Max Verstappen debunked all myths of 2024 being much more competitive than previous years with a mighty performance in Bahrain. The Red Bull driver looked to be in control of the Grand Prix right from Friday qualifying and he executed it brilliantly on Saturday. As the lights went out, the Dutchman pulled up a massive gap in the initial laps, something rivals failed to match. Amid this, he flexed his superiority by asking if he could go faster!
During the race, Verstappen asked his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, “Let me know if you want me to push more.” This was when the Red Bull star was miles away from the driver in P2. Hearing this, Lambiase reverted, “Russell’s sector two was only a match for yours, Max.”
Verstappen had a good reaction time to keep his lead after the lights went out. He managed to keep Leclerc away, who wanted to go around from the outside, but failed. The Dutchman’s defense left the Monegasque vulnerable to George Russell in P3, while he went out of Leclerc’s DRS range already before the second lap.
From there on, the three-time world champion did not have to look back. He continued extending his lead while the drivers in P2, and P3 exchanged their positions. Sergio Perez, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, and Charles Leclerc all had their cameos behind Max Verstappen. In the end, the defending champion claimed his 55th race win with over 22 seconds gap to Perez and took the fastest lap as well.
Ferrari’s woes continue in Bahrain as Max Verstappen shows a clinical performance
The 2024 season comes with a lot of hope from Tifosi. However, the team from Maranello failed to live up to that as the SF-24s failed to match the RB20s. Apart from this, Charles Leclerc had an entirely different issue that jeopardized his race.
The 26-year-old found it hard to control his SF-24. He kept on locking up his front tires and went out of the track multiple times. As a result, he lost multiple positions in the race to Russell, Sainz, and Perez. Even though Leclerc was helpless against Perez and Russell’s onslaught, his wheel-to-wheel against Sainz was worth watching.
With Verstappen winning the Grand Prix, and Perez in P2, the week wrapped up perfectly for Red Bull. After Adrian Newey provided them with the rocket ship in the RB20, one would expect them to claim every win as well as two possible podiums in every race, for now at least.
Furthermore, the Red Bull challengers also did not suffer from any tire degradation issues. This enabled the team to keep Verstappen away in softs as long as they wanted to. All in all, Red Bull and Max Verstappen similarly began the season they concluded the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
