LIGHTS OUT! 2027 Season is Underway! Bahrain Overview

After a winter break, which felt like forever, we're finally back! The 2027 season of Formula 1 is officially underway! So lets take a look at all the juicy details, stories, surprises and letdowns, of the season opener in Bahrain!

QUALIFYING

Grid Order for Bahrain 2027

It seems like Oscar's decision to sign with Red Bull might've been a good choice. He was fastest through all three practice sessions, and follows that up by taking pole position, while also being fastest in Q1 and Q2. Red Bull seems to have brought out a great car, and Oscar is in good form at the start of his title defence. His teammate, Vesti, failed to break out of Q1, and while he is a rookie, it is still a very disappointing result by the young Dane.

McLaren, last years constructors champion, is a bit off the pace and need to step up their game if they plan on trying to defend the title. They have a strong line up in Lando and Carlos, so if they can make some good changes to the car, they should be able to contend again.

Ferrari has the best team result in qualifying with Leclerc taking P2 and Stroll P4. Max Verstappen takes P3 in the Mercedes, while Bottas starts second last in 21st place.

Williams, who had made good strides the past two seasons, seem to have taken a step back and struggled in qualifying. Looks like Ocon and Albon have some work to do if they want to fight in the upper midfield again.

Us in Atlantic Racing were quite happy with our pace, with Bearman taking P5 and Iwasa P10. Iwasa had more pace in him but got unlucky with traffic in Q3. Us and Ferrari are actually the only 2 teams to get both cars in to Q3, so that's some good company and hopefully a sign of what to come!

Audi seems to be making some strides as well, as Pourchaire brings the new car into Q3 and will start P8, with his teammate Magnussen starting dead last. This is a bit of a theme in this qualifying, a huge gap between many teammates. Perhaps a matter of drivers still getting acclimated to the new cars, but we have a long season ahead of us.

RACE

LIGHTS OUT!

We're finally racing again!

The race was off to a clean start with everyone unscathed through the first corners. In the opening stage of the race, Piastri and Max checked out and left the rest behind, while fighting hard for P1. Max's pace seemed to dwindle after the first 12 laps or so, as he suddenly dropped far behind Piastri. Max might have taken too much out of his tires in his fight with Piastri, and eventually dropped down to 4th place, behind our own Bearman.

On lap 16, we had the first and only incident of this race, and unfortunately it involved Bearman. Verstappen outbraked himself into T1 and crashed into the back of Bearman, causing significant damage to Bearman's car. Suspension, chassis and rear wing all took a hit, plus a subsequent puncture, forcing him to limp slowly to the pits.

Bearman checking into the pits following the incident with Max Verstappen

The incident came at a "good" time, as Bearman was close to the pit window for his 2 stop strategy, but eventually it was clear that the damage to the car was too severe. He was losing pace and on lap 28 the team made the decision to retire the car. Quite a unfortunate end to what started as a great race for Bearman. Max received a +5sec penalty for causing a collision. This turned out to be the only retirement of the race.

After all this, Leclerc had made himself comfortable in P2. He did not have the pace to challenge Piastri, but left the rest of the group in the dust. The fight for P3, however, was quite exciting! Our own Iwasa drove a immaculate race, and came out on top, securing a podium finish for Atlantic Racing! The Racing Bulls duo of Tsunoda and Giovinazzi finished behind in P4 and P5, a great result for the team.

NOTABLE THINGS

Following a good qualifying, Audi did not manage to capitalize, with Pourchaire finishing P16 and Magnussen P19. Obviously, no one was expecting Audi to come running out the gates, but Pourchaire's qualifying pace was promising. If Audi can make some further developments to the car, maybe we'll see Audi fighting for some points this season.

Racing Bulls showed great pace throughout the weekend, and secured great points in P4 and P5, mixing it up with the top dogs.

Williams are not looking good, and seem to have taken some steps back, finishing P15 (Albon) and P20 (Ocon).

Liam Lawson had a stellar Formula 1 debut, finishing P11, only a second behind Stroll's Ferrari. He beat his teammate Logan Sargent who finished in P13.

McLaren are looking far from comfortable. While finishing handily in the points, they have plenty of work ahead of them to try and get back in the top fight. They have arguably the strongest driver pairing of the lot, so if they can sort their car, results will surely follow.

Vesti actually had a great race, following his poor qualifying. He finished P8, gaining 10 places in the race. Not a bad results afterall, on his F1 debut. A better qualifying would surely place him higher up. It still remains a mystery why Red Bull didn't promote Antonelli, but Vesti seems to be working hard to prove his worth.

Mercedes's pace remains a bit of a unknown yet. They had a big downturn in 2026, and this season is not starting out great.They finished P17 (Bottas) and P18 (Max), but obviously Max was involved in the incident with Bearman which prompted a unplanned and long pitstop, and he drove with a damaged car through the rest of the race. Bottas suffered both in QF and the race, but Max had pace in the early stages. Then again, it's Max Verstappen! So I wonder how much of that pace was pure skill by Max, and how much was the car competitiveness.

Obviously all of these thoughts and observations are taken with a huge grain of salt, as this is only round 1 out of 24, so it's a very small sample size. Drivers and teams are still getting acclimated to their new cars and teams, so we'll see how things turn out. But it's always fun to ponder!

ATLANTIC RACING

So, first race in the books! Despite a disappointing finish, or rather a lack there of, for Bearman, the team is very happy with what we saw. Both drivers were fighting for a podium, so we have the pace. But we've learnt to not get ahead of ourselves, as we did score some podiums in early 2026, but fell off later in the season. This year we might need to allocate more funds and resources to in-season development, and less on next season. Also in the plans is to try and further improve our facilities. We already have a couple of upgrades in the works, and will do our best to stay in the fight all season long!

Bearman's promising start is a sight for sore eyes, after quite frankly a rather disappointing stint with the team so far. It's the final contract year for both drivers, so it's all to play for. Maybe this is the breakout season for Bearman we've been waiting to see!

On the affiliate side, Lindblad is up to a good start in F2, finishing P7 in the sprint, and P4 in the feature race. He's sitting in P5 in the standings with 14 points, so already more then half of his total points last season. Hopefully he keeps this up!

FORMULA 2 / FORMULA 3

F2 Standings following Round 1

It comes as no surprise to see Antonelli lead the pack right away. He is by far the best talent in the group and would be a big surprise to see him not win it this year. Isabelle Ray continues her campaign to become the first female to land a full-time F1 seat. Exciting times!

F3 Standings following Round 1

In F3, we have Loake leading, with Tommy Smith and Noel León following in P2 and P3. Colapinto nowhere to be seen!

This will be it for now. We have R02 in Jeddah around the corner and we're looking forward to see how this already very interesting season develops. On the Team Atlantic front, our car's weak spot is top speed, so this might be a tough round for us, but we have chassis and front wing upgrades in the works which should help us on that front, but not in time for Jeddah.

Until next time, thanks for sticking around!