Team ratings | Red Bull and Aston Martin score, Ferrari and Mercedes do not

The Bahrain Grand Prix was one of extremes in terms of team performance. Where Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin excelled, Ferrari and Mercedes disappointed. These are the grades that GPblog gives the Formula 1 teams on their report after the inaugural 2023 race.

Red Bull: 10

Red Bull Racing made a dream start to the 2023 F1 season. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez occupied the entire front row of the grid, only to cross the finish line in the same order as in qualifying. While Verstappen disappeared on the horizon, Perez did have to battle it out with Charles Leclerc. The team executed the tyre strategy perfectly, reminding the drivers to think about their tyres on several occasions, so the double victory was never in danger.

Aston Martin: 10

The second perfect score of the weekend was for Aston Martin. All weekend, Fernando Alonso in particular was followed with great interest and this proved more than justified. Lance Stroll also achieved a fine result, despite a broken wrist and big toe. Meanwhile, the team did not let itself go crazy and piloted both drivers through the battles with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in perfect fashion.

Ferrari: 5

Aston Martin and Red Bull's perfect scores can be halved in Ferrari's assessment. Whereas the Italian racing stable seemed to have something behind it on Saturday, the pace was far from it a day later. Leclerc was on courser for a podium but reliability ultimately cost him. One of the biggest areas of concern, reliability, seems anything but resolved.

Mercedes: 5

Mercedes hoped to come back strongly after a difficult season, but in the opening race of 2023, the team failed to do so. The W14 fell short in both race and qualifying pace, with Hamilton and Russell failing to finish beyond fifth and seventh respectively. The German racing stable was keen to prove that the concept of the W13 could indeed become successful, but even Toto Wolff has since concluded that this is an unlikely scenario.

Alfa Romeo: 7

Another solid performance from Valtteri Bottas, who did not settle for the 12th place he started the race with. The Finn managed to come back to P8, immediately scoring Alfa Romeo points in the opening race of 2023. For teammate Guanyu Zhou, points were ultimately not within reach, which made the team decide to bring him in for a set of new softs in the closing stages of the race to take the point for fastest lap away from Gasly. Alfa Romeo knows better than anyone that every point counts, as in 2022 it beat Aston Martin by an equal number of points in the final standings.

Alpine: 6

A narrow enough result for Alpine, which still provided Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon with a reasonably performing car after a difficult weekend. Enough for Gasly to finish in the points in his first race for the team, but Ocon was less fortunate. The Frenchman made a false start by not correctly lining up in his starting position, after which the team went wrong in serving the ensuing time penalty. This landed the driver an extra 10 seconds.

Williams: 8

There is nothing to fault with the performance Williams showed in the Bahrain GP. With a 15th and 16th starting position, the British team did not seem particularly promising, but Alexander Albon nevertheless managed to secure the final point. Logan Sargeant also put in a fine performance, making him the best rookie in the opening race of the season. The team seemed to benefit from the arrival of former Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles, as strategically Williams was on top.

Alpha Tauri: 7

Alpha Tauri looked set for a tough weekend, but in the race the performance of the AT04 proved to be alright. It was not enough for points, but Yuki Tsunoda came close with an 11th place. Nyck de Vries also managed to gain a few places after starting from the last row and he called the race "encouraging".

Haas: 6

Haas failed to repeat its 2022 dream start. The US team saw both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finish outside the points. Hulkenberg initially started strongly by reaching Q3, but went wrong with track limits. Strategically, the team could have made better choices.

McLaren: 3

At McLaren, nothing but disaster reigns for now. During the winter test, the Woking-based team appeared to have completely missed the mark and that line continued in the first race of the year. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were hampered by technical problems and the latter saw his debut race end early in the pit box.