F1 Bahrain GP 2024 LIVE: Results with Max Verstappen winning the first race of season
Follow live F1 updates from the first race of the season in Bahrain with Max Verstappen leading from pole
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Formula 1’s 2024 season is well underway as the teams prepare for Saturday’s race with the noise surrounding Christian Horner refusing to fade.
Friday’s action in Bahrain saw Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz top the leaderboard in the third free practice session to set up a Ferrari-Red Bull clash in qualifying. McLaren’s Lando Norris also found some quick pace though the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were unable to maintain their strong showing from Thursday.
In qualifying, Max Verstappen won the battle against Ferrari and finished on pole thanks to an improved lap time of 1:29:179 beating out Charles Leclerc by 0.228 seconds. Hamilton starts in P9 though teammate Russell had a storming final lap to clinch P3 and will be in with a chance of challenging the leaders today. Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso round out the top five.
Elsewhere, Christian Horner drew the media’s attention again after Whatsapps allegedly sent by him to a female colleague were leaked to the press, in what could be an embarrassing development for the Red Bull team principal who had previous been investigated and cleared over alleged ’inappropriate behaviour’.
Follow updates from the Bahrain Grand Prix with The Independent:
Max Verstappen after securing pole position:
“A lot of fun, the track had a lot of grip. Very happy to be on pole - to be honest it was a little bit unexpected but luckily the car came to us.
“We needed to fine tune a few little things to get that balance. We could really push with the car and another step in qualifying.
“The race is going to be close as well. I’m confident we can have a strong race!”
F1 Bahrain Grand Prix: What time is the race?
(All times GMT)
Saturday 2 March
- Race: 3pm
How can I watch it online and on TV?
The Bahrain Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom - and ESPN in the United States.
Highlights of qualifying in the UK will be aired on free-to-air Channel 4 at 7:30pm (GMT) on Friday; the race highlights are at 7:50pm (GMT) on Saturday.
George Russell, who starts P3 today:
“I’m feeling good. We’ve had two months off, you’ve had the qualifying nerves and you’ve got the anxiety of what’s going to come. To get P3 was a great result for the team.
“If there’s an opportunity on lap one, turn one, I’ll go for it no doubt. If we don’t get Max then, then he’ll be off into the distance.”
F1 Bahrain Grand Prix: Max Verstappen takes temporary spotlight off Christian Horner with pole position
Qualifying report
Max Verstappen temporarily took the spotlight off team boss Christian Horner by putting his Red Bull on pole position for the opening round of the new Formula One season in Bahrain.
The build-up to the first race of the campaign has totally been overshadowed by allegations whirling around Horner.
The 50-year-old was exonerated by Red Bull Racing parent’s company, Red Bull GmbH, following an internal probe into “inappropriate behaviour” against a female colleague on Wednesday – before hundreds of WhatsApp messages appearing to be written by him were leaked to the F1 world a day later.
However, Horner, who has always denied any wrongdoing and remains in his role, was on the world champions’ pit wall here in Bahrain to see Verstappen claim his first pole of a season in which he is expected to romp to his fourth consecutive world championship in his all-conquering Red Bull machine.
But the triple world champion was made to work for the 33rd pole of his career under the thousands of bulbs that light up the Sakhir Circuit with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc second, two-tenths back.
Full report below:
Verstappen takes temporary spotlight off Horner with pole position in Bahrain
Verstappen edged out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to take the first pole position of the 2024 F1 season
F1 grid: Starting positions for Bahrain Grand Prix
What is the starting grid?
1. Max Verstappen
2. Charles Leclerc
3. George Russell
4. Carlos Sainz
5. Sergio Perez
6. Fernando Alonso
7. Lando Norris
8. Oscar Piastri
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Nico Hulkenberg
11. Yuki Tsunoda
12. Lance Stroll
13. Alex Albon
14. Daniel Ricciardo
15. Kevin Magnussen
16. Valtteri Bottas
17. Zhou Guanyu
18. Logan Sargeant
19. Esteban Ocon
20. Pierre Gasly
Charles Leclerc annoyed with Ferrari for ‘compromising’ final stage of Bahrain GP qualifying
Charles Leclerc showed his exasperation with Ferrari at “compromising” his final runs in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Leclerc was right in contention for top spot in the first qualifying session of the season, alongside team-mate Carlos Sainz and Verstappen.
However, the Monegasque only finished second in the end – two-tenths of a second slower than Verstappen – and was “disappointed” given pole position was within his reach.
Leclerc referenced an earlier team error in Q1, when his Ferrari team unnecessarily sent him out on a new set of soft tyres, meaning he only had one set for his final two runs of Q3.
Full piece below:
Leclerc annoyed with Ferrari for ‘compromising’ final stage of Bahrain GP qualifying
The Ferrari driver missed out on pole position to Max Verstappen for the first race of the season
A reminder of the starting grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix
1. Max Verstappen
2. Charles Leclerc
3. George Russell
4. Carlos Sainz
5. Sergio Perez
6. Fernando Alonso
7. Lando Norris
8. Oscar Piastri
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Nico Hulkenberg
11. Yuki Tsunoda
12. Lance Stroll
13. Alex Albon
14. Daniel Ricciardo
15. Kevin Magnussen
16. Valtteri Bottas
17. Zhou Guanyu
18. Logan Sargeant
19. Esteban Ocon
20. Pierre Gasly
NEW: Geri Halliwell appears hand in hand with Christian Horner in the paddock
F1 2024 season predictions: World champion, biggest shock, and who will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes?
Another Formula One off season has come and gone – with its fair share of dramatic stories – but now we are set to go racing once again.
This Saturday’s season opener in Bahrain is the first of a record-breaking 24 races in 2024, which sees the season stretch from Bahrain GP practice on 29 February to the finale in Abu Dhabi on 8 December.
Max Verstappen is the unquestionable favourite to claim his fourth straight world championship this year, with Red Bull winning 21 out of 22 races last year and the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren all playing catch up.
But will there be a surprise in store? Can anyone make the jump up into the midfield contenders? And how will a fascinating driver market develop throughout the year?
F1 2024 predictions: Biggest shock and who will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes?
Ahead of Saturday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Kieran Jackson makes his predictions for the upcoming season
F1 Bahrain Grand Prix: Damon Hill on the Christian Horner saga
“In some ways the team manager’s job at a race meeting is to deal with crises, so in effect he’s got his own crises and the indications are that it’s also unsettled something in the team regarding his role in the team which is obviously something that will affect their long-term performance.
“They don’t want that, they want to keep the ship steady, especially as they’ve had so much success.
“From a driver’s point of view and a team point of view and an engineer’s point of view, they can just get on with their jobs.
“Normally they come to Christian (Horner) if there is something they have to argue over with the stewards or the organisers, of course he will be able to do that, and he will still do that but it will be a massive distraction.”
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