Six big things we have learned from the start of the F1 season, brought to you by Bahrain International Circuit
AFTER an incredible start to the season here in Bahrain and last weekend in Saudi Arabia, Red Bull has shown that whatever is taking place off track seems to be having little impact on their racing performance.
Max Verstappen picked up where he left off last season, producing two dominant displays, taking victories in the opening two rounds of 2024. His margin of victory in Bahrain was a massive 22 seconds, whilst in Saudi Arabia he again dominated and never looked like being challenged.
At the same time, what is happening behind the Dutch world champion will keep fans well engaged over the next few races, and, as upgrades start arriving for teams over the course of the next few weeks, it could mean that the gap to the front may narrow considerably.
It is also worth considering that the variety of track layouts over the 24-race season may yet bring a few surprises as different cars suit different track styles. Overall, there is still a huge amount for fans to get excited about based on this, and a few other things we have learned from the first two races:
1) Ferrari have their noses in front in second place and also have a star in the making:
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were third and fourth in Bahrain behind the Red Bulls and Leclerc continued that form in Jeddah with his first podium of the season. It’s a promising sign for the team who suffered inconsistent performances over last season. Leclerc was optimistic in his post-race comments in Jeddah, saying that they were probably the most improved team over the last six months.
With Sainz not able to race in Jeddah due to an appendicitis operation, the team offered a debut to its reserve driver Oliver Bearman. At just 18 years old and with no opportunity to test the car, he put in an incredible performance to finish seventh. He is absolutely one for the future and surely it is only a matter of time before he gets a more permanent opportunity at Haas. He was a worthy winner of driver of the day.
2) McLaren’s momentum continues:
When you look at the position of McLaren compared to this time last year, the differences are worlds apart. A simple way of measuring their progress over the last year is to look at the lap time differences between qualifying in Bahrain this year compared to 2023. McLaren is almost 1.8 seconds faster, more than any other team. Interestingly, Red Bull was the second least improved team at just over 0.5 seconds, which does give some hope that the gap is narrowing.
The other thing to note is that McLaren seems to still have a car which is track specific in terms of strength. Bahrain has not suited them in recent years, but despite that Norris managed a credible sixth and Piastri eighth. Then in Jeddah, Norris took his pit stop much later than the rest of the field and showed some real pace in certain sectors of the track whilst briefly leading the race. At times, his pace was certainly on par with Ferrari. Whilst Norris ended up eighth in Jeddah, Piastri finished a solid fourth, another double points finish for the team. Fast circuits such as Suzuka are coming up in the next month and will suit the car better. Combined with a first set of planned upgrades, the team will be optimistic for podiums early in the season.
3) Mercedes still have work to do, but should never be written off:
After a fifth and seventh position in Bahrain, a six and eighth in Saudi showed that Mercedes still have a lot of work to do on their new car concept. In Bahrain, the cars were suffering from cooling issues and in Jeddah a lack of performance in high-speed corners seemed to have held the team back. What seems to be frustrating them most is that the car’s performance seems to get worse as the weekend progresses (they were top of the timesheets in second practice in Bahrain). Whatever the issues, Hamilton was quite clear speaking at the end of the Jeddah race that there needs to be dramatic changes to the Mercedes even to ensure it can get can close to podium finishes.
4) Aston Martin’s qualifying pace is strong, but race pace is still unpredictable:
In Bahrain, Alonso qualified a respectable sixth and went two better in Saudi, for fourth. The concern, however, is the ability of the Aston Martin to turn that into race pace. In Bahrain, he slipped down to ninth, with Stroll in tenth, but Alonso fared better in Saudi to finish fifth, although Stroll was less lucky in the race, hitting a wall which ended his race. Aston Martin will hope for more consistency this year and if they can achieve that, they should stay in and around the top of the midfield.
5) These current F1 cars are incredibly reliable:
Bahrain was the first time that every car has finished the first race of the season and it’s also the first time ever that all cars have finished two races in a row, if you take into account Abu Dhabi at the end of last season. Pierre Gasly became the first car to retire this year in Jeddah, which reflects border struggles at Alpine, a team which appears to have made the least progress on car development. They will hope that changes to technical personnel announced in the last week will help progress the car later in the season, but short-term fixes are not immediately obvious for the team.
6) The driver market is hotting up already:
The bombshell announcement before the season even started regarding Hamilton’s move to Ferrari next year came as an almighty shock to the F1 paddock, not least because the 2024 season was the first time that the same drivers who ended last season started the first race. 2025 looks to be quite the opposite. Whilst there are multiple rumours flying around about who could move next, the impact of the Hamilton switch will make for a very busy driver market over the next few months.
Formula 1 takes a break for this week before heading off to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix on March 24.
* Laurence Jones is senior manager, Marketing and Communications,
Bahrain International Circuit
l.jones@bic.com.bh