Max Verstappen wins again, but a strong day for Carlos Sainz Jr. in F1 Bahrain Grand Prix

It may just be the first race of the 2024 Formula 1 season, but the biggest storyline of the entire year might be the driver transfer market. After all, 13 drivers are set to see their contracts expire at the end of the season, and with Lewis Hamilton’s pending move to Ferrari, this year’s “silly season” has the potential to be legendary.

One of those drivers? Carlos Sainz Jr., who is losing his seat at Ferrari to Hamilton at the end of the year. That news makes Sainz the first driver to officially lose his seat for hte year ahead, and become something of a free agent. Every race this year gives him a chance to prove his worth to another team.

He certainly made the most of it on Saturday night in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Yes, it was Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez delivering a one-two finish for Red Bull, just as we saw the lock out the front row a year ago. We’ll get to the Bulls in a second, but what we saw on Saturday night from Sainz was nothing short of masterful, and will certainly draw the attention of the other nine teams on the grid. Sainz started in P4, but put his SF-24 onto the podium thanks to a “clinical” performance as described by Jolyon Palmer from Commentary Box 31 on F1TV.

Sainz delivered a number of impressive moves on Saturday night, with perhaps his overtake of teammate Charles Leclerc on Lap 17 standing out atop that list. Sainz tried to chase down Pérez in the race’s final act, hoping his hard tires would give him a chance as the soft compound on Pérez’s RB20 faded, but he could not catch up to Pérez.

After the race, Sainz talked about his performance with David Coulthard on F1TV. “I felt really good out there today. The start wasn’t ideal but from there on I just managed the tires well.” said Sainz. “Keeping up with the Red Bulls there was a pleasant surprise.”

What we saw from Sainz on Saturday was impressive. “This is a complete race car driver,” said Coulthard up in Commentary Box 31 on F1TV.

A complete race car driver is just what many teams will be looking for ahead of 2025.

Here are the full results from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, as well as some other winners and losers:

Heartbreak for Hülkenberg and Haas, but hope for the future?

Saturday was going to give us our first look at whether Haas had truly solved their tire degradation woes from a season ago. Nico Hülkenberg, thanks to another masterful qualifying session, started the race in P10. If he was able to hold on and finish in the points, it would be a sign that Haas had truly solved that riddle.

By the first turn of the Bahrain Grand Prix, it was clear that riddle would remain unsolved.

Hülkenberg got off to a slow start, opening the door for Lance Stroll to jump ahead of him down the first straight and towards Turn 1. As the field worked its way through the opening turn of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Hülkenberg found himself in the back of Stroll’s AMR24, causing damage to his front wing and requiring a pit stop on the opening lap.

As the race wound down, Hülkenberg would eventually give way to teammate Kevin Magnussen, whose pace was quicker in the closing stages. It was not enough for the time to salvage a point, as both drivers finished outside the points.

If there is some solace for Haas, it could be found with the drive from Magnussen. Despite starting in P15, he was able to pick up a few spots in the race and, more importantly, not fall back through the field. In the final laps of the race, he was able to hold off Daniel Ricciardo for P12, on a set of hards while Ricciardo was on a set of softs. Even Hülkenberg managed to pick up a few spots, getting ahead of the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly and into P16.

Those could be signs that the team has taken a step forward with their race pace and tire degradation issues, but it may be only a small big of solace, given how the day began.

Tension at VCARB? Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Well that did not take long.

In the final few laps of the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team found their drivers back in P13 and P14. Yuki Tsunoda was up in P13 on a set of hard tires, with Daniel Ricciardo right behind him on a set of softs. Points were likely not in the cards for the team, with both Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu ahead of Tsunoda, but that is when the order came through to Tsunoda:

Let Ricciardo by.

It was an order that Tsunoda did not appreciate. “Are you kidding me, now?” came the driver over the radio to his crew.

Just behind him, Ricciardo kept quiet. “Yeah, I do not need to say anything,” said the Australian driver.

Eventually, Tsunoda let Ricciardo by, and his teammate tried to chase Magnussen down. But Tsunoda was not done airing his frustration. “Yeah thanks guys, I appreciate it,” said Tsunoda. Then a few minutes later Tsunoda complained about Ricciardo’s pace some more. “Yeah he’s not fast at all!” exclaimed Tsunoda.

Magnussen was able to hold Ricciardo off, and both VCARB drivers finished outside the points.

The underlying tension is of course clear. As noted earlier 13 drivers are set to see their contracts expire at the end of the season, including both Ricciardo and Tsunoda. Both VCARB drivers have their eyes not just on keeping their current seat for 2025 — and fending off Liam Lawson perhaps — but maybe settling into the seat currently occupied by Sergio Pérez at Red Bull.

If the first race of the season is any indication, this tension might not just simmer at VCARB this season, it could eventually boil over.

A strong start for the Scuderia

The podium finish for Sainz probably captures the headlines, but this was a strong day for Ferrari. The Scuderia entered the week looking like “Team Two” behind Red Bull, and they will leave Bahrain behind firmly in that spot. The REd Bulls took the first two spots on the grid, and the Scuderia took the next two, with the P3 from Sainz and a P4 from Leclerc.

Early in the race, it did not look like a good day was in the cards for Leclerc. As Sainz worked his way forward, Leclerc was struggling with his SF-24. He slid off the track a few times, and had a few lockups, as he was dealing with a braking issue.

But as the race wore on, he started to settle in. Leclerc looked comfortable in the latter stages, with the hard compound bolted onto his SF-24, and managed to chase down George Russell for P4, where he finished.

Perhaps the best sign for Ferrari, beyond the points they collected?

This looked like another veteran performance from Leclerc.

Think back to how the 2023 season ended. With the final laps of the season ticking down, Ferrari was locked in a tight fight with Mercedes for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship. As Leclerc wound his way around Yas Marina, he worked through the various title permutations with his team, trying to maximize every potential point for Ferrari in that fight. While Mercedes eventually held on for second in the Constructors’, it was a veteran moment from Leclerc, and a sign of growth and maturation as a driver.

We saw that again on Saturday. Despite the early struggles, he hung in there and drove his race. Rather than fight the SF-24 in the initial stages — and perhaps create a bigger problem — he remained patient, and delivered a big result for his team.

If the Charles Leclerc we have seen in the last two F1 races is the driver we see throughout 2024, watch out.

A mixed evening for Sauber Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

This was perhaps a mixed evening for Sauber.

First off, the team finished outside the points. Despite there being some expectations for Sauber entering the Bahrain Grand Prix, both Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated in Q1 on Friday, and they failed to pick up any points on Saturday.

Second, Bottas saw his drive turn into just another testing session, due to a brutal pit stop on Lap 32. There was a problem with the front left tire during the stop, and the team eventually needed to bolt on a second tire. The entire stop lasted over 50 seconds, ending any chances of Bottas getting into the points.

But then there was the drive from Zhou. Despite starting back in P17 he fought his way up into points position, and was in the fight for P10 the entire race. A well-executed pit stop from Lance Stroll, and a patient drive from Fernando Alonso, eventually was the Aston Martin duo nip Zhou, and he finished in P11, just outside the points.

However, given where he started, that was an impressive drive from Zhou.

It also shows that perhaps those expectations for Sauber were well-placed, and if the team extracts just a little more from the C44 in the coming weeks, points could truly be on offer.

Steady days for McLaren, Aston, and Mercedes

It might be fair to say that these three teams enjoyed “workmanlike” performances on Saturday. Both teams secured a double-points finish, which is the kind of consistency that matters over the course of an F1 season.

At McLaren, Lando Norris came across the line in P6, with teammate Oscar Piastri a few spots behind him in P8. Mercedes, after seeing Russell surge into second in the early going, but lose a few spots as he had to manage a power unit issue, scored a P5 from Norris and a P7 from Lewis Hamilton. Then at Aston Martin, the “surprising” pace they showed early in the week was rewarded with a double-points finish of their own, with Alonso finishing in P9, and Stroll behind him in P10.

These teams did not enjoy big wins on Saturday, but sometimes success over the course of the season means avoiding big losses. A double-points finish for these three teams is a solid way to begin the year.

The road ahead for Alpine looks steep

The Alps are about a seven-hour drive from Viry-Châtillon, where Alpine manufactures their power units.

That mountain range might also feel like the climb that is ahead of Alpine.

Alpine predicted a “challenging” start to the 2024 F1 season, and that prediction has been bang-on accurate. Both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were eliminated in Q1 on Friday, as the team locked out the back row of the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Ocon started in P19 and for the second year in a row Gasly began his season at the back of the field.

Things did not improve much for them in the race itself. Ocon picked up a few spots to finish P17 and Gasly did as well, to finish P18. But those spots were due more to mistakes from others — the slow pit stop from Bottas and a mistake from Logan Sargeant that cost him a ton of time as well — than anything to do with the A524.

However, the team knows they have some work to do, and this is just the first of 24 races on the season. There is a lot of time for Alpine to figure out how to maximize their package and start pulling the lap times down. F1 is fast, but the season is a marathon, not a sprint.

Just remember how McLaren started out a year ago.

Oh yeah what about Red Bull

Yeah, about those guys.

“Ominous” was the word used throughout pre-season testing, as we saw the RB20 again look like the pacesetter in the F1 world. And ominous was exactly the result at the front of the field. Verstappen won his 55th career race, getting his title defense out to another strong start. With Pérez finishing behind him, the Bulls locked out the front row in Bahrain for the second-straight year, and reminded the rest of the field that there is still a gap from Red Bull, to everyone else.

Even more ominous than the results? What we heard from both drivers after the race.

“It couldn’t have been better,” said Verstappen to Coulthard on F1TV. “I felt really good in the car. It’s always really special to have theses days [where] you’re just one with the car.”

“I think it was the maximum we could have achieved,” said Pérez. “Overall I think it’s a great way to start the season.”

If this start is any indication, Red Bull could be on their way to more special days, and perhaps another special season.