Carlos Sainz shines in Bahrain as Verstappen dominates to win
© F1
Max Verstappen dominates the first Grand Prix of 2024. Sainz finishes third and gets the first podium of the year for Ferrari, which consolidates its position as the second force on track.
The first race of the 2024 season in Bahrain promised a very tight grid, with doubts even over whether Red Bull would be as competitive this year. This was underpinned by some indications in qualifying, where Max Verstappen claimed pole, followed by Charles Leclerc, who, however, in Q2 set the fastest time of the entire qualifying. Ferrari promised a good pace, with a discreet but confident Mercedes, following a completely renewed concept.
The illusion of a season with a fight for the top spot in the drivers' championship has already become almost a predictable dominance of the Dutchman, especially after taking his first win by a 20-second margin over team-mate Checo Perez. The Mexican finished second thanks to good tyre management, following a strategy of going from soft to hard to finish the race on soft again, which allowed him to move up from fifth to second and give Red Bull its first double of the season.
PERFECT START TO THE SEASON FOR CARLOS SAINZ
With a different strategy to the one in Milton Keynes, Ferrari tried to assert itself as the second force on track. After a bad start in which Carlos Sainz lost two positions, the Spaniard managed to get the best out of his SF-24 not only in the first stint on soft tyres, but also with the two sets of hard tyres that would complete the 57 laps. Sainz made two very aggressive overtakes, on lap 11 and lap 17, with team-mate Charles Leclerc, showing that the Spaniard is going for it and that Maranello will see more than one battle between its two drivers in 2024. Carlos tried to fight for second place by betting on the degradation of Pérez's soft tyres in the final laps, a degradation that didn't come and left Sainz in third position.
The Maranello team could not have a completely clean race, as Leclerc could not fight for second place. The Monegasque finished fourth due to a problem in the brake balance system, probably caused by the change of a component just before the start of the race, which meant that during the first half of the laps he had many lock-ups without being able to control his car 100%.
ALONSO AND HAMILTON, WITHOUT GLORY
The Spaniard managed to qualify sixth, but had a rather anodyne race and ended the weekend in ninth position. His AMR-24 still doesn't seem to be up to the pace of the MCL38 of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who finished sixth and eighth, respectively, ahead of the Spaniard. Lance Stroll, who was far behind Alonso last year, made a comeback from last to tenth after Hulkenberg sent him off the track at the first corner.
It was a disappointing weekend for Lewis Hamilton, who, unlike team-mate George Russell, failed to realise the potential of his Mercedes, despite claiming they were quicker than he expected. The world champion tried a different set-up to his team-mate, which didn't work in qualifying or the race and didn't allow him to finish higher than seventh.
