16.01.2024Victory in Bahrain: Start of Verstappen's record-season

The impressive year of the Dutchman in the Red Bull began in a groundbreaking way, as Verstappen won the opening race in Bahrain in a dominant manner. Back then, no one knew that the undisputed triumph would be a harbinger for the entire season. Minichamps has now released the car for this victory in Bahrain in a limited edition in scale 1:18 and with special details.

After a long Formula 1-season, even die-hard fans rarely remember details from the opening race. The year 2023 will be no exception with its 22 Grand Prix weekends. Especially since the starting signal in Bahrain was certainly not the most exciting start to a Formula 1-season. For many people, the main actor at the start was Fernando Alonso. The two-time world champion in the Aston Martin had already shown surprisingly strong form during the test drives in advance. Alonso showed this in the first race of the year and celebrated his return to the Formula 1 podium after a break of around a year and a half with a brilliant third place.

However, Fernando Alonso didn't get close to Max Verstappen in Bahrain. The same applied to all other drivers in the field. In qualifying, the reigning world champion had already clinched his 21st career pole position, which he then converted into the lead at the start. Behind him was Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari. However, the Monegasse was intercepted early in the race by Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez and later retired completely due to a technical defect. Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix unchallenged, around twelve seconds ahead of Pérez.

The Mexican was able to beat Verstappen twice more in the following races. But after that the Dutchman reproduced a replica of the opening race and was virtually unbeatable. On the way to his third world championship title, he set various records: the most wins, podium places, points and lead laps per season and much more.

Minichamps has now released the model of the car with which Max Verstappen began his record hunt in Bahrain. The Red Bull RB19 from the opening victory in a scale of 1:18 is limited to 555 pieces, exclusively produced for ck-modelcars and is delivered in a high-quality collector's folding box. The car was faithfully reproduced, as was the cockpit and driver figure. Additionally, a miniature version of the pit board with the inscription “VER P1 YES” is included, with which the team congratulated Max Verstappen after his victory.

Verstappen Red Bull RB19 #1 Winner Bahrain GP Formula 1 World Champion 2023 1:18, RRP €199.95, item-no.: 113230101

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Verstappen Red Bull RB19 #1 Winner Bahrain GP Formula 1 World Champion 2023 1:18 Minichamps

143,96 €