Over the last few years, there have been talks going around about the Bahrain Grand Prix Curse. But what is this curse and is it real?
According to the Bahrain Curse or the Sakhir Curse a driver who wins the Bahrain Grand Prix, will not go on to win the Championship in that year.
Is the curse real?
The Bahrain Grand Prix was initially held towards the second half of the season. After the Pandemic in 2020, F1 decided to keep the Bahrain Grand Prix as the opening Grand Prix after the Australian Grand Prix got canceled.
In 2021 and 2022, the driver who won the Bahrain Grand Prix did not go on to win the Championship that season. Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2021 but was not able to take his 8th Championship title due to a blunder by race director Michael Masi at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
In 2022, Charles Leclerc won the opening Bahrain Grand Prix and excited a lot of fans around the world, especially the Tifosi. But unfortunately, the team would start facing reliability issues as Max Verstappen and Red Bull would run away into the lead.
Although the drivers that won the opening Grand Prix in both years looked strong, they were not able to seal the deal and take home the WDC trophy. In the 2023 season, Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix. What does this mean for the Dutch Champion?
Will Max Verstappen win the championship this year?
If the curse is real, we might see Max Verstappen lose his mojo which could lead to Sergio Perez or Charles Leclerc taking the Championship.
We are now 4 races down with the season and Sergio Perez is trailing Max Verstappen by only 6 points. Perez has won 2 out of the 4 races, and although he started from the pit lane in Melbourne, he was able to finish in 5th place in the Grand Prix.
Although Ferrari was lacking pace over the first few races, they seem to have caught up over the long 3-week break due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc took his first pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Although Ferrari still lacks the race pace, the progress they made indicates that they are on the right track. So we could see Ferrari close the gap to Red Bull allowing Sainz and Leclerc to challenge Max Verstappen.
However, Max Verstappen and Red Bull have been in incredible form over the last few years. In 2020, the Mercedes was so strong that none of the other teams were able to come close. Even still Max Verstappen was able to challenge the Mercedes a few times. Verstappen showed some incredible pace in the 2021 and 2022 seasons winning the championship in both years. Right now, another Championship looks likely for Max Verstappen.