F1 Bahrain GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix
The opening race of the 2024 F1 season is here, as Max Verstappen starts from pole position at the Bahrain GP.
Red Bull comes into the new campaign as heavy favourites, but can any of its rivals take the fight to Verstappen in the opener?
Charles Leclerc starts alongside Verstappen on the front row, with Mercedes’ George Russell third and the sister Ferrari of Carlos Sainz fourth. Sergio Perez will be looking to climb the order for Red Bull from fifth.
The Bahrain GP gets under way at 3pm GMT.
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Verstappen's fastest lap is nearly 1.5s faster than anyone else has managed at any point in this race. Yes, he has less fuel and is on fresh softs, but that is the level of dominance he has in this race.
Stopwatch
Verstappen punches in a 1m32.608s to set a new fastest lap of the race. Pedro de la Rosa's long-standing race lap record lives to fight another day.
Sainz is keeping within 2s of Perez at the start of this final stint but can he make it a proper fight of it on his hard tyres compared to the Mexican on the softs?
Pit stop
At the end of lap 37 Verstappen stops, also taking his fresh softs like Perez, and comes out with a 16.8s lead.
Pit stop
Perez responds to Sainz's pitstop a lap later, and the Spaniard is 1.6s behind now to show the power of the undercut. Perez is on fresh softs and has 20 laps to keep them in shape to the finish.
Norris darts by the yet to pit again Alonso to take sixth place into Turn 11.
Checking if Alpine have made any progress, the answer is no. Stroll is comfortably ahead in P12 after his lap one spin, and only Bottas and Sargeant are behind Ocon and Gasly.
Pit stop
Next lap around Sainz pits and comes back out in third, as Russell pitted early directly behind him. So far everyone has gone for another set of hards as predicted.
Hamilton gets the undercut down on Piastri to move up to eighth. The Australian had the position into Turn 1 but slid wide on cold tyres on the exit and had no answer to Hamilton's charge.
Pit stop
Leclerc is still struggling with a mishandling Ferrari as he pits from a distant fourth. Piastri joins him as they react to Norris and Hamilton pitting the lap before.
Pit stop
Norris and Hamilton pit together, as Russell overtakes Alonso to move up to sixth.
Verstappen almost has a free pitstop available to him as he continues to build his lead at will. It is up to 17.5s over Perez, who has pushed his own advantage to over 3s on Sainz.
Pit stop
A problem for Bottas in his latest pitstop. They've taken off his fresh front right after a wheel-nut issue. After fitting a new nut, he leaves the pits following a 52-second stop!
Pit stop
Russell sneaks in a pitstop and comes out in ninth on his other set of hards.
The one-stopper is a no because most team mechanics are preparing for the second round of pitstops, which for the bulk of the runners will be starting in a few laps time.
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"Tyre life is longer than expected," Leclerc is told over team radio. Could a few drivers aim to convert to a one-stopper? It is a big ask having just passed half-distance in the race.
While practice and qualifying highlighted how much closer the 10 teams are across a single lap, we are now seeing that, if anything, the gaps are wider across a race distance.
Pit stop
In comes Stroll. Another set of hards go on. Could this be the trigger for the second round of stops? We're on lap 28 or 57.
Albon is instructed to make a change on the steering wheel and he informs the team that he is unable to do that, with the screen appearing to prevent him from doing this. It's a new wheel for Williams this year and there are teething problems.
Verstappen is close to a second per lap faster than Perez as his lead grows to 14s. Sainz is chipping into the gap to Perez which is down to 1.9s.
Mid-race thoughts: All that pre-season testing and here we are at the first grand prix, both Mercedes managing engine temperatures and Leclerc has a braking problem. Weird none of these issues came up before.
"Car too hot," is the warning in big red letters on Albon's Williams dash. He's chasing Magnussen for P13 at present.
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"My seat is broken," reports Hamilton. If it's not one thing, it's another for Mercedes this evening.
The drivers are well into the tyre management phase of this hard tyre stint. Verstappen's lead is up to 10s, with Perez 2.2s in front of Sainz. Russell has dropped back by 5s from the Spaniard as he manages his engine temperature.
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"You are super quiet mate. Speak louder! Shout if you need to shout!" Perez says over team radio. He was also pretty quiet so it might be a radio issue for Red Bull. Pump up the volume!
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An update from Williams on Sargeant's problem: "There was an issue with the steering wheel which we will investigate after the race. We have changed the steering wheel on Logan’s car."
To Sainz's credit, he is keeping the gap to Perez at 2.5s seconds, with Russell and Leclerc a few seconds further back. The podium fight isn't over yet, even if the battle for the win is.
Pit stop
Out of the action, Hulkenberg pits for the second time from P19. His hard tyres managed 20 laps.
An update on Hamilton's power issues, good news - Hamilton had just used all of the battery. He's recharging it now.
20 laps into 2024 and it is a comfortable Red Bull 1-2... oh boy.
Hunting down Ocon, Ricciardo almost ends up on the drag strip as he hops across the Turn 10 exit kerbs.
Stopwatch
After easing in his hard tyres at the start of the stint, Verstappen is building his lead steadily again. The gap to Perez is up to 6.2s as he posts a new fastest lap of 1m35.283s.
Sainz is on a march as he passes Russell to take third place. Further back Leclerc is still suffering with his braking and called it "******* dangerous".
Pit stop
At the end of lap 17 Verstappen pits and returns in the lead by 5.3s. The Red Bull driver takes fresh hards.
For the second time in this race, Sainz dives up the inside of his team-mate at Turn 1 and makes the move stick. Sainz is up to fourth again with Leclerc down to fifth.
Verstappen leads by 31s from Perez so he can pit at his leisure and still resume at the front.
Pit stop
Leclerc is complaining about being stuck with the constant front-locking, so it isn't all roses for him just yet. Ahead, Alonso and Albon pit, leaving just the race leader yet to stop in this race.
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"I've got no battery. I've got 1%," reports Hamilton from P10. If his readouts are correct, that's potentially game over for his hopes of a points score.
Pit stop
Sainz pits from second but he's been undercut by Leclerc and has lost position to his team-mate.
Russell defends from Perez into Turn 4 but goes wide and that allows the Red Bull driver to swoop by on the inside at the corner exit. That is effectively a pass for second place once the pitstops shake out.
By: Autosport Staff
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