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Motorsport

Sport

2024 F1 Bahrain GP results: Verstappen wins season opener

Charles Leclerc George Russell Carlos Sainz Sergio Perez Carlos Sainz Jr Max Verstappen Fernando Alonso Ferrari Lando Norris Oscar Piastri

Verstappen beat his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the 57-lap race under the floodlights.

Verstappen dominated from the start, while Perez battled his way through to second from fifth on the grid, passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the Mercedes of George Russell after gaining a spot from Sainz at the start.

2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	57	-			2	26		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	57	+22.457 22.457	22.457		2	18		Red Bull	Red Bull
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	57	+25.110 25.110	2.653		2	15		Ferrari	Ferrari
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	57	+39.669 39.669	14.559		2	12		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	G. Russell Mercedes	63	57	+46.788 46.788	7.119		2	10		Mercedes	Mercedes
6	L. Norris McLaren	4	57	+48.458 48.458	1.670		2	8		McLaren	Mercedes
7	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	57	+50.324 50.324	1.866		2	6		Mercedes	Mercedes
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81	57	+56.082 56.082	5.758		2	4		McLaren	Mercedes
9	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	57	+1'14.887 1'14.887	18.805		2	2		Aston Martin	Mercedes
10	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	57	+1'33.216 1'33.216	18.329		2	1		Aston Martin	Mercedes
11	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	56	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
12	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	56	1 lap			2			Haas	Ferrari
13	D. Ricciardo RB	3	56	1 lap			2			RB	Red Bull
14	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	56	1 lap			2			RB	Red Bull
15	A. Albon Williams	23	56	1 lap			2			Williams	Mercedes
16	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	56	1 lap			3			Haas	Ferrari
17	E. Ocon Alpine	31	56	1 lap			2			Alpine	Renault
18	P. Gasly Alpine	10	56	1 lap			3			Alpine	Renault
19	V. Bottas Sauber	77	56	1 lap			2			Sauber	Ferrari
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2	55	2 laps			3			Williams	Mercedes
View full results

2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix report

Polesitter Verstappen led the charge to Turn 1, ahead of Leclerc, Russell and Perez. Sainz ran fifth, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and the squabbling McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Lance Stroll’s Aston spun at the first corner, following contact from a slow-starting Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas, who was shoved from behind by the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas. Hulkenberg was forced to pit for a new nose and rejoined last.

Verstappen quickly pulled clear of DRS range of Leclerc, who was passed by Russell for second at Turn 4 on lap 3. Norris overtook Alonso for sixth at Turn 1, and Piastri repeated the move a handful of laps later, to elevate the McLarens to sixth and seventh respectively.

Perez passed Leclerc for third at Turn 11 on lap 7, after the Ferrari driver locked up and ran wide at the corner before.

Verstappen led by over 7s after 10 laps, just as Logan Sargeant went off in his Williams at Turn 4 before rejoining. Williams later changed Sargeant’s steering wheel during his pitstop after identifying a problem.

Sainz got ahead of Leclerc – who lost DRS on Perez when he suffered a big slide at the final corner – to snatch fourth on lap 11, the Ferraris running perilously closely through Turns 1 and 2.

Russell and Leclerc pitted for hard tyres on lap 12, promoting Perez to a Red Bull 1-2 from Sainz and the McLarens. Perez stopped a lap later but failed to overcut Russell.

Perez then attacked Russell on track on lap 14, passing him with a sweet move at the exit of Turn 4.

Sainz pitted from second on lap 15, rejoining behind Leclerc who was complaining of front locking. Sainz passed an unhappy Leclerc for the second time at Turn 1 two laps later.

Verstappen made his first pitstop on lap 18, while Sainz set fastest lap as he caught Russell – swooping past the Mercedes at Turn 4.

At half distance, Verstappen led by almost 15s over Perez, Sainz, Russell and Leclerc. Russell triggered the final round of pitstops on lap 32, during which the Red Bulls were forced to fit softs for the final stint due to a lack of more hards.

Russell suffered from overheating in the second half of the race, and had to drop his pace, which allowed Leclerc to close. Russell outbraked himself at Turn 10 on lap 46 and gifted fourth to Leclerc.

Verstappen won by over 22s from Perez, Sainz, Leclerc and Russell.

Norris finished a lonely sixth, while Lewis Hamilton struggled with his battery and a broken seat on his way to seventh for Mercedes. He managed to undercut ahead of Piastri after the final round of stops and passed Alonso with 18 laps to go.

Alonso, who ran as high as sixth early on, slumped back to 10th after making an oddly-timed late stop for his final set of hards. He passed the recovering Stroll for ninth in the closing stages but could make no further progress up the order.

2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix fastest laps

Pos	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Gap	Kph
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'32.608		210.383
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'34.090	1.482	207.069
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'34.199	1.591	206.830
4	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'34.364	1.756	206.468
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1'34.476	1.868	206.223
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'34.507	1.899	206.156
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'34.722	2.114	205.688
8	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	1'34.735	2.127	205.659
9	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	1'34.805	2.197	205.508
10	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	1'34.834	2.226	205.445
11	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	1'34.983	2.375	205.123
12	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'35.065	2.457	204.946
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB/Honda RBPT	1'35.163	2.555	204.735
14	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber/Ferrari	1'35.458	2.850	204.102
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1'35.570	2.962	203.863
16	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1'35.632	3.024	203.730
17	23	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	1'35.723	3.115	203.537
18	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB/Honda RBPT	1'35.833	3.225	203.303
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber/Ferrari	1'36.202	3.594	202.523
20	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	1'36.226	3.618	202.473

2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix tyre strategy

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	S : 20	H : 20	S : 20
2	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	S : 15	H : 24	S : 21
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	S : 17	H : 21	H : 22
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	S : 14	H : 23	H : 23
5	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	S : 14	H : 20	H : 26
6	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	S : 16	H : 20	H : 24
7	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	S : 15	H : 21	H : 24
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	S : 15	H : 22	H : 23
9	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	S : 18	H : 26	H : 16
10	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	S : 9	H : 18	H : 30
11	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	S : 9	H : 19	H : 28
12	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	S : 11	H : 21	H : 24
13	D. Ricciardo RB	3	RB	Red Bull	S : 16	H : 22	S : 21
14	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	S : 14	H : 20	H : 22
15	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	S : 15	H : 21	H : 20
16	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	S : 1	H : 19	H : 21	S : 16
17	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	S : 10	H : 20	H : 26
18	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	S : 12	H : 19	H : 12	S : 13
19	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	S : 12	H : 18	H : 26
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2	Williams	Mercedes	S : 10	H : 18	H : 12	S : 15
View full results

2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix fastest lap sequence

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Evol	Lap
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'36.296		2
2	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'35.606	0.690	14
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1'35.507	0.099	17
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'35.283	0.224	19
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'35.160	0.123	20
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1'34.476	0.684	35
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'34.090	0.386	36
8	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1'32.608	1.482	39