If you enjoy a thrilling, tight title race or the unsure intensity surrounding who will come out victorious, Formula One for the 2024 season might not be the sport for you. 

Red Bull engineers clearly didn’t find Max Verstappen’s 19 out of 22 wins in the 2023 season quite enough as they unleashed an entirely new concept for the RB20, instead of tweaking the highly successful RB19. While this stops their competitors playing ‘catch up’, it did run the risk of being underwhelming or deficient. Any, even if minor, possibility of this being the case have been shut down by Verstappen himself, who claims the new renovations suit his driving style more. The modifications include smaller side pods and an evolved rear extension, intended to assist cooling and lower drag. The result is likely an increase in domination for the Red Bull team, and especially for Max Verstappen.

When it comes to the Bahrain testing, conclusions must be made with a pinch of salt. However, the Ferrari does look like the quickest car after the Red Bull. Looking back at the end of the 2023 season, Ferrari’s heightened speed could allow exceptional qualification placing, even pole as the two Ferrari drivers are known for their reliable qualification abilities, with the odd win not out of the question. 

The McLaren came into testing with a lot of hype, as they showed plenty of potential and performed well towards the end of the 2023 season. Also, as Oscar Piastri is no longer a rookie, the team have the potential for a more settled and comfortable dynamic. In testing, however, they did not live up to their expectations. Piastri produced the 9th fastest run of the three days, and Lando Norris, the more experienced and favoured driver, only produced the 12th fastest. However, this does not mean they are destined to place badly in the race on Saturday and throughout the rest of the season. 

Unlike McLaren, Mercedes entered this week surrounded by the controversy of Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for 2025. While Mercedes didn’t perform up to standard in the 2023 season, Hamilton remained a strong supporter of their progression, pushing the car to its limits and spending long hours in the garage to support engineering improvements. Now his future is no longer with the team, there are questions as to whether he will be as committed in 2024. However, Hamilton is renowned for consistently producing his best, therefore belief that his dedication could waver underestimates his character. 

The rest of the field looks as expected. Williams appear to be maintaining the improved speed and standards seen from them by the end of the previous season. Haas, alternatively, gambled on their 2023 Austin upgrade which did not pay off, they are left quite far behind the other teams. As Drive to Survive showed us, the team dynamics in Alpine are intense. This lack of cohesion combined with their 2024 modifications intended to advantage them in later years, Alpine enter this season with low expectations from the fans. 

If Verstappen ends up winning each race by 3 minutes, at least we have Kick Sauber’s neon green livery to keep us entertained.

The race in Bahrain on Saturday brought a disappointing but expected lack of surprise. The race result seemed to reflect the expected constructors championship ranking, with nearly all the cars in the top ten finishing in their driver pairs. As anticipated, Verstappen dominated, finishing around thirty seconds clear of the next car. 

The most exciting thing we can take from Bahrain is Ferrari, and especially Carlos Sainz. Sainz finished third, only two seconds behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, possibly indicating a tighter contest between the cars than previously believed. Sainz was also voted driver of the day since most of the (little) action there was involved him, and he pulled off an impressive overtake of his teammate Charles LeClerc. Since Hamilton has taken his seat for the 2025 season, Sainz’s impressive run could continue in order to disrupt the Driver’s Market further for next season.

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