Max on P6 in FP1 in Bahrain

Published on 29 February 2024 by Florence Cobben

Three-time world champion Max Verstappen placed sixth in the first free practice of the year at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The 5,412 meter Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir saw Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time in his RB, followed by the McLarens driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, in second and third. Yuki Tsunoda in the RB and Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin completed the top five. Max’s Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate, Sergio Perez, drove twelfth fastest. 

It will become clear this weekend whether some teams sand-bagged or obfuscated their results during the test sessions, which took place a week ago on the same circuit. Are Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing the favorites for both world titles or are other teams still hiding some tricks up their sleeves? The coming weekend will reveal the competitiveness of both the drivers and the cars for the upcoming 2024 season. Three time world champion Max Verstappen placed sixth in the first free practice of the year at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The 5,412 meter Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir saw Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time in his RB, followed by the McLarens driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in second and third. Yuki Tsunoda in the RB and Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin completed the top five. Max’s Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate, Sergio Perez, drove twelfth fastest. 

As the lights at the end of the pitlane go green, a new Formula 1 season is officially underway. The temperature at the Bahrain International Circuit is already dicey at 19.5 degrees. The track temperature is 36 degrees. It’s immediately busy on track. Only Max, Logan Sargeant, Lance Stroll and George Russell don’t appear straightaway.

After seven minutes of waiting Max makes his appearance on track. He drives his first set of laps on medium tyres. At that moment Lewis Hamilton has the fastest lap in hand, ahead of teammate Russell in P2. After three purple sectors the reigning world champion takes P1 away from Carlos Sainz, who had briefly gone fastest in between Hamilton and Max. Max complains via radio that he’s struggling with the up and downshifts.

Shortly afterwards Russell takes the lead position. Max responds swiftly, sets the fastest lap time, and restores the ranking. He then returns to the pits, still complaining about shifting gears. With 25 minutes passed, the track becomes quieter for a while. Only Zhou Guanyu, Sargeant, Sainz, Alexander Albon and Valtteri Bottas are making their rounds. The rest of the grid is in the pits.

After 33 minutes, Piastri leaps to P1 on a set of soft tires. He drove four-tenths faster than the time Max set on mediums. Moments later, Norris also switches to a set of soft tires for his McLaren. The Brit manages to pass Piastri and claims P1. Tsunoda also tries to improve his time on the soft tires but his attempt ends at P3. Afterwards teammate Ricciardo, driving on soft tires, manages to pass both McLarens, taking the lead from Norris.

With twenty minutes left on the clock, Max climbs to P5 on a set of mediums, placing his car behind the top four who all set their fastest time on softs. Because many teams are using this session to run their programs and test the cars, we see very few drivers drive a set of soft tires.

In the closing stages of FP1, we see Max making a long run on a set of mediums. He doesn’t improve on the fastest times and thus the first free practice of the new season is over.

Contest GP Bahrain: win a by Max Verstappen signed Verstappen.com Racing cap!

Results first free practice Bahrain: