F1 Bahrain GP: Max Verstappen Comfortably Wins First Race of the Season Ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz

After the wait of the winter break and the hype surrounding the testing for the new season, it was a familiar outcome at the end of the first Formula 1 race of 2024. Max Verstappen managed to comfortably cruise to victory from pole and had his teammate Sergio Perez for company on the second step of the podium. After some heroic overtakes, it was Carlos Sainz who secured P3, his teammate Charles Leclerc trailing behind. 

Despite the changes brought by others, it was Verstappen who still managed to streak off into the distance. He had a great launch off the line and then managed to stretch a lead so big that he was comfortably ahead even after his pit stops. Verstappen drove his soft tyres all the way to Lap 17, further than the rest of the field. He once again demonstrated that his ability to drive fast and also nurse the tyres is unmatched. The Dutch driver also managed to snatch the fastest lap of the race. Sergio Perez was also impressive with some early moves and managed to get P2. Just like last year, Red Bull managed to secure the top two spots.

F1 Bahrain Grand Prix: Race Result

In a race that was relatively boring, it was Carlos Sainz who provided the most entertainment and race heroics. The Spanish driver started from fourth and then went wheel to wheel with his teammate on Lap 11. Charles Leclerc was ahead but was struggling to maintain the pace. As a result, Sainz made a daring pass that had me biting my nails off, praying that the two not collide. Leclerc had issues while braking during the first half of the race and kept locking at Turn 10 and a few other parts of the race track. Leclerc was called in for the first pitstop before Sainz which led to their positions being swapped on track. However, this opened the window for another close battle between the two on Lap 17 where once again, Sainz managed to get ahead.

While George Russell looked quick at the start, he reported an engine power issue and started dropping back. While he started the race in third place, he finished fifth. While Lewis Hamilton gained a few spots during the race, he was not blisteringly fast by any measure. The McLaren pair looked to have a similar pace and while they did make some moves early one, they could not fight for the podium.

Unlike last year, there were (sadly) no Fernando Alonso heroics this time around. The Aston Martin duo was relatively quiet during the race and Alonso did not fight the Mercedes and McLarens when they passed him. Despite being tagged from behind by Nico Hulkenberg at the start of the race, Lance Stroll managed to impressively clinch the final point.

With the two Red Bulls, Ferraris, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martins all running, there were no points left for the other teams. The best of the rest was Zhou who finished in P11. His teammate Valtteri Bottas was nowhere near as lucky. The first lap incident made him drop towards the tail-end of the field and then later he had a rather slow pit stop where his front left tyre took forever to be changed. The Finnish driver was stationary for 52.4 seconds and finished the race in P19. In another poor showing, Logan Sargeant of Williams was still 25 seconds behind Bottas and finished dead last. The American driver locked up and went off the track and was unable to move for a while.

There was some drama during the final few laps of the race when Yuki Tsunoda was asked to let his teammate Daniel Ricciardo pass him. The two drivers were running out of the points and Tsunoda was chasing Magnussen. Ricciardo felt like he was faster and wanted to get ahead. While Tsunoda protested initially, he eventually let Ricciardo pass. Once the Australian driver was ahead, he was not able to reel in Magnussen, much to the annoyance of the Tsunoda.