2024 Bahrain Grand Prix | 6 talking points

1. Another Verstappen masterclass

The controversy of Christian Horner’s apparent behaviour, despite the mid-week announcement that an independent enquiry had cleared him of wrongdoing in his actions towards a member of staff, overshadowed most of the Bahrain weekend. The cringe-inducing leak of messages apparently sent between the 50-year-old and the team member only fuelled the flames and further pulled down the mood.

What F1 needed was a really good race to add some much-needed cheer. It didn’t get one. Instead, Verstappen waltzed away to beat team-mate Sergio Perez by a massive 22.4 seconds for his 55^th career victory and eighth in a row (from Suzuka last year). The new Honda-powered Red Bull RB20 is another peach from the technical team led by Adrian Newey. “Unbelievable, I think today went better than expected," Verstappen told Sky F1. “We had a lot of pace, it was super-enjoyable to drive. We stayed out of trouble. It’s a good start to the year, it couldn't be better. It’s very special to have days like today. It doesn’t happen often, when everything is OK with the car. I think the start was good. The first corner is a tight hairpin, but from there onwards we focused on our own race.”

2. Leclerc fades, then rallies

Briefly Charles Leclerc had a ray of hope. He’d qualified on the front row, closer to Verstappen’s pole position time than anyone had expected. And when the Red Bull had a touch of wheelspin away from the line, Leclerc eyed the lead. But once Verstappen had withstood the challenge, the Ferrari fell back – and struggled.

Leclerc lost places to George Russell, Perez and his team-mate Carlos Sainz, but then rallied later in the race on the hard tyre to at least pick off Russell and claim fourth, with his Spanish team-mate completing the podium after a fine drive. Not the start to the season he wanted, then, although Ferrari’s best-of-the-rest pace behind the mighty Red Bulls at least gives a decent platform for progress. Leclerc will be hoping to bounce quickly into a better performance in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix next Saturday, while Sainz got his final season at Ferrari off to pretty much an optimum start.

3. Mercedes overheats in solid showing

Russell’s fifth place and Lewis Hamilton’s seventh might not be much for Mercedes to sing about, but this was a reasonable showing by the Brackley-based team. Both W15s suffered overheating problems which required their engines to be turned down, plus Hamilton nursed a battery fault and an annoying broken seat. That all helped to account for the lack of pace compared to the Ferraris – although the team was never likely to be in the same ballpark as Red Bull (at least, not Verstappen’s). Again, like Ferrari, a middling weekend, but better days should lie ahead.

4. No surprises for McLaren and Aston Martin

A year ago McLaren was in trouble at the Bahrain Grand Prix. This time Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were sixth and eighth respectively to score solid points. Winter hopes of McLaren taking the fight to Red Bull faded in the run-up to and during the pre-season Bahrain tests, so this was roughly where the team was predicted to be. Likewise, Aston Martin knew the overachievement of last year was unlikely to be repeated. Fernando Alonso was ninth, Lance Stroll tenth. Again, about where they were expected to fall.

5. Tsunoda loses his rag

Yuki Tsunoda’s temper tantrum did him no favours, even if his lack of patience showed his ambition. He was chasing Kevin Magnussen’s Haas for 12^th when the radio call came for him to move over and let RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo have a crack. The Australian failed to dislodge the Dane and trundled in 13^th, with Tsunoda behind him. The Japanese driver then appeared to swerve at Ricciardo on the cooldown lap, in his annoyance that they hadn’t switched back the places.

Had the pair been running in the points, his reaction to team orders would have been more understandable. But as Ricciardo pointed out, when it was all about a place in the teens, who cares? Tsunoda is a talented driver who, in his fourth season in F1, needs to show he’s worthy of a place in the A-team beside Verstappen one day. This wasn’t the way to prove it.

6. Alpine looking black and blue

Collectively, the team and drivers appear determined to put on a positive public face. But this was a desperate first grand prix of the season for Alpine. The Renault-owned team knew its A524 was heavy and lacking in aero performance, but qualifying at the back of the grid was perhaps worse than anyone in Enstone had envisaged. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly then toiled to 17^th and 18^th in the race.

Added to the underwhelming showing is the more concerning story that suggests technical director Matt Harman and aero head Dirk de Beer have already resigned. If that is so, team chief Bruno Famin is facing a technical team restructure just as Alpine is already facing a steep uphill climb. This, lest we forget, used to be a frontrunning team, and with manufacturer heft behind it, really still should be. So troubled times – but then that was a running theme in Bahrain, even for the team that ran away with the race.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.