2024 Bahrain Grand Prix - Race Results & Summary

The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix provided a lot of entertainment, and it was Max Verstappen who started the new season with a win.

The start of the first Grand Prix of the new season was relatively clean, with only one incident, when Nico Hulkenberg in Haas, who had a slow start, tapped Aston Martin's Lance Stroll from the behind, as both drivers dropped back, and the German was even forced to pit and change his front wing.

On the other hand, George Russell in Mercedes, who hoped for a competitive race, managed to overtake Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who seemingly struggled early on, while Sergio Perez in Red Bull got up to fourth place, overtaking Carlos Sainz.

However, despite the Brit's solid place, by the end of the sixth lap, Max Verstappen had already a five-second lead, leaving the two Ferraris, his teammate, and Russell fighting for the second place.

While Sainz complained that he had "more pace" than the cars ahead of him, Perez moved up to the third place, overtaking Leclerc, as the Spaniard looked to have a go in the next lap as well, but didn't succeed in overtaking his opponent.

But the Monegasque driver kept locking up his wheels under breaking, and as a result, his opponent got some more looks, finally passing Leclerc. In the meantime, on Lap 10, Logan Sargeant in Williams suddenly found himself in the run-off area, but was able to continue, but more than 30 seconds behind the rest of the field.

On Lap 12, drivers started boxing for the new tires, with Russell and Leclerc as the first two into pit. Perez followed in the next lap, coming just behind the Mercedes driver, but in front of Leclerc.

From the Top 5, only Verstappen and Sainz left, and while the Dutchman had nothing to lose with a massive lead, the Spaniard had to pay attention to his closest competitors for the podium.

Still before the Spanish driver managed to box for the new tires, Perez overtook Russell, to temporarily hold a virtual one-two for Red Bull.

In the same lap, Sainz finally got to box, but he came behind the four drivers, once again finding himself behind his teammate.

But it took the Spaniard only a couple of laps before he managed to get ahead of his teammate once again, this time with a beautiful dive into Turn 1.

Suddenly, both Mercedes drivers started to struggle with their power unit, at least according to their radio messages, and Sainz used that to his own benefit, overtaking Russell for the podium position.

After that, not much changing of positions happened, as all drivers kept a solid distance between each other, and the second set of pit stops didn't change that, with the Top 5 seemingly decided.

After second visits of mechanics, Red Bull's changed to softs, while all of their closest competitors went to hards, allowing Verstappen to complete the fastest lap, on top of leading the race in every single lap of the Grand Prix.

Leclerc managed to make one more late overtake, after Russell made a mistake, giving the Monegasque driver a shot at taking over his position.

In the midfield, there wasn't a lot changing of the positions either, as McLaren's stayed quite close to the podium throughout the race, but never close enough, finishing sixth with Lando Norris and eighth with Oscar Piastri, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton seventh between the two orange cars.

On the other side of the field, Valtteri Bottas in Sauber had to spend over 50 seconds stationary, when his mechanics struggled to change his front left tire, while the struggles of Alpine proved to be real, with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon both not making it to the Top 15.

A lot was discussed about RB's potential, but Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda didn't even make it to points, with both drivers finishing outside of the Top 10.

Ultimately, Verstappen managed to win the first race of the season without any major problems, with Perez and Sainz completing the podium.