Max Verstappen took a commanding victory in Bahrain, with Carlos Sainz finishing first of the chasing in third.
There were question marks in the build-up to the Bahrain GP, and Verstappen’s controlled victory answered many of them.
Carlos Sainz managed an impressive third place for Ferrari, but the SF-24 is still a few steps behind the reigning Champions.
At least the Spaniard enjoyed a more quiet race than his teammate.
Charles Leclerc struggled with persistent tyre issues throughout the race. Ultimately, he managed to come home in P4 – although the 26-year-old will feel there was potential for far more.
George Russell didn’t experience the drop-off in performance that some anticipated. Despite initial flashes of pace, the W15 seemed comfortably 3rd-fastest as he crossed the line in 5th.
The McLaren duo were just behind, cementing themselves as a top-5 team.
Andrea Stella believes the MCL38 will perform better elsewhere, so today’s result was not a huge surprise.
Lewis Hamilton was rather anonymous, claiming 8th place in a quiet Grand Prix. It seems his set-up direction did not produce the results he anticipated.
Fernando Alonso was another driver whose race was rather uneventful. After an encouraging qualifying, the AMR24 proved itself to be the 5th-fastest team.
Stroll recovered from an early spin to finish in 10th, a strong drive in uninspiring machinery.
Zhou Guanyu deserved points for an extremely solid drive today, finishing 11th whilst maximising his Sauber machine.
Magnussen’s P12 confirmed the forward step at Haas in race trim, with early damage compromising potential points for Nico Hulkenberg.
Perhaps the biggest drama of the race was at VCARB, with Yuki Tsunoda unhappy at being given team orders to let Ricciardo overtake.
After running comfortably ahead of his teammate for most of the race, a difference in strategy saw Tsunoda lose ground to the Australian.
With a potential Red Bull seat available, it seems reasonable this teammate pairing will generate more talking points in 2024.
