Round two of the 2024 F1 season is here, with Max Verstappen starting from pole position for Red Bull.
But off the track it appears all-out war is unfolding at the world champions, as Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko stated he could be suspended after the race, which led to Verstappen indicating his position at the team might not be certain if Marko departs.
On the track, Oliver Bearman is set to make his F1 race debut as he steps in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, with the Spaniard sidelined by appendicitis. The British 18-year-old starts from 11th on the grid.
With that we'll call time on this live text coverage. After a triple-header of testing and the opening two rounds, a small break before the Australian GP on 22-24 March. So get those alarm clocks out! Until then have a lovely rest of your weekend - go well!
The familiar pairing of the Dutch and Austrian national anthems rings out as the podium presentation begins. Verstappen's mechanics are standing above the podium looking down at the scene. Not sure how he's going to spray them with the sparkling rose water from there.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, leads Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, and the rest of the field at the start
Verstappen on his latest win: "It was a fantastic weekend for the whole team but also for myself, I felt really good with the car. It felt the same in the race. The last stint it was longer than what we would've like but with the safety car we had to go for it. So the last few laps with the backmarkers and the cold tyres was a little bit slippery but we had good pace and could manage it."
Perez on his penalty: "It was a shame we got that penalty, luckily it didn't hurt our race but in this scenario I was quite close to Max and everyone was coming in at the same time. We need a wider pitlane."
Perez on second place: "We definitely made some good progress [from Bahrain] and it was a shame that we just qualified out of the front row because we had a great start but unfortunately Charles kept it together so we couldn't get through. Then it was quite a compromised race with the safety car so early, it was a very long stint on the hard and it was tricky at times."
Leclerc on Bearman's performance: "He completely deserves it, he has done an incredible job, even from FP3 he was straight on the pace and in qualifying he missed Q3 by so little. Today he has been incredible, seventh in your first F1 race having only done FP3 in a new car is hugely impressive. I am sure he is extremely proud and everyone has noticed how talented he is. It is just a matter of time before he comes here in F1."
Leclerc on third place: "We had quite a good pace - we got the fastest lap at the end with help from the DRS - so it was pretty good, but it was a bit of a boring race because the Red Bulls were too quick and behind we had a bit of a gap."
Piastri comes home in fourth ahead of Alonso, Russell and the brilliant Bearman. Norris, Hamilton and Hulkenberg round out the points - a point for the Haas driver is huge in that midfield fight.
A late spin for Ricciardo at Turn 2. He fires up the rears and gets going in the right direction. He's P16 and ahead only of the Sauber drivers. Not the dream season he had hoped for.
Bearman currently has 46% of the vote for driver of the day and next is Hamilton on 7%. That could be the biggest percentage chunk ever - and fully deserved.
Verstappen's lead has dipped to 7.5s on Perez (who still has the 5s penalty remember) but the Dutch driver might be easing off to go for a final blast for the fastest lap. He needs to find almost three-tenths on his personal best to take it off Hamilton.
