After months of absence, the Formula One teams were back for the first race of the 2024 season under the lights in Bahrain. The FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2024 marked the start of the season, this time on a Saturday. This was the first chance to see the true pace of the teams and drivers. It was Red Bull who came back out on top, picking up where they left off last year, although there is a long season ahead.
Max Verstappen got away well from pole position, immediately moving to the right to cover off Charles Leclerc on the run down to the first corner. Leclerc tried to overtake the Red Bull around the outside of the first corner, but was forced to back out of the move as Verstappen used all of the circuit at the exit. Behind, George Russell also moved to the right to cover off Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, maintaining his P3.
Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg became the first drivers to tangle in the 2024 season, colliding in the first corner. Stroll put his Aston Martin on a very slow and tight inside line in the first corner, catching Hulkenberg off guard. The Haas driver tapped the rear of Stroll’s car, damaging his front wing and ruining the gains from his qualifying performance on Friday. Valtteri Bottas also damaged his front wing after being caught up in the traffic jam.
The DRS was enabled at the end of the first lap, which is a new change for this season. But Verstappen was already well outside DRS range of the cars behind, allowing him to cruise ahead with little threat from the rest of the field.
George Russell made quick work of Charles Leclerc, overtaking the Ferrari around the outside of turn 4 on the third lap. Leclerc was clearly struggling to handle the Ferrari, frequently locking up the front tyres and running wide, especially in the difficult hard braking zone at the downhill turn 10. This put him under pressure from Sergio Perez behind, who finally managed to overtake him on lap 7 after Leclerc locked up into turn 10.
Before long, Carlos Sainz found himself right on the back of his Ferrari teammate. There was no need for team orders, as a poor exit in the final corner and DRS for Sainz put Leclerc behind his teammate after a wheel-to-wheel move in the first corner which surely made the engineers on the Ferrari pit wall hold their breath.
Leclerc pitted for hard tyres at the end of the lap, for his first or what was forecast to be a two-stop race. Russell also pitted from P2 on the same lap. Red Bull responded the following lap, pitting Sergio Perez, who then rejoined directly behind the Mercedes of Russell.
Perez was all over the back of the Mercedes on his out lap. Russell took a defensive line in turn 4 on the following lap, giving him a poor exit and allowing Perez to move into a net P2 in the race.
Carlos Sainz pitted for hard tyres a few laps after his teammate, rejoining right behind Leclerc. On fresher tyres and not struggling under braking, Sainz was able to lunge up the inside of Leclerc, taking the position. He was flying on the hard tyres, making quick work of Russell and setting the fastest lap of the race. But that fastest lap was quickly smashed by Max Verstappen after he pitted from miles ahead of the field.
Mercedes appeared to be struggling with some reliability concerns. Russell was reportedly working to manage a power unit issue, while Lewis Hamilton had previously reported a battery issue. Hamilton also had the added complication of having to deal with a broken seat.
In the second round of pit stops, most of the teams fitted a set of hard compound tyres for their final stint. Red Bull opted for a different strategy, putting the soft compound tyres on both of their cars, which were in 1-2 position. Lando Norris had strong pace on his out lap and he worked to keep on the back of Leclerc, although the pace of the McLaren quickly dropped off as the tyres came up to temperature.
There was a close call between Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton on the pit exit. Piastri nearly collided with the Mercedes in the first corner on cold tyres after a slow pit stop for the McLaren. However, Hamilton backed out to avoid the wide running McLaren, taking the position as well.
In the final stint, the Ferrari started to come back to Leclerc and he began to make ground on the cars ahead. Before long, he caught up to the back of George Russell’s Mercedes and began to put on the pressure. It finally paid off when Russell locked up under braking into turn 10, running wide. He tried to stay alongside of the Ferrari off the circuit, but had to give up the position down the straight, moving Leclerc into P4.
Although the final stint of the race was more orderly than the first two, it was not without drama. Yuiki Tsunoda was stuck behind Kevin Magnussen, but teammate Daniel Ricciardo looked faster and was on the quicker soft tyres. This prompted the RB team to request a driver swap. An angry Tsunoda eventually obliged, but not without expressing his anger over team radio for everyone to hear. To make matters worse, Ricciardo was not able to give by Magnussen.
But by the end of the race, all eyes were on Red Bull as they came across the line to get the first 1-2 finish of the 2024 season. It was Max Verstappen at the top of the leaderboard by more than 22 seconds, with Carlos Sainz standing on the bottom step of the podium. Verstappen also earned the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race, giving his championship bid a little extra boost.
Red Bull won’t have much time to celebrate, with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix right around the corner. The race will be held on March 9, again on a Saturday.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 26 | |
| 2 | S. Perez | 18 | |
| 3 | C. Sainz | 15 | |
| 4 | C. Leclerc | 12 | |
| 5 | G. Russell | 10 | |
| 6 | L. Norris | 8 | |
| 7 | L. Hamilton | 6 | |
| 8 | O. Piastri | 4 | |
| 9 | F Alonso | 2 | |
| 10 | L. Stroll | 1 | |
| 11 | G. Zhou | ||
| 12 | K. Magnussen | ||
| 13 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 14 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 15 | A. Albon | ||
| 16 | N. Hulkenberg | ||
| 17 | E. Ocon | ||
| 18 | P. Gasly | ||
| 19 | V. Bottas | ||
| 20 | L. Sargeant | ||
