2024 Bahrain GP race report: Carlos Sainz on podium (P3) for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc finishes 4th in Sakhir. 2024 Formula 1 Bahrain GP full race report.

Here is our full text transcript from the first round of the new F1 championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix:

It’s been 97 days since the end of the 2023 Formula 1 season and we are finally back! 24 races, 24 opportunities to deliver with drama and excitement guaranteed. Welcome to F1 in 2024.

Today’s Bahrain Grand Prix will kickstart the longest season in the sport’s history and yesterday’s qualifying saw the field converge but no one could quite beat Max Verstappen. Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin are all closely bunched and if Verstappen does crack, there will be an almighty fight for the win. Maybe, someone will produce something special to deny Verstappen victory.

Can Ferrari challenge Red Bull for the race win? Sky Sports’ James Galloway shared his thoughts ahead of the Bahrain GP:

“The fact Charles Leclerc was able to give Max Verstappen a serious challenge for pole position yesterday didn’t come as too much of a surprise. The new Ferrari SF-24 had looked to be the Red Bull RB20’s closest challenger in testing here in Bahrain last week and, after all, Leclerc actually claimed more poles than Verstappen in the final five grands prix of last season. But the big and more significant question now is – have Ferrari found sufficiently improved race pace and, crucially, tyre management over the winter with this new car to be able to give Verstappen a race-long challenge over today’s 57 laps. Team boss Frederic Vasseur has said that the new car’s tyre management is on a “different planet” to this time last year and this race will be the latest challenger’s first acid test.”

The pit lane is open for the first race of the season as the drivers make their way to the grid. We have just 35 minutes to the race start.

Charles Leclerc showed good pace in yesterday’s qualifying session at the Sakhir circuit, but unfortunately couldn’t quite get over the line in Q3. Will he catch the Red Bull of Max Verstappen?

Interestingly, both Red Bulls have gone into the race with just one set of hard tyres. Last year, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both went soft-soft-hard whereas the majority of drivers went soft-hard-hard. Don’t be a surprised to see a similar theme today.

Formation lap begins: You can feel the tension in Sakhir as all 20 cars leave the grid for the formation lap. Key moments to get the tyres up to temperature. Everyone is starting on the soft tyres.

It’s lights out and away we go for the first time in the 2024 Formula 1 season! Max Verstappen leads into Turn One as Charles Leclerc has to back out of going around the outside. George Russell stays third with Sergio Perez up into fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz. Then it’s Fernando Alonso still in sixth. But Lance Stroll has dropped to the back from 12th!

Lap 1/57: Nico Hulkenberg’s wing is damaged. It seems like he tagged Stroll and both drivers are at the back.
Lap 2/57: DRS is now available due to the new 2024 rules and Charles is trying to stay within one second of Verstappen.
Lap 3/57: Russell overtakes Leclerc: What a move from George Russell. He dances around the outside of Charles Leclerc at Turn Four. Further back, Lando Norris gets by Fernando Alonso at the first corner.
Lap 4/57: Lewis Hamilton is still in ninth, where he started, but is all over the back of Oscar Piastri. There is a DRS train from Lando Norris in sixth with Fernando Alonso, Piastri and Hamilton all together.
Lap 5/57: It’s a three-second lead for Max Verstappen right now over new second-place man George Russell. The Red Bull took a full second out of the Mercedes on that last lap.
Lap 6/57: Russell is now just saving his tyres but has Leclerc, Perez and Sainz right behind him. One small mistake from any of these drivers and we will see some movement.
Lap 7/57: Sergio Perez gets by Charles Leclerc on the run down to Turn 11 and now that puts Carlos Sainz all over his Ferrari team-mate. Perez defends later on at Turn 1 as Leclerc tries to fight back..
Lap 9/57: Carlos Sainz is on the back of this queue and locks up into Turn 8 as he pushes on. Charles Leclerc reports he’s struggling with oversteer, so we may see some Ferrari team orders here.
Lap 10/57: Lewis Hamilton cruises past Fernando Alonso on the main straight to move into eighth place.
Sainz dives past Leclerc
Lap 11/57: The Ferrari cars get very close at Turn One! Leclerc defends aggressively but Sainz sneaks down the inside and manages to just stay ahead through the next couple of corners. Brilliant racing but Frederic Vasseur’s heart must have skipped a few beats there!
It’s the end of lap 11 and Mercedes are the first of the leading teams to bring one of their cars in for a tyre change as George Russell ducks in to the pits from second place.

Russell and Leclerc trigger first pit stops. The Mercedes man was followed in by fifth-placed Leclerc, who is now rid of that initial set of tyres that were hampering him. Can his fortunes improve? Russell returns in 12th place with Leclerc 14th for now.

Perez overtakes Russell after stops! A great run on George Russell’s Mercedes on his fresh tyres and pulls off the ‘swicheroo’ on the Briton to take what is a net second away at Turn Four.

Lap 15/57: Carlos Sainz pits and is behind his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. Sainz has been undercut by Leclerc, so it’s Perez, Russell, Leclerc and Sainz in the net battle for second. Hard tyres for them all.

Lap 17/57: This opening race isn’t even 20 laps old and we already have seen the Ferraris going wheel-to-wheel twice. After pitting first amid his pace problems, Leclerc regained track position over Sainz but it didn’t last long. After a first attack from the Spaniard was rebuffed, Sainz got a great run with DRS down the main straight once again and made it stick for the second time into Turn One. A sign of intent in Carlos’ final season in red? But, in fairness, Leclerc’s car isn’t working at all how he wants.

Lap 18/57: Sainz gets past Russell on the run down to Turn 4 as the Mercedes driver reports a possible engine overheating issue.
Lap 22/57: So Verstappen leads by seven seconds with Sainz a further 2.5 seconds back. Leclerc and Russell are battling for fourth, with Norris, Piastri and Hamilton all separated by three seconds each. Everyone is on the hard tyres and we expect another round of pit stops in 15-20 laps.
Lap 25/57: The closest battle in the top 10 is Charles Leclerc chasing George Russell. Just 1.5 seconds separate the pair as Max Verstappen stretches his legs out in front to 11 seconds. Remarkable pace from the reigning world champion.
Halfway there. Lap 29/57: Verstappen leads by 14 seconds from Perez, so we are on course for a Red Bull one-two. Sainz is third and Russell is fourth, with Leclerc still 1.3 seconds behind. Then come Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Alonso and Zhou. Lance Stroll pits and is the first driver to make a second stop. Replays show Hamilton running wide at Turn 10 which costs him around half a second. He’s three seconds behind Piastri in the battle for seventh.

Russell in to pits for second stop. Lap 32/57: George Russell once again is the first of the leading runners in to the pits for the second time. He drops out of what was fourth place to ninth with another set of the hard tyres. Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton both pit. Norris comes out in eighth and Hamilton is ninth. Both drivers are on a new set of hard tyres.
Lap 36/57: Oscar Piastri was in a lap later in the second McLaren and he’s just lost out to Lewis Hamilton on his return to the track. As Hamilton on his fresh tyres came steaming down the pit straight, Piastri’s McLaren took to the track from the pits and had the inside line for Turn One but ran wide on his colder tyres and a grateful Mercedes driver skipped past.
Lap 36/57: Sainz pits from third and stays in third with a margin of seven seconds. So it’s Sainz, Russell, Leclerc, Alonso – who hasn’t pitted for a second time – Norris, Hamilton and Piastri. The two Red Bulls are yet to pit.

Red Bull complete second pit stops for their leading cars on consecutive laps and switched to the new soft tyres for both they had saved from qualifying. First up on lap 37 it’s a service for Perez and they successfully ward off the Sainz/Ferrari undercut attempt to keep second place. The gap is about a couple of seconds, although Perez does have a two-step tyre advantage over the hard-shod Ferrari. Dominant race leader Max Verstappen is then in on lap 38, takes on his red-marked tyres, and rejoins in the lead with the minium of fuss.

Lap 39/57: Just two seconds is Perez’s buffer over Sainz. Perez is on the softs and Sainz on the hards. In theory, Perez should be quick now but his tyres may drop away towards the end of the race. If Sainz can just stay within a couple of seconds, he could be all over Perez with a few laps to go.

Leclerc chasing down Russell. Lap 41/57: He hasn’t been able to go on the offensive much in this race amid the braking issues in his SF-24, but this is a better phase of the race for Charles Leclerc since his second stop and he has taken nearly 2s out of fourth-placed George Russell in recent laps.

The Mercedes’ advantage over him is down to just 1.1 seconds now as the Ferrari inches to within DRS-activating range.

Lap 44/57: The developing fight for fourth place is certainly ramping up. Karun Chandhok reports from Sky Race Control that both Russell and Leclerc’s respective cars seem to be free of their earlier problems, or at least have them under control.

Charles takes fourth after Russell runs wide! Into the final 10 laps and an error from George Russell has gifted Charles Leclerc fourth place rather easier than the Ferrari may have imagined. A big right-front lock-up sends the Mercedes wide and off track at the ever-tricky Turn One, allowing Leclerc the run on him down the next straight and through before the next braking zone.

Ferrari now third and fourth, Red Bull first and second.

Lap 51/57: Lando Norris is two seconds of George Russell. The pair were fighting each other on a karting track a few weeks ago and now they are battling for fifth place.

Lap 53/57: Yuki Tsunoda is told to let Daniel Ricciardo through but initially refuses. Tsunoda is trying to overtake Kevin Magnussen, so isn’t happy about the team orders. He eventually lets Ricciardo by after Turn Four, so now the Australian can have a go at Magnussen.

Lap 56/57: Verstappen is on his way to victory as he leads by 20 seconds from Red Bull team-mate Perez.

Sainz can’t catch Perez and Leclerc is comfortably ahead of Russell. Norris is 1.8 seconds behind Russell in the fight for fifth but it might be too late. Hamilton is 2.5 seconds behind Norris and Piastri is in eighth. Then it’s Alonso and Stroll for Aston Martin which round out the top 10.

Max Verstappen picks up where he left off from last season with a lights to flag victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He also gets the extra point for fastest lap, so it’s the perfect start to the defence of his title. Sergio Perez makes it a Red Bull one-two as Carlos Sainz finishes on the podium ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

George Russell hangs onto fifth place from Lando Norris, with Lewis Hamilton in seventh and Oscar Piastri in eighth. The Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll round out the top 10.