As Max Verstappen dominated the Bahrain GP having additionally secured the primary pole place on supply in 2024, hopes started to fade amongst Crimson Bull’s rivals.
A number of days earlier, Fernando Alonso stated that primarily based on pre-season testing, “19 drivers” within the area knew they might not be world champion this 12 months.
“I’m not right here to touch upon Fernando’s phrases,” Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur stated after Saturday’s race. “Everybody does automobile racing as they need.”
Nonetheless, he admitted: “It’s sure that they’re beginning with a major benefit. However solely by placing them beneath strain will they begin to make errors.
“We should not go away right here defeated. By no means.”
His counterpart at Mercedes, nonetheless, most definitely sounded defeated after the chequered flag flew in Bahrain. When requested if Crimson Bull are already uncatchable in 2024, Toto Wolff confirmed: “Sadly, sure.
“Max wasn’t simply in a distinct league in the present day. He was in a distinct galaxy,” he added.
Even triple consecutive world champion Verstappen, already the championship chief but once more in 2024, admitted that the race had been “good”.
“I believe the sensation within the automobile is fairly comparable,” stated the Dutchman when requested to match the distinction between 2023 and 2024. “Just a bit higher.”
Teammate Sergio Perez, who completed second however nearly 22 seconds behind, was just a few seconds in entrance of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, finishing the rostrum.
However the Mexican admitted: “We have been anticipating undoubtedly the folks round us to be so much stronger.”
When requested about Wolff’s early title congratulations, nonetheless, Crimson Bull marketing consultant Dr Helmut Marko responded: “I want to agree with him, however our outcomes on Thursday and Friday don’t level in that path.
“We observed that our automobile was extra delicate to wind than the others,” he stated. “After which we additionally had issues with the tire temperatures. Aside from me, nobody within the workforce believed that we might be on pole right here,” he added.
And the embattled Crimson Bull workforce boss Christian Horner warned: “You shouldn’t learn an excessive amount of right into a race on a particular observe with a particular asphalt.”
Nonetheless, even Marko needed to admit that the outcome on Saturday is ominous for his or her rivals.
“We’re nonetheless within the studying section with the brand new automobile,” he stated. “The truth that we will already rejoice such success ought to fear them a bit of.”
There are even rumours that an early automobile improve is sort of able to debut, to which Marko merely smiled: “Let’s see.”
Lewis Hamilton admits Mercedes is definitely “farther from Crimson Bull than we thought”, though a part of the workforce’s struggles on Saturday have been due to overheating engines.
“We don’t even know the place it got here from,” stated Wolff. “Williams had the identical drawback.”
Each Sainz and Charles Leclerc, in the meantime, had braking issues, however Sainz says Ferrari’s points are deeper than that. “The Crimson Bull doesn’t put on the gentle tyres any greater than we put on the laborious ones.”
5 Issues We Realized From The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix
The primary race of the 2024 season is within the books, so we’re deliver you 5 issues we discovered from the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
