Here’s the race report after Red Bull’s dominant one-two:
Thanks for reading today and emailing in, see you next time for race No 2 out of 24 for this marathon season. Bye.
Updated
Fred Vasseur, Ferrari team principal: “We were expecting better, starting from the first row … our race pace was OK with Carlos, but with Charles it was much more difficult. We had a problem with the brakes, with Charles, in the first 20 laps.
“I’m quite happy with the job done by Charles … and Carlos did a fantastic job.
“We will see next week. What we have to keep in mind is that last year we were not at 24 seconds [behind], we were at 48. So we halved the gap … and towards the end of the season we were able to fight with them [Red Bull] in some races … we need to continue to improve, and focus on details … let’s see next week, it will be a completely different story in Jeddah.”
Russell of Mercedes speaks: “We [Hamilton and Russell] both faced a similar problem. For whatever reason we had massive engine overheating. The battery wasn’t working properly … I got up to second and I thought: ‘Here we go’. But I had some big red alarms on my steering wheel … we were losing 4/10ths of a second a lap.
“We went with our most aggressive [cooling] option … we had plenty of margin to cool the engine more, we just chose the wrong one today.
“We’d have been in that fight for P3 if it wasn’t for the cooling issue … ifs and buts. Yesterday we showed the true potential of the car. First race of 24, let’s see what we can do next week.”
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“Simply lovely.”
Max Verstappen completes a flawless drive to seal victory in the season opener 💪#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/o43XDdCZti
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 2, 2024
Verstappen 'in a different galaxy', says Wolff
Toto Wolff speaks: “Ja, [we were] far off. I mean, Max was in a different galaxy. We need to look at ourselves, why we lost so much performance on the harder tyre. We got the cooling level wrong, and therefore you have to lift and coast … with the performance of the tyres, it was a bit of a vicious circle.
“We didn’t have the pace, weirdly … I think it’s weird, we had some pace in the car, but on the hard tyre today we didn’t. I think there were many mistakes we’ve done, but we’re learning. We have a brand-new car and we’ve seen glimpses of performance … I’m really keen to look at the data, and see what we can do in Saudi.”
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Lewis Hamilton has a chat: “I personally feel great, physically, winter training has worked … it was a tough race, very close with everybody. I was personally hoping we’d be better this weekend than we were. Degradation is obviously high with the car. There’s plenty of areas in which we can improve. We are further back from the Red Bulls than we thought we were.”
Any positives to take to Jeddah? “I mean … the car’s reliable. But I think today was a struggle in the car today … I was giving it everything but there wasn’t a lot of performance there, compared with some of the others ahead of us. I think if I’d qualified better, naturally I’d have been a couple of places ahead. It was about discovery today. I found out a lot about the car. There’s lots we can improve on.”
Updated
Christian Horner’s chat with Sky just now:
“The perfect start. I have to say a big thank you to all the men and women back in Milton Keynes who this winter have worked so hard, and come up with another great car. It’s testimony to that hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Yeah, a great team performance to come up with that one-two finish and come up with maximum points today.”
Horner is asked about the design of the RB-20: “You can see it’s an aggressive evolution [of design]. The design team, the whole team, they haven’t rested on their laurels. They’ve pushed hard, they’ve pushed the boundaries. You can see there’s a lot of innovative ideas on the car … it’s got the basis of 2019 in its DNA, but it’s a strong evolution.
“Well look, it’s a great start. It’s a one-off, it’s one circuit, it’s one surface, it’s a very cool temperature. Next week, street track, much higher temperature. We are going to have to see three, four, five races before you see a true pattern … What we saw in testing is that the field has converged. So you can’t base too much on this one race.”
Is the Red Bull team united off the track? “Yes absolutely. We’re a very strong team. We’ve got tremendous support, we’ve got tremendous partners, great shareholders behind us as well. You don’t achieve this kind of result by not being united.”
Are you confident you’ve got the full backing of everybody above you, and that you’ll be leading this team in Jeddah next weekend?
“Yeah absolutely. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Horner "absolutely" confident he retains Red Bull's support
Horner is asked if he is confident that he has the support of all those above him within the Red Bull organisation – and if he is confident he’ll be in charge in Jeddah next week.
“Absolutely,” Horner says. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Updated
Fireworks off the track, at least:
Max has firework-exploding fists 😅#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/ELvwQ7BPae
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 2, 2024
The 24th and final race of this season, in Abu Dhabi, is scheduled to take place on 8 December. A marathon, not a sprint.
The second visit to Las Vegas will take place on 24 November. Here’s the full schedule:
2024 Formula One Calendar
March 2 – Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir)
March 9 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Jeddah)
March 24 – Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)
April 7 – Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka)
April 21 – Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai)
May 5 – Miami Grand Prix (Miami)
May 19 – Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (Imola)
May 26 – Monaco Grand Prix (Monte Carlo)
June 9 – Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal)
June 23 – Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona)
June 30 – Austrian Grand Prix (Spielberg)
July 7 – British Grand Prix (Silverstone)
July 21 – Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungaroring)
July 28 – Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps)
August 25 – Dutch Grand Prix (Zandvoort)
September 1 – Italian Grand Prix (Monza)
September 15 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix (Baku)
September 22 – Singapore Grand Prix (Marina Bay)
October 20 – United States Grand Prix (Austin)
October 27 – Mexico City Grand Prix (Mexico City)
November 3 – Brazilian Grand Prix (Interlagos)
November 23 – Las Vegas Grand Prix (Las Vegas)
December 1 – Qatar Grand Prix (Lusail)
December 8 – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Yas Marina)
Updated
“Maybe not the most exciting opening race we’ve seen,” observes the commentator, David Croft.
Time for the Dutch national anthem. Christian Horner and Geri Halliwell are up at the front of the crowd gathered around the podium, smiling up at the victorious Verstappen. For the second year running, the Dutchman has won the Bahrain grand prix from pole position.
Updated
Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz exchange pleasantries while waiting for the podium ceremony. Verstappen looks utterly relaxed and happy, like he’s hardly broken into a sweat.
Updated
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has a chat: “I felt really good out there today … I managed my tyres well … I was keeping up with the Red Bull at the end, which was a surprise … it was an improvement on last year, and a solid start to the season.”
Will Ferrari be competitive in Jeddah next week? “Let’s see. A different circuit with the new 2024 car. I expect the Red Bull and McLaren will be competitive there. Hopefully we can be also strong there.”
Verstappen speaks: “Unbelievable. Today went better than expected. We were really quick on every [tyre] compound. We really stayed out of trouble … a great start to the year.
“It was a lot of fun. I felt really good in the car. It’s always very special to have these kinds of days, when it all goes perfect, and you feel at one with the car.
“First corner, you want to defend the inside, just to be safe. After that we focus on our own race, which is what we did.
“A couple of days rest and we go again.”
Updated
“That was simply lovely,” Verstappen tells him team on the radio. “What a great race. Great start to the year, guys. A one-two finish as well. Absolutely fantastic.
“Couldn’t ask for more. Great start, thank you.”
Updated
Bahrain grand prix: full result
1. Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Perez (Red Bull)
3. Sainz (Ferrari)
4. Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Russell (Mercedes)
6. Norris (McLaren)
7. Hamilton (Mercedes)
8. Piastri (McLaren)
9. Alonso (Aston Martin)
10. Stroll (Aston Martin)
11) Zhou (Kick Sauber)
12) Magnussen (Haas)
13) Ricciardo (RB)
14) Tsunoda (RB)
15) Albon (Williams)
16) Hulkenberg (Haas)
17) Ocon (Alpine)
18) Gasly (Alpine)
19) Bottas (Kick Sauber)
20) Sargeant (Williams)
Updated
Max Verstappen wins the Bahrain grand prix!
The world champion, of Red Bull, begins the 2024 season in dominant fashion. It’s a one-two for Christian Horner’s team, with Sergio Perez second.
Updated
Lap 57/57: Verstappen is on his final lap! He leads by 21.5sec! Looks like a one-two for Red Bull with Perez in second, more than three seconds in front of Sainz of Ferrari in third.
Updated
Lap 56/57: Verstappen’s lead at the front is up to 21sec.
Lap 55/57: There seems to be some consternation among the RB drivers. I think Tsunoda was told to let Ricciardo through? Ricciardo is 13th, Tsunoda 14th.
Lap 54/57: What time’s the football on? Oh, it already is. Pogacar won Strade Bianche in dominant fashion, over in cycling.
Verstappen leads by 20sec at the front of this season-opening Bahrain grand prix.
Updated
Lap 53/57: Verstappen is running into a bit of traffic but only because he’s currently lapping some back markers. That’s our best hope of some excitement late in this race.
Jos Verstappen, Max’s dad, is pictured watching on from the Red Bull pit.
Updated
Lap 53/57: Hamilton is currently half a second per lap quicker than Lando Norris’s McLaren, who is about 3.7sec ahead. Can he put some pressure on? (Hamilton’s seventh, Norris sixth.)
Updated
Lap 52/57: But, again, an impressive effort from Verstappen, from Red Bull, and from their beleaguered team principal, Christian Horner.
The Dutchman has 19.6sec on his teammate and is cruising home for his first win of 2024. He won a record 19 races in 2023. Can he improve on that this year?
Updated
Lap 51/57: The on-screen graphics are currently bigging up the “battle for 13th”. Enough said.
Lap 50/57: Leclerc is quickly three seconds in front of Russell, the 26-year-old Briton.
Lap 49/57: Verstappen, the reigning world champion, has 18.2sec on his teammate Perez in second.
Lap 48/57: Top 10: Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Stroll, Alonso.
Lap 47/57: Not anymore! Russell goes wide and locks up … Leclerc takes him down the straight. The Frenchman is up to fourth. In the pits, his crew applaud as they watch the action on the screens.
“That’s the trouble when you have to start driving in your mirrors,” says Brundle of Russell’s error. “You make mistakes.”
Updated
Lap 46/57: Leclerc is continuing to battle Russell for the final Champions League spot, AKA fourth place. Russell is holding him off as it stands.
Lap 45/57: Leclerc, in fifth, is on Russell’s tail.
“This has not been an all-time classic,” says Brundle up in the commentary box.
Updated
Lap 44/57: This is a phenomenal performance from Verstappen, and of course from Red Bull. But 23 more races like this in 2024 isn’t going to make much of a Netflix series.
Updated
Lap 43/57: Top 10: Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Stroll, Zhou.
Verstappen leads by 15.8sec.
Mercedes’s Toto Wolff is pictured watching the screens in the pitlane, looking suitably ashen-faced.
Lap 42/57: “Alonso is going to try and hang on for a one-stopper, is he?” muses Brundle of the Spaniard in the Aston Martin, who is ninth, behind Piastri in the McLaren.
Updated
Lap 41/57: The gap between Verstappen and Perez is holding at around 16sec. Can Sainz, in his Ferrari, threaten this one-two for Red Bull?
Lap 39/57: Sainz, in third, is 1.9sec behind second-placed Perez.
Hamilton had dropped to eighth, but he overtakes his old rival Alonso, and is back in seventh.
Updated
Lap 38/57: Red Bull’s Verstappen leads his teammate by 16sec after that second pitstop.
“He’ll be on the radio saying: ‘Is the race still going on?’” Brundle says of Verstappen’s dominance. “He’s not seeing anybody is he? It’s incredible.”
Updated
Lap 38/57: Verstappen, Alonso and Albon are the drivers in the top 10 with one stop. Now Albon pits again … and now Verstappen too!
Updated
Lap 37/57: The most exciting moment of the day so far, in my view, was Brundle speaking to Patrice Evra during his pre-race grid walk.
Updated
Lap 36/57: Verstappen now leads Perez by 18sec. Meanwhile, Piastri of McLaren is overtaken by Hamilton in the Mercedes! Hamilton, the seven-times world champion, is up to eighth place.
Lap 35/57: The top three of Verstappen, Perez and Sainz have all stopped once.
Meanwhile, Leclerc is on the radio to his team saying his brake problems are continuing.
Lap 34/57: All 20 cars are still running. Logan Sargeant went off at turn four a few laps ago, in his Williams, but it’s been remarkably incident-free apart from that.
Lap 32/57: Ferrari’s third-placed Sainz is 3.2sec behind the Red Bull of Perez in second. That’s where the drama is … Fourth-placed Leclerc is another 11sec or so down on his teammate.
Updated
Lap 31/57: There’s a bit of a sense of anti-climax here given how close things looked in qualifying.
Mercedes made a fanfare about sacrificing some one-lap pace in order to make themselves quicker in this race, but let’s see what they say about that after. Russell is running fourth, more than half a minute behind the race leader. Hamilton is seventh.
Updated
Lap 30/57: Well, we’re more than halfway through the race, and out in front the driver who won the past three championships is 15sec ahead of his teammate. The battle for second is on, though, with Sainz 2.5 sec behind second-placed Perez.
Updated
Lap 29/57: I thought Logan Sargeant (Williams) had retired but that is not the case. He has been lapped, however.
Verstappen has 14.8sec up front.
Updated
Lap 28/57:
As it stands:
1 Max Verstappen
2 Sergio Perez
3 Carlos Sainz
4 George Russell
5 Charles Leclerc
6 Lando Norris
7 Oscar Piastri
8 Lewis Hamilton
9 Fernando Alonso
10 Guanyu Zhou
11 Yuki Tsunoda
12 Lance Stroll
13 Kevin Magnussen
14 Alexander Albon
15 Daniel Ricciardo
16 Esteban Ocon
17 Valtteri Bottas
18 Pierre Gasly
19 Nico Hulkenberg
20 Logan Sargeant
Updated
Lap 26/57: Verstappen leads by 13.2sec from Perez, his Red Bull teammate, in second.
Lap 25/57: Verstappen’s lead is up to 11sec. Nearly 12, in fact.
Updated
Lap 24/57: Zak Brown has a chat over the radio: “Piastri had a learning experience last season … a year in, he’s a pro.
“It sounds like Charles [Leclerc] has an issue with his tyres. We’re doing the same lap times as Lewis [Hamilton]. It’ll be close.”
Lap 23/57:
Top 10: Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Alonso, Guanyu Zhou.
“Shout out to Guanyu Zhou,” says Kravitz of this impressive display by the Kick Sauber driver who is running 10th. Or was it David Croft? I am not sure.
Updated
Lap 22/57: Ricciardo (RB) overtakes Ocon (Alpine) for 15th place. But what else is going on that’s exciting?
Verstappen leads by 8.4sec. Perez, Sainz, Russell, Leclerc, in that order, are giving chase.
Updated
Lap 20/57: Hamilton does have a power unit issue … but apparently so does George Russell.
Jay Kay, off of Jamiroquai, is pictured in the pits, intently watching the race.
Updated
Lap 20/57: Brundle, on commentary, says there are 140,000 square metres of run-off area at this track. One for the trainspotters, if such a thing exists in F1.
Lap 19/57: The world champion, Red Bull’s Verstappen, is 5.6sec clear up front and he’s been in the pits. It’s going to take something remarkable to deny him.
Updated
Lap 18/57:
Current top 10: Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Alonso, Guanyu.
Updated
Lap 18/57: Verstappen emerges from the pits in first place. He’s 5.2sec ahead of Perez, his teammate, who is second.
Meanwhile Hamilton is on the radio about his power unit. Sounds like a serious technical issue … after such a promising start to the week for Mercedes, too.
Lap 17/57: Whoah! Sainz gets past Leclerc, for the second time this race, at turn one. Proper racing going on between the Ferraris – Sainz underbrakes his teammate and forces his way down the inside. Sainz is now fourth, behind third-placed Russell in the Mercedes. And now Verstappen is going to pit.
Updated
Lap 16/57: Half a minute for Verstappen now, the only car in the race yet to visit the pits.
Lap 16/57: Top 10: Verstappen, Alonso, Albon, Perez, Russell, Leclerc, Sainz, Norris, Piastri, Hamilton.
Lap 15/57: Yet to pit, Verstappen is now leading the race by 25sec from Alonso in second.
Hamilton is 10th. He tells his pit team “I’ve got no battery.” Technical gremlins? Ghosts in the machine …
Updated
Lap 14/57: Everyone’s switching to hard compound tyres. Red Bull’s Perez overtakes Russell for sixth place. “A key overtake for this race,” says the commentator.
Updated
Lap 13/57: All very fluid with all these pitstops. As it stands:
Verstappen, Sainz, Norris, Alonso, Tsunoda, Albon, Russell, Perez, Leclerc, Ricciardo.
Lap 12/57: Lots of pitstops. All the top 10 have now come in, with the exception of Verstappen up front … Russell has dropped to 12th.
Updated
Lap 11/57: Sainz and Leclerc are wheel to wheel in the Ferraris! Now that was exciting … Sainz is up to fourth!
Lap 10/57: Logan Sargeant (Williams) is off the track in a run-off area. Will we have a safety car?
It looked like he might need recovery, but he’s got the car going again, so the race remains fully on.
Lap 10/57: F1 Twitter is trying to whip up some excitement, with a photo of Perez overtaking Leclerc. But there doesn’t seem to be much jeopardy with regard to who is going to win this one …
LAP 7/57
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 2, 2024
Perez and Leclerc wheel to wheel! 😮#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/DYmA63GDRd
Updated
Lap 9/57: Leclerc, to be fair to him, didn’t get a bad start into turn one. But Verstappen made sure the door was slammed shut when the Frenchman had a look on the outside. And now Leclerc is back down in fourth, with Russell second and Perez third.
Lap 8/57: The commentators reckon Leclerc is struggling with his rear tyres. He’s locked up twice. Three times now.
Updated
Lap 8/57: Up front, Verstappen is streaking ahead in his Red Bull, and he’s now 5.7sec in front of Russell. The die is cast.
Perez passes Leclerc and is up to third. What’s up with the Ferraris?
Lap 7/57: We see a replay of Piastri, in the McLaren, overtaking Alonso of Aston Martin on the inside.
Lap 6/57: Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, Norris, Piastri, Alonso, Hamilton, Tsunoda is the top 10.
Lap 5/57: Verstappen leads Russell, in second, by 3.8sec now.
Updated
Lap 5/57: Lance Stroll took some contact into turn one, perhaps from Hulkenberg from behind. Which is what caused Hulkenberg to pit for a new front wing.
Lap 4/57: Brundle thinks both Ferraris are struggling for pace. Sainz is fifth, more than a second down on Perez in the Red Bull.
Russell was faster than Verstappen on the previous lap. Impressive.
Updated
Lap 3/57: All the signs are that Verstappen is going to dominate … Lando Norris overtakes Fernando Alonso for sixth.
Russell takes Leclerc in turn four, and he’s up to second!
Updated
Lap 2/57: Hulkenberg pits in the Haas, taking the hard compound tyres. Not sure if he had another problem. Up front, Verstappen leads by over 1.5sec.
Updated
Lap 1/57: Someone came to grief in the pack into turn one. Lance Stroll has dropped to 19th from 12th. Bottas also lost two places.
Updated
Lights out!
Clean start for Verstappen. Leclerc has a look on the outside of turn one … but Verstappen has the edge, quite comfortably, and the Ferrari has to back off. Verstappen leads …
Updated
The cars are lined up on the grid. Hold on to your hats.
Updated
There will be 57 laps. Total race distance: 308.238km.
Here we go. The cars are on the formation lap. Verstappen crawls around turn one with Leclerc just behind.
The world champion for the past three seasons, Max Verstappen, is ready to rock.
Eyes down... it's time to go racing 💪#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/1JHu3X4TLw
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 2, 2024
A reminder of today’s grid:
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3 George Russell (Mercedes)
4 Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
5 Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin
7 Lando Norris (McLaren)
8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
11 Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
12 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
13 Alexander Albon (Williams)
14 Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
15 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) F1
16 Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber)
17 Guanyu Zhou (Kick Sauber)
18 Logan Sargeant (Williams)
19 Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
20 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
Lando Norris of McLaren has a chat while eating a pre-race snack: “We’re in a pack which is very close. I made a mistake and paid the price [in qualifying] … it’s very close, it can easily go our way, it can easily go someone else’s way. It should be exciting.”
Chance of a podium? “It’s a tough ask. Some very quick cars … we’ll find out in a minute.”
We sure will.
Updated
Max Verstappen runs past. How is he, Brundle asks.
“I’m good. Are you good?”
Then he’s off for the anthems.
“He’s risking a fine there, but he’s clearly very relaxed,” says Brundle after Verstappen jogs away. I suppose he means Verstappen might be late for the pre-race ceremony.
Updated
George Russell of Mercedes talks to Brundle about the wind, which has changed direction since qualifying: “It’s shifted 90 degrees, it’ll be totally different, it might catch a few people out.”
He’s third on the grid.
Updated
Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, who has recently recovered from skin cancer, is up next. Brundle says he’s happy to hear that her cancer prognosis is good. “It’s my first day out,” says Ferguson. “I chose to come the grand prix to support the Crown Prince. Very proud to be here. I love Bahrain.”
Jeremy Clarkson is on the scene. “I’ve spent all of today looking at the lap times from last year,” he tells Brundle.
“What have they all been doing over the winter? The gaps are all the same … McLaren are doing a lot better … it’s a strange thing, to go from one year to the next, and for so little to have changed … people watching at home who like the sport will get what I’m saying. It’s a weird year, this year, I think.”
Brundle concurs.
“I’ll see you later,” Clarkson tells Brundle.
Updated
Patrice Evra is on the grid! Wearing a pink suit!
Brundle asks: “How are you doing?”
“I’m very good,” replies the former France and Manchester United full-back. “I’m still alive.”
Brundle then compliments Evra on his suit.
“My wife hates it, but I love it! ha ha ha!”
“We are in Bahrain … I love the race.”
And now Neymar turns up … Evra and Neymar embrace … and that abruptly ends the conversation. Brundle clearly isn’t even going to bother trying to get past Neymar’s security people.
Updated
“The grid is unbelievably close,” says the McLaren director, Zak Brown. “A podium is not out of reach, but we need a clean first lap.”
It’s all happening. Diplo drops “Push the Feeling On”, while Brundle reveals he’s just had a new ankle put in, so “won’t be rushing around as fast as I usually do”.
Updated
How is Nico Hulkenburg of Haas feeling?
“I feel OK, happy that the season starts. I’m cautiously optimistic … excited to see what happens in the next couple of hours.
“It looks better. The feeling in the car was better than in testing. Hopefully we can fight with the midfield teams … it feels like two different worlds between the frontrunners, and the backrunners all bunched up together.”
Updated
Oh, Diplo is DJ-ing now. Looks like he’s got some decks set up on the start-finish straight. That’s nice.
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Who’s excited for Martin Brundle’s grid walk?
Neymar was pictured in the pitlane earlier. I heard that Steven Gerrard is also expected to attend, along with another footballer whose name escapes me now.
Contact me with your Bahrain celeb spots.
Updated
“It’s a bit of a reset,” says Ted Kravitz. “Everyone starts on zero points.”
He’s done this before.
Lights out is coming up in 35 minutes or so.
Will we see a Max Verstappen procession with Red Bull? Can Leclerc, Russell or someone else have a say from the start?
Some excellent photos have emerged from Bahrain during this meeting: love this one by Clive Mason of Getty Images, of Lewis Hamilton in practice:
Updated
George Russell, who is third on the grid for Mercedes, has a quick chat with the telly people:
“If there’s an opportunity on lap one, turn one, I’ll go for it, no doubt … [otherwise] Max might be off into the distance … We have to be realistic.”
Updated
“Very happy to be on pole,” Verstappen told the Red Bull website last night. “But it was very tight with a lot of teams, so it was about getting the lap together.
“I think we’ll be better in the race. A lot of teams will be close together and you never know with a safety car, or whatever, anything can happen.”
Sky F1 are running a feature with George Russell, Lando Norris and Alex Albon, who are firm friends having come through the motor racing ranks together.
“I’m 26 now, but I don’t feel 26,” says Russell. “I feel like a young kid.”
I’m shocked to learn that 26 isn’t a young kid. But I know what he means.
“Disappointed to see the F1 teams choose to vote against allowing the Andretti Cadillac bid to join F1,” emails Dan Hamilton from Toronto. “The Andretti family have huge cachet among American race fans and if F1 collectively think they’ve fully tapped the American racing market, they need to think again.
“NASCAR is off to a very strong start this season after having brokered a lucrative new media rights deal. The Indy Car series is healthier than it’s been for years. Andretti involvement in IndyCar is long established as valuable commodity. They have clearly leveraged that via the strong links to Honda’s bid to soon join NASCAR.
“Haas are clearly struggling in F1 and in NASCAR … so why not get the Andretti team into F1 now to maintain or grow American interest rather than have them as rivals in competitive series?”
The Bahrain starting grid
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1min 29.179sec
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:29.407
3 George Russell (Mercedes) 1:29.485
4 Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 1:29.507
5 Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 1:29.537
6 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:29.542
7 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:29.614
8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1:29.683
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) GP 1:29.710
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) 1:30.502
11 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) 1:30.129
12 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1:30.200
13 Alexander Albon (Williams) 1:30.221
14 Daniel Ricciardo (RB) 1:30.278
15 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) F1 1:30.529
16 Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber) 1:30.756
17 Guanyu Zhou (Kick Sauber) 1:30.757
18 Logan Sargeant (Williams) 1:30.770
19 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 1:30.793
20 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1:30.948
“There is a giant media scrum outside Red Bull,” reports our man in Bahrain, Giles Richards.
“It was like 1997 all over again with the snappers shouting: ‘Geri, Geri, Geri!’”
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Ben Sulayem: Horner furore 'damaging the sport'
The president of Formula One’s governing body has told the Financial Times (£) the controversy around Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is damaging the sport but that the FIA won’t conduct its own inquiry unless it receives a complaint. Before Saturday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “It’s damaging the sport. This is damaging on a human level.”
He added that any complaint lodged with its compliance officer would be investigated but it had not received one related to Horner’s situation and would not “jump the gun”. Horner arrived at the paddock holding hands with his wife, Geri Horner.
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Lewis Hamilton engaging in a bit of pre-race Bahrain bantz:
Lewis has a bone to pick with @lawrobarretto 😂#F1 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/FLc90d3QSL
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 2, 2024
Max Verstappen duly claimed pole for the opening race of the new Formula One season at the Bahrain Grand Prix but the focus of attention under the floodlights and the palm trees remained as it has all week on Verstappen’s team principal, Christian Horner, and his Red Bull team.
With all the turmoil and drama that has swirled round Red Bull, this was a salutary reminder that as a sporting entity they remain spectacularly well-honed for all the chaos that currently orbits their core purpose of going racing.
Whether you’re a Lewis fan, a Max fan, or a someone-else fan, you can email me with your thoughts on today’s race and the season ahead.
Via the Mercedes F1 website, some post-qualifying quotes from Lewis Hamilton: “The car is feeling really great, but I just went a little bit in a direction to help my race pace. I wasn’t feeling as comfortable with that yesterday so that was the focus. I’ve definitely sacrificed more single-lap performance than I hoped too but I hope that pays off tomorrow.”
Toto Wolff echoed those thoughts about the changes to the car that Mercedes hope will benefit them in the race: “Yesterday we looked slightly better than today on our single-lap performance. We intentionally tried to set the car up for tomorrow’s race though, so we hope we’re in more of a sweet spot for the Grand Prix tomorrow.
“The set-up changes we made certainly contributed to the drop in our performance today. At the start of Qualifying, we wondered if we had sacrificed too much for tomorrow but in the end, it wasn’t too bad. P3 is a good place to start but we were still three tenths off pole position.”
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Max Verstappen has a chat: “Everyone is looking forward to the race … I’m excited. Normally, our car is good in the race. In qualifying the gaps were very small and I think it will be in the same in the race.
“It feels like the top eight, nine cars are a lot closer. I think it will be a really interesting race.”
Christian Horner was on Friday night still fighting for his future in Formula One but remained insistent he was going nowhere as the furore around his exoneration, after a complaint about his behaviour from a female Red Bull employee, continued to dominate the agenda at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Preamble
The build-up to the season’s opening grand prix has been unusually dramatic. Mercedes displayed surprisingly fearsome pace in Thursday’s opening practice session, with Lewis Hamilton fastest in the team’s new car design. However, order seemed to be swiftly restored by Red Bull and Max Verstappen in qualifying on Friday, with the world champion securing pole position two-hundredths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
George Russell of Mercedes claimed third on the grid, with Hamilton a somewhat disappointing ninth after his flying start to the season curtain-raiser. But Hamilton explained that while some tweaks to his set-up may have sacrificed a bit of single-lap speed for the Mercedes in qualifying, he is hoping they benefit him in today’s race. “It’s amazing for us to have a car that we can fight with,” Hamilton said. “It reignites the fire and the flame within us drivers.”
Today’s grand prix kicks off a season of record-breaking length, with 24 events, scheduled to finish in Abu Dhabi in December. It is also sure to be memorable – emotional, even – being Hamilton’s final campaign with Toto Wolff’s marque before his switch to Ferrari next year.
There has also been a smattering of controversy and drama off-track, of course, with Christian Horner cleared by an independent investigation into controlling behaviour on Wednesday, only for anonymous emails sent on Thursday to reveal alleged messages between the Red Bull boss and the staff member who made the complaint against him. Horner declined to comment yesterday, apart from saying the next step is to “go racing”. So that is what we’ll do.
Lights out: 3pm GMT (6pm local).
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