Max Verstappen pumps his fist in front of number 1 board after winning 2024 Bahrain GP

2024 Bahrain Grand Prix

Saturday, March 2, 2024
Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
F1 World Championship

Temperatures boiled over as Mercedes and Ferrari pursued Red Bull in vain. But Verstappen's winning margin was smaller than the previous year

Career win number 55 for Max Verstappen to kick-off a new season which looks very much like the old one and the one before that. Red Bull’s svelte new RB20 carried a big advantage in the race and Verstappen was on a relative cruise from pole to chequer. His team-mate Sergio Perez came through from an early fourth place to pass the compromised cars of George Russell (the Mercs running with not enough PU cooling) and Charles Leclerc (the Ferraris running with not enough brake cooling).

Sainz was less seriously afflicted by the Ferrari brake problem than Leclerc and was able to pass both Russell and Leclerc (twice) and put pressure on Perez. But he was 25sec behind the imperious Verstappen at the flag.

What patterns did we see and what might they foretell of the season ahead?

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