FORMULA 1
By Vlad Roman,
General Manager, Smart Games
As Autosport says “The 2024 Formula 1 season started in the same style as the 2023 season ended, with another clear victory for Red Bull. All the hopes of the fans that in the new season we will see a close fight between the top teams have been shattered since the first laps of the circuit. Max Verstappen was as in control of the situation as he was last season while his rivals had their own struggles, team-mate Perez did not offer a challenge either.”
Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit hosted the first grand prix of 2024, the 57 laps of the circuit totaling a distance of 308 km were covered by the Red Bull car driven by Max Verstappen in less than one hour and 32 minutes (1: 31:44.742) at a gap of more than 22 seconds from the next ranked, none other than his teammate.
What the practice sessions and Bahrain Grand Prix have revealed so far:
The RB20 single-seater is not based on the old RB19, the Red Bull chief engineer – Adrian Newey rightly convinced that the rival teams will be inspired by the winning car from 2023 has found new solutions (still undisclosed) and designed a single-seater that has every chance to the first position of the podium. There were problems with the balance but nothing to trouble the drivers of the champion team to secure the top two places at the end of the race.
After the test session, Ferrari seemed to be the team threatening Red Bull, even qualifying had Leclerc in second place with a time close to Max… but once the race started the brake temperature problems started in Charles’ car and vibrations in the brake pedal at Sainz. Perhaps the solution chosen by the team’s engineers to reduce the dimensions of the pipes through which the brake fluid circulates was a bit aggressive… however, 3rd and 4th place is not a bad result.
Mercedes, while also looking like a formidable rival, ran into problems with the engine cooling system caused, in Russel’s opinion, by the bodywork being too tight around the engine. Toto Wolff was hoping to deliver Hamilton a car to win his 8th world title, but unfortunately for now he’s only managed to put him in a broken seat 😊… this is a joke, I the greatest consideration for the main Mercedes team.
McLaren isn’t any different from last year so far, however Sakhir has never been a circuit to the McLaren car’s liking. Even at Jeddah, a similar circuit, they don’t expect extraordinary results due to the same low-speed curves that the single-seater does not know how to tackle… maybe Suzuka is a circuit more to the car’s liking.
Aston Martin did not show anything new, it remains in the leading peloton and manages to place its drivers in 9th and 10th places.
Kick Sauber Ferrari, formerly Alfa Romeo, got off to a bad start in qualifying, being eliminated after the first session. Zhou, who started the race from the 17th position, went steadily, saw his race and managed to finish in the 11th place, i.e. the first of the second platoon.
Haas, after the departure of Guenther Steiner and Simone Resta, started the season with the feeling that they would be last, however testing has been encouraging and Nico Hulkenberg’s 10th qualifying finish gives them hope that they can challenge for points this season. They didn’t succeed in Bahrain but they will have the chance to prove that they are not quite the last team in the peloton.
Racing Bulls or Visa Cash App RB, formerly Alpha Tauri, had a good uneventful race except for Yuki Tsunoda’s frustration caused by the pit announcement to allow Daniel Ricciardo to overtake him. Daniel came to Racing Bulls primarily for marketing and PR reasons, he is more voluble than Yuki, well spoken, popular and a good driver motivated to return to the big team… naturally the Japanese feels threatened.
Williams is paying the price for the kilometers not covered in the test sessions, problems with the car’s electronics forced Logan to change the steering wheel and overheating of the engine led to the diminution of the power delivered hence the low-speed driving.
Alpine didn’t impress either in the test sessions or in the race, with a car far too heavy and with the slightest downforce it had no way. After the departure of technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer, they knew that the start of the new season would be very difficult for them, but I don’t think they expected to be last in qualifying and almost last in the race. The two French drivers at the wheel of the team, after not understanding each other, do not manage to understand the car either.
A premiere has been announced at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit – the new Aston Martin Vantage will be presented, which alongside the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series will alternate as F1’s official safety cars, while the Aston Martin DBX707 and Mercedes AMG GT 63S 4MATIC are the official medical cars.