriere dello Sport": "Ferrari can't save anything from this start to the season. One year after Bahrain's one-two victory, Maranello is proving that it is not on the same level as its opponents."
"Tuttosport": "Ferrari, this season start is a nightmare. Maranello has to do something, we're not competitive like that!"
"Corriere della Sera": "Verstappen and Pérez recall Schumacher's monologues with Ferrari and Hamilton's with Mercedes in the first race of the season."
"La Repubblica": "Shock in the desert for Ferrari. The Scuderia is anything but a competitor for heavyweight Red Bull."