THE Formula 1 season is kicking off with the Bahrain Grand Prix today.
Defending champion Max Verstappen is starting from pole after topping qualifying for an opener which has been marred by Red Bull chief Christian Horner’s alleged sext scandal which has rocked the sport.
The team principal has again denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague after being cleared following an internal investigation on Wednesday before messages claiming to be from him were leaked.
- Start time: 3pm GMT
- TV channel/ live stream: Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event
Lap 17/57 – Verstappen leads, Perez second
Everyone has pitted now apart from Verstappen who now leads the race by 31.3 seconds.
Russell is in third, Leclerc in fourth place just ahead of his teammate in fifth.
Norris sits in sixth ahead of Piastri in seventh.
Lap 15/57 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Sergio Perez is on fire today.
Another great move as he takes George Russell to move into sixth place.
The Red Bull driver has Albon in his sights now.
Credit: Getty Lap 13/57 – Verstappen leads, Sainz second
As ever, pit stops change the complexion of the race.
Verstappen now has a 11.9 second lead over Sainz in second.
Alonso is now in third, with Tsunoda in fourth.
Lap 11/57 – Verstappen leads, Russell second
Verstappen now has a 7.2 second lead in the race.
Alonso was struggling to hold off the Mercedes of Hamilton and drops to ninth place.
It looks like Logan Sargeant may be our first retirement of the race.
He surprises all as he returns to the track which will prevent the need for any safety cards.
The two Ferraris almost have a coming together as Sainz moves up into fourth spot.
Lap 9/57 – Verstappen leads, Russell second
This is not a good start to the race for Charles Leclerc.
Sergio Perez is the next driver to take the Ferrari.
Leclerc is now in fourth place with Perez in third.
The Ferrari driver has locked-up three times already in the race, on this occasion giving the Red Bull the chance to capitalise.
Lap 7/57 – Verstappen leads, Russell second
It is business as usual for the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
He has opened up a 4.6 second lead over the Mercedes of Russell.
Norris is now in sixth, closely followed by teammate Piastri.
Lap 5/57 – Verstappen leads, Russell second
Russell is 2.1 seconds behind Verstappen in first place.
His main concern at the moment is holding of the Ferrari of Leclerc.
The stewards had a look at that earlier incident between Stroll and Hulkenberg and have cleared it.
Credit: Getty Lap 3/57 – Verstappen leads, Russell second
Hulkenberg heads into the pits and had a chancge of tyres.
All 20 drivers started this race on soft tyres today.
The front of the grid looks, as we started, with the exception of Hulkenberg who is at the back of the field now.
That is all change as the Mercedes of Russell makes a move to take the Ferrari at the corner.
Lap 1/57 – Verstappen leads, Leclerc second
Max Verstappen makes a great start to the Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc had to back off a bit at the first turn.
Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg had some contact at the first corner and the latter seems to have some front wing damage.
Lights out in Bahrain Grand Prix
Formation lap begins
Reminder of F1 grid for race
Here is how the drivers will line-up this afternoon in Bahrain.
Credit: @F1 Bahrain Grand Prix race odds
As you would imagine, Max Verstappen remains the heavy favourite for every race he enters.
Max Verstappen – 2/13
Charles Leclerc – 9/1
Sergio Perez, George Russell – 20/1
Carlos Sainz – 25/1
Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton – 40/1
Lando Norris – 50/1
Oscar Piastri – 66/1
All race odds brought to you by Grosvenor Sport.
Changes for 2024 race season
DRS is s huge part of Formula One nowadays but there will be a change for this season.
Drivers will first be able to access it – provided they are within one second of the car in front at the respective detection point – on the second lap of the race instead of the third as before.
What sort of impact that will have, only time will tell.
Contracts up for grabs this year
As we head into the new race season, we have quite a strange situation when it comes to the drivers.
More than half of this year’s grid, 13 drivers, have not yet confirmed contracts for next season.
It will make for an intriguing campaign, with some big announcements expected as drivers edge towards the end of their existing contracts.
Exciting F1 season lies ahead
Not that anticipation for the new campaign needs much more hype but we will also see the return of the Chinese Grand Prix this year.
It will be the first time since 2019 that the Shanghai International Circuit will feature in the race season.
Prior to the concerns due to the pandemic, it had been a regular feature in the calendar for fifteen consecutive years from 2004-2019.
Sight of things to come
As the drivers ponder tactics prior to the race, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc share some thoughts.
With this being Hamilton’s last season with Mercedes, the pair will soon be teammates at Ferrari.
Mercedes will hope that he can go out on a high for them this campaign, which would be the perfect swansong for their partnership.
Credit: AFP So close to perfect start in qualifying
Ferrari almost made the perfect start to the season as Charles Leclerc seemed tohave pipped Max Verstappen to pole position.
However, opting to go onto soft tyres for Q3 cost them as the defending world champion put in a performance to seal the front place on the grid.
Ferrari’s drivers sit in second and fourth on the grid and will be looking to make a positive start to the season.
Mercedes hoping to challenge this season
George Russell has spoke about his team’s plans for the season.
“Everyone at the factory have done an amazing job to give Lewis and I a car we feel much happier with and a base we can build upon.
“Obviously Max is right out there in front, we’ve still got some catching up to do but when we look at our qualifying performance over the last two years and our race pace, starting P3 in Bahrain is a great place.”
Stars head to F1 opener in Bahrain
Yuki Tsunoda meets Neymar in the pits as preparation continues.
There is no other sport like F1 to attract the world’s biggest star to the track.
The anticipation is building as we head towards lights out in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Credit: Getty Putting on a brave front
Amid all the media attention, Geri Halliwell is treating everything as ‘business as usual’ in Bahrain.
A regular attender at the races, the former Spice Girl is showing support for her man this weekend.
Red Bull will be hoping for another dominant season this term, expecting more from Sergio Perez in support of Max Verstappen.
Credit: AP
Alpine struggling with change in qualifying
After finishing sixth in the constructors’ championship last season, Alpine made changes to their car to try and bridge the gap.
Sadly, it seems these changes have had the adverse effect in qualifying.
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly up line up 19th and 20th respectively for the season-opener.
How the drivers line-up in season opener
Here is today’s grid positions for the Bahrain Grand Prix:
Credit: @F1 Max focussed on driving not scandal
The reigning world champion has spoken about the revelations about Christian Horner have affected the team:
From my side, and I think what I can see also from the mechanics and the engineers, we are fully focused on the car and the performance here during the weekend. And that’s how it should be, I think, and that’s what we continue to do, because it’s not our business. We’re not particularly involved in that. And we are here, we are paid to do our job, and that’s what we are doing and that’s also what we love doing. So that’s what we focus on.
Max Verstappen
Season start could not come sooner
One thing is for sure that Red Bull will be glad to see the start of the season.
With the spotlight directly on the constructor with the bombshells about Christian Horner, they will be hoping that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez can divert attentions this afternoon.
While Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing, the text messages have been leaked into the public arena with his partner Geri Halliwell said to be ‘devastated’ by the nature of the content.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
