The 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season is officially underway, with Max Verstappen starting his title defence with a comfortable victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
 
Leading the field from lights out to the chequered flag, the Dutchman was left untroubled throughout the race as he led a Red Bull one-two by almost 20 seconds, with Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz making up the minor podium positions.
 
Australian Oscar Piastri got his second Formula 1 season off to a decent start, crossing the line in eighth position, while fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo had a more frustrating evening to finish up in P13.  
 
For Piastri, this year’s visit to the Bahrain International Circuit proved a much happier affair than his F1 debut last year, as he qualified in eighth place and stayed within the points for the season opener.

Despite scoring four points, Piastri could have finished higher as he had earned P7 early in the 57-lap race, replacing Fernando Alonso around lap five, before dropping back to eighth after the second round of pit stops, when a slow stop allowed Lewis Hamilton to complete a successful undercut.
 
From that point onwards, Piastri ran his own race, but lost ground on the Mercedes driver to finish six seconds behind, while crossing the line 18 seconds ahead of the ninth-placed Alonso.
 
“So, a P8 to start the year. I personally felt like it was a good race for myself, and I think the race pace we had seemed ok,” Oscar said.
 
“A few things to improve, but not a bad first race for us, especially when you look at where we were this time last year. I’m excited to see what the next few circuits have in store for us, and looking forward to seeing what we can do in the races to come.”

Ricciardo meanwhile had a bit more of a chaotic race as minor problems with his front axle caused issues – although, it didn’t end up too damaging outside of a sluggish start, as he was still able to finish one place higher than where he started.
 
The West Australian found himself as low as 16th throughout the race after losing in a battle to Logan Sargent early on but eventually worked his way back into P14 as the race wore on.
 
A call to replace Visa Cash App RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda into P13 late in the race gave Ricciardo a small window to replace Kevin Magnussen in 12th, but it was too little too late and he couldn’t get the move done – eventually settling for 13th.
 
View the full Bahrain GP results here.
 
The FIA Formula 1 World Championship continues next week with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah to take place from 8-10 March.