After their World Constructors’’ Championship victory in the 2023 season, Red Bull Racing kept their momentum going with a 1-2 finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday. Three-time World Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen won the race by over 22 seconds, reminiscent of his many dominant victories last season. Sergio Perez finished second after struggling in the latter half of 2023, setting himself up for a strong start to the season. Ferrari also gained big points in Bahrain, and Mercedes didn’’t find themselves too far behind. The Alpine F1 Team struggled immensely throughout the weekend after failing to bring an improved car into the new year.
The big news during the short offseason was Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari coming next season, replacing Carlos Sainz to drive alongside recently extended Charles Leclerc. Sainz began his last season with Ferrari on the third step of the podium after finishing within seconds of Perez’s Red Bull, demonstrating that he has something to prove as he looks for a seat in 2025. Leclerc finished just outside the podium at P4 with major brake issues, but even with the problem, he was able to overtake the Mercedes of George Russell who didn’t seem to have the race pace on Saturday.
Russell qualified in P3 on Friday, but couldn’t convert it to a podium finish the next day. He found himself in P5 while Lewis Hamilton moved up two places into P7. They still broughtring home a good bag of points, but their race inconsistencies will soon become detrimental if Ferrari continues their strong performance just below Red Bull. The constructors’ fight for second in the standings was close last year, and it looks as if Ferrari and Mercedes will battle it out once more. McLaren tried to join the fight last year with an exceptional turnaround in the late going of the season, but they were only good enough for P6 and P8 in Bahrain. While they are expecting an upgrade in a few weeks’ time, they still don’t look polished enough to make a run at Ferrari or Mercedes.
One of the main headlines last week was Alpine’s lack of performance in their new car. Throughout the three practice sessions, they consistently found themselves at the backottom of the pack, and the bad turned to worse in the qualifying season where they ended P19 and P20, the final row on the grid. They couldn’t find much better results in the race: they ended P17 and P18, leaving them pointless in the first Grand Prix. They would’’ve finished where they started if it weren’t for a steering wheel problem for Logan Sargent and a one minute pit stop for Valtteri Bottas, putting them both minutes behind the rest of the drivers. They have a long way to go, and their personnel aren’t making it any easier: two of their lead engineers resigned after the race, and there is still a lack of organized management after multiple top staff firings during the Belgian Grand Prix last season. While McLaren made an unprecedented turnaround last year after similar results, Alpine’s internal issues may cause some serious problems in the development of the car’s development.
The world tour of F1 continues this weekend in Saudi Arabia, with the weekend starting with practices on Thursday and the race on Saturday. Sergio Perez took the victory at the Jeddah Sstreet Ccircuit last season after Max Verstappen clawed his way up to P2 despite starting from P15. Verstappen is favored to win this year, but Ferrari proved they could put up a fight.
