The Scuderia went from midfield challengers to true title contenders last year, boasting one of the fastest cars on the grid for the majority of the season.

Unfortunately for the team they were unable to win either championship despite building up healthy leads in both, with strategic blunders and reliability issues being the downfall of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at a number of races.

Ferrari’s capitulation saw team principal Mattia Binotto replaces with Alfa Romeo’s Fred Vasseur, who was confident of overcoming the reliability issues over the winter break.

READ: Toto Wolff makes big Mercedes claim which will surprise Lewis Hamilton

The 2023 season has however started in disaster for the team, with Leclerc forced to retire from the season opener with a power unit issue, despite some components being changed before the race in parc ferme.

This nightmare for Leclerc has led to the Monegasque driver requesting a meeting with Ferrari president John Elkann, with Leclerc reportedly very unhappy with the current situation.

Multiple members of staff are also looking to depart the team, with the regime of Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna reportedly frustrating a number of employees.

Head of concept David Sanchez has already left the team and it is rumoured that he will be swiftly followed by assistant team principal and race director Laurent Mekies.

The Frenchman is attracting interest from Alpine, F1 and the FIA, making his departure extremely likely.

READ: Tensions already? Ferrari unhappy with Frederic Vasseur after Bahrain GP

The Ferrari hierarchy are also unhappy with their new team principal after Vasseur was revealed to have flown to the Bahrain Grand Prix with the Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, Ferrari’s rival.

All this chaos has come about following the first race of the 2023 season and with 22 races left to go, Vasseur will be hoping to quickly get his team back on track.

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia is set to suit the SF-23 much better than the Bahrain International Circuit, giving Ferrari a real chance to bounce back from their disappointing round one.

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This was not the case however, as the Silver Arrows were beaten by Red Bull, Ferrari and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

This left Mercedes walking away from the Bahrain Grand Prix with 16 points, while Red Bull, who they were expected to challenge for the title, left with 43 points to their name.

Lewis Hamilton was reportedly set to sign a multi-year contract extension with Mercedes over the winter break as he targets a record breaking eighth world championship before he retires, but nothing has been signed yet.

READ: Toto Wolff makes damning claim about 2023 season after just one grand prix

It has been rumoured that Hamilton is waiting to see how competitive Mercedes will be this season before analysing his chances of winning and deciding his future.

It has been suggested that the 38-year-old could make a move to the highly impressive Aston Martin to partner his old teammate Fernando Alonso next year, but with Lance Stroll currently partnering the Spaniard, Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok has rejected this theory.

“I don’t think that will happen. You’re going to tell Lawrence [Stroll] to sack his son. Good luck with that,” he said.

Host Simon Lazenby has identified a different potential destination for Hamilton, suggesting that he would look good in the red of Ferrari.

READ: Aston Martin quicker than Max Verstappen’s title-winning Red Bull

“Not to Aston, but how can you rule out a move to Ferrari if [Mercedes] stay like this? He’s so desperate for that eighth, that if Ferrari did manage to stay on the coattails and they were the nearest to Red Bull,” he explained.

“He’s not put his pen to paper yet on his contract. He’s definitely waiting to see how this year’s car felt. I think the great relationship with the team and Toto [Wolff] will endure but I don’t think you can ever rule out a move to Ferrari for racing drivers because it’s their dream and he’s said it before.”

It has been reported that Mercedes are already considering abandoning the 2023 season to focus on 2024, with the gap to Red Bull not being ground that the Silver Arrows can make up over the course of the current season.

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The former Formula 1 driver’s crash at Bahrain almost three years ago is arguably one of the most terrifying in the modern history of Formula 1, with the Frenchman having somehow escaped the fiery inferno.

The incident occurred on the exit of Turn Three on the opening lap of the race, with the former Haas driver having gone right suddenly before spearing into a metal barrier, resulting in an impact measured at 67G.

Grosjean’s car immediately became a fireball with him stuck inside, before managing to escape the horror after being in the blaze for 28 seconds.

READ: Pierre Gasly denies Alpine concern

Grosjean’s car was to no shock completely destroyed; however, the halo noticeably remained perfectly intact, something which will be seen by those who attend the special room which will hold the car’s chassis, fitting named ‘Survival’.

It will be the first time that the chassis from his crash will be seen, with the IndyCar driver knowing that it was the remarkable halo which “saved my life”.

“From my point of view, it was a big accident but I didn’t realise the impact or how violent it was from the outside,” Grosjean recalled.

“It was only the next day when I asked someone to show me what it looked like that I realised. My wife was actually watching that race with my dad and my kids. They will remember that moment their entire life. They were just spectators waiting to hear something, waiting to see something from Bahrain.

“I had to break the headrest, punching it with my helmet and then I eventually managed to get my helmet through and stand up in the seat,” Grosjean explained.

READ: Mercedes claim ‘political elements’ hurt Nyck de Vries

“I realised my left foot was stuck into the chassis and I pulled as hard as I could on my left leg. My shoe stayed in the chassis but my foot came loose so I was free to exit the car.

“It was 120 kilos of fuel plus the battery – both were on fire. Dr Ian Roberts, Alan [van der Merwe] from the medical car and one fireman were trying to open a gap in the fire to help me get out. I believe that helped me at least to get a vision of where I had to go and where the exit was.

“The survival cell is there for you in case of a huge impact. I was intact inside the shell. The chassis is still in one piece, the halo is there and apart from the damage and burn it is still as it should be. I guess that saved my life.”

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That race was actually the last in the Frenchman’s F1 career, as his injuries ruled him out of the final two races in the 2020 season.

For many, Grosjean’s crash is the scariest that they’ll ever see in F1, with the IndyCar driver having taken 28 seconds to climb out of the inferno, before heroically jumping over the barrier and out of the fire.

Unsurprisingly, many remember his career for that moment, despite the fact his journey in F1 actually started in the second half of the 2009 season.

READ: F1 team principal says Mohammed Ben Sulayem must be fired amid misogynistic comments

Grosjean’s career was one of ups-and-downs, with the Frenchman having claimed 10 podiums, whilst having also been the cause of so many incidents.

Despite it all, though, Grosjean finds it “funny” that his career is remembered in the way it is, something that is simply “part of my life”.

“No, I don’t care. It’s part of my career; it’s part of my life,” Grosjean told GQ, when asked if he’s bothered about fans remembering him for his crash.

“Especially in the U.S., because the audience is very new to Formula 1, a lot of people remember that accident, and they have never seen my podiums back in 2012 and 2013.

“I almost won three races in Formula 1, and it never really happened for outside reasons. But it’s quite funny.

“I met some people that know of me since the Lotus days in Formula 1 and say they’ve been watching it all. And I watch a lot of younger people, younger audience, they have only seen Drive to Survive on Netflix. So they talk about Guenther Steiner and ask how he is in real life, and of course the accident.

READ: Helmut Marko lambasts the FIA for controversial move

“But I think the accident, it’s one of those things that kind of marked the world. It was pretty much on every TV you could switch on. It was very impressive.

“That’s the way I see that: “phoenix.” It’s the rise from something bad. It’s not necessarily related to the fire, but it’s how you can rise from something that could destroy you but use it in a positive way and rise from there.

“So yeah, the crash is definitely part of my career, part of my life. And I’ve got the scar from my left hand that’s going to be here forever. So it’s a good reminder that’s here, but it’s just not that. It’s a bit more than that. And I see it as just part of my journey, like any podium. It’s just something crazy, but turned out to be good.”

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This wasn’t the only thing that was announced by the government, who also revealed that Formula 1’s already long deal with Melbourne would be extended by a further two years, meaning the Australian Grand Prix will remain on the calendar until 2037.

As well as extending the current deal by a further two years, the Australian GP has also been granted the luxury of hosting the season opener “at least four times” during their current deal, but that 2024 won’t be one of those.

The Australian GP prior to the pandemic was the traditional first race of the season and had been for quite some time, with it having hosted the season opener all but four times (excluding 2020 when it was cancelled due to the global outbreak of COVID-19) since 1996.

READ: Michael Masi recovers from Abu Dhabi controversy as he takes on new role

When the event at Albert Park hasn’t hosted the opening race, the Sakhir International Circuit has, something it will do for a fifth time in 2023.

The Bahrain Grand Prix has proven to be an exciting season opener, with it also seemingly happening at a time that suits the majority of the world.

That is one of the issues with the race in Australia, as for those in Europe it involves waking up early, whilst in North America it requires them to stay up late.

When it will next host the opening race after 2023 is an unknown question currently, but it does look set that Australia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia might host the opener on a rotational basis.

An interesting point raised, though, is that F1 is seemingly putting Saudi Arabia ahead of Bahrain in 2024 despite both nations celebrating Ramadan, perhaps highlighting that Saudi Arabia also have a genuine interest in hosting the first race of the season.

READ: Carlos Sainz reveals new Ferrari boss tried to sign him

Whether it will happen again after 2024 remains to be seen, but from the outside it looks like the sport are giving Saudi Arabia a chance to put on an incredible show to kickstart the season.

With Saudi Arabia and Bahrain both being night races, they do offer a better spectacle than Australia, with both the races in the Middle East having offered plenty of excitement.

The Australian GP has tended to be on the more boring side of things, something that is far from ideal to start a new season.

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Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain all featured in the season just gone, while Qatar also made its debut in 2021, as the sport grows more and more across all parts of the globe.

Major events in the Middle East usually come with their controversies, with some fans disagreeing with Formula One’s decision to race in countries with primitive views, such as the illegality of homosexuality.

Lewis Hamilton wore a rainbow helmet in protest of the prosecution of homosexuals in Qatar last year, and with the FIFA World Cup currently being hosted in the same country, the same argument has once again come to the fore.

READ: ‘Toto’: Christian Horner attempts odd joke at Mercedes boss

Teams have been strongly advised against wearing rainbow armbands in support of the One Love campaign, while the deaths of migrant workers who build the stadiums to host the matches have seemingly been swept under the carpet by Qatari officials.

Toto Wolff has been asked for his thoughts surrounding football’s biggest tournament being hosted in a country with such issues, and has put somewhat of a positive spin on sport being hosted in the Middle East.

“I’m still of the belief that when you have such a big sporting even in a country, it puts the spotlight on that country,” explained Wolff.

“I think that can trigger change, because things can’t be hidden any more, and that’s the kind of positive that I think a sport can do. Things are being addressed.

“Is it like we want it to be? No. Is it the kind of cultural standards that we have in Europe? Maybe not.”

Wolff has suggested that change is already happening as a result of Formula One’s increased involvement in the Middle East.

READ: Billionaire says Mercedes deserve more credit for Lewis Hamilton’s success

“Where we go, and the people I speak to, I see process and I see change. That’s maybe because we are Formula 1, where we go may be different, but I see that we have an impact,” he told reporters.

“I can’t judge the football. I read the newspapers and the headlines. We can just try, where we go to show our presence, to interact with the leadership, and not to hide away.”

Formula 1 will remain involved with the Middle East for the foreseeable, after F1 extended their deal to race in Bahrain until 2036 earlier this year.

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Bahrain has hosted a race in F1 every year since 2004, bar 2011 when the grand prix had to be called off due to civil unrest.

This was still a theme when the sport returned in 2012, but the race went ahead as planned despite members of the paddock heading home due to intense violent protests.

The race at the Hermann Tilke-designed track was then turned into a night race for 2014, joining Singapore and Abu Dhabi as races that were held under floodlights at that time.

Sir Lewis Hamilton holds the most wins at the Sakhir International Circuit with five, one ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

F1 is pushing to extend deals with its current and loyal circuits as the sport grows in popularity following the introduction of Drive to Survive and last year’s mammoth title battle between Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is pleased to continue to have Bahrain on board.

“We delighted we will be racing at the Bahrain International Circuit until 2036 where more incredible racing and excitement will be on show to thrill our fans,” he stated.

“Since 2004 we have had some fantastic races in Sakhir and we cannot wait to be back there for the start of the 2022 championship as we begin a new era for the sport.

“Bahrain was the first country in the Middle East to welcome Formula 1 and it has a very special place in our sport, and I personally want to thank HRH Prince Salman and his team for their dedication and hard work throughout our partnership and look forward to the many years of racing ahead of us.”

Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, CEO of the Sakhir International Circuit, has noticed F1’s growth in popularity in Asia and the Middle East, and is thrilled to have been a part of the sport since 2004.

“After 18 years of F1 racing, we are proud to have played a part in F1’s rich history and we now looking forward to continuing to build on that heritage well into the future,” he added,

“The growth and interest in motorsport in Bahrain and the Middle East has significant momentum, with a new generation of fans embracing our great sport and we look forward to continuing that progress.”

Bahrain will host the opening round of the 2022 season on 20 March.

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