Red Bull was back in full winning form for the first race of 2024, Max Verstappen way ahead of the rest of the field and Sergio Perez able to secure second having held off the best efforts of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
After a strong start, George Russell wasn't able to contend for a place on the podium, with Mercedes seeing a number of technical glitches during the evening in Bahrain for both Russell and team mate Lewis Hamilton, who laboured to P7.
There were no retirements, but Lance Stroll was spun at the start by contact with Nico Hulkenberg, Logan Sargeant briefly stopped in the run-off at turn 4, and Valtteri Bottas lost huge time in the pits with a wheel nut issue.
The sun had already set and the floodlights were on and setting the stage for the first race of the 2024 season, with Max Verstappen on pole for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, and George Russell in third alongside Leclerc's team mate Carlos Sainz. After weeks of speculation, it was finally time to see how the ten teams and 20 drivers measured up.
Everyone had opted to start on soft tyres. When the race lights went out, Verstappen had to battle hard to fend off Leclerc into the first corner but did so successfully and was soon pulling away, even though DRS was now available to his pursuers from the second lap. Russell also had a good start, and on lap 3 he was able to pull off a beautiful pass on the Ferrari out of turn 4 to claim second place.
Sergio Perez had got a flying start, immediately passing Carlos Sainz and briefly even threatening Russell on the opening lap before settling into fourth. Lando Norris had made similarly early progress and was sixth ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton holding station behind them. Nico Hulkenberg was less fortunate: starting in tenth he made contact with Lance Stroll, leaving the Haas pitting with front wing damage and the Aston Martin spinning out and rejoining at the back.
Verstappen continued pulling away at the front by about a second per lap. The chasing pack - Russell, Leclerc, Perez and Sainz - were within DRS distance of each other and pulling away from Norris and Piastri who had passed Alonso. The Spaniard appeared to struggle for initial pace and dropped back into the clutches of Hamilton, who soon managed to pick up a place from the Aston despite complaining about battery charging issues.
Leclerc was suffering from oversteer resulting in repeated lock-ups which were doing his tyres and pace no good at all. He lost third place to Perez in turn 11 on lap 7 and then came under attack from Sainz who clearly felt he had more speed than his team mate. Leclerc gave no quarter, but Sainz made a robust move to take the position - fortunately without contact being made in the process.
There had been yellow flags on show after Logan Sargeant locked up and went into the turn 4 run-off on lap 10, but the Williams was able to get back underway without resorting to a safety car. Even so, it provoked a number of early pit stops from Stroll and Sauber's Zhou Guanyu as well as Sargeant himself, and then it was the turn of Russell and Leclerc to call in for service to switch from their starter set of softs to a new set of hards.
Hamilton, Piastri and Perez were in next time by, leaving Verstappen marching on in the lead from Sainz with Norris in third ahead of Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon all of whom were yet to stop. The new tyres were not suiting Mercedes, allowing Perez to make the most of the opportunity to pass Russell on lap 14. Once the remaining pit stops were completed it was Verstappen still with a healthy five second lead over Perez.
Sainz was now on the march, picking off first Leclerc and then Russell for third. The Mercedes was now suffering power and rear handling issues while Hamilton was reporting a broken seat to add to the the team's woes. They weren't the only team struggling with first race glitches, with Albon receiving messages that his car was too hot as the Williams attempted but failed to find sufficient speed down to the straights to pull off a pass on Haas' Kevin Magnussen for P13. Albon was further frustrated when his attempts to change settings on the FW46's new steering wheel system proved problematic. Meanwhile Daniel Ricciardo was also reporting steering problems on the RB, as he was passed by Magnussen and Albon and dripped to 13th.
Stroll was first to make his second pit stop on lap 28 followed by Zhou next time round. Both drivers took a second set of hard tyres, leaving them at the back along with Hulkenberg and Sargeant. Bottas was in on lap 32 in the second Sauber but suffered a horrendous hold-up, the front left wheel nut keeping him stationary for the better part of a minute. Russell's second stop played out at the same time, and went much smoother meaning he came back out in P9.
Norris and Hamilton were the next of the front-runners in on lap 34 with no problems to report, and soon there were return visits for the likes of Piastri and Sainz. No one made any significant gains on their rivals. Perez was the first of the Red Bulls to come in on lap 37 and came back out on soft tyres only two seconds ahead of Sainz in the battle for P2. Race leader Verstappen was in for his final stop next time by, and he too opted for softs for the final 20 lap stint having presciently saved an extra set in qualifying.
Verstappen's lead was now up to a whopping 17s over Perez with Sainz the only threat to the looming Red Bull 1-2 having pulled away from Russell, Leclerc and Norris. Alonso was promptly picked off again for seventh by Hamilton on lap 39 before making his second pit stop. Piastri and Stroll were occupying the remaining top ten points-paying positions - a remarkable achievement for the Canadian given his opening lap spin.
In a reversal of their early race fortunes, Leclerc was now all over the back of Russell who was struggling on this latest set of tyres. A lock up for the Mercedes in turn 10 on lap 46 gave the Monegasque a winning opportunity to pass, leaving Russell to refocus on staying ahead of Norris for the final ten laps. Further back, Tsunoda was exasperated to be told to cede position to RB team mate Ricciardo who was on soft tyres, but it was a pointless squabble over 13th as Verstappen promptly stormed past them both to put the pair a lap down.
Verstappen's final winning margin was more than 20s, a chilling portent for the rest of the season. Perez was a comfortable three seconds ahead of Sainz who was in turn well ahead of Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Hamilton and Piastri, with Alonso finishing ahead of his team mate Stroll when the chequered flag came out, denying points to Zhou and Magnussen who finished the race a lap down.
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