Max Verstappen kicked off F1 2024 with a win in Bahrain, surprising even himself with his dominance, amid unpredictable conditions.
Max Verstappen started the 2024 Formula 1 season in the same dominant fashion he concluded the previous one: with a commanding victory and a significant lead over the competition. However, he admitted he didn’t necessarily anticipate such dominance in Bahrain on Saturday.
“I think the race went better than expected,” the three-time world champion stated.
“What changed was the wind and its intensity. Indeed, I felt slightly better. I had a better connection with the car and managed to take care of my tires simultaneously. So, it was very positive. It’s more in line with what I felt during winter testing. I felt very comfortable with the car, so I’m really happy to start the season this way, especially as a team with this one-two finish, it’s simply fantastic.”
“I believe everything went very well this time. The balance, the feel I have in the car. And it’s not always the case. Sometimes, you win races but you might not be very satisfied with your feel or the car’s balance. But this time, it was very good.”
“However, I also think that in general, other teams are closer. I think everything worked out really well this weekend, but I don’t expect it to happen at every Grand Prix in the near future. We will analyze our weekend and try to improve further.”
Could the scenario be vastly different in Jeddah?
George Russell predicted after qualifying that the Red Bull would be half a second faster than any other driver in the race, which happened and even surprised Verstappen himself.
“Of course, I don’t know how others approach their long runs, what their fuel loads are, and all the rest. But on our side, we didn’t expect to have a half-second advantage. Yes, it was probably a bit better than I anticipated.”
“On the other hand, you could see that qualifying was very tight, and yes, there are things we can improve, and that’s what we’ll focus on for the upcoming races.”
“I think we are not very strong on a single lap, for one reason or another. But fortunately, the car is very good in the race on most circuits. Naturally, we focus a bit more on the race, but it seems that other teams might be able to extract a bit more on a single lap than us. So, that’s what we’ll be looking into for the upcoming races.”
Should we expect to see Red Bull dominate in Jeddah next week? Not according to the Dutchman, who even sees the competition being much closer on this urban track, including in the race.
“It’s a completely different circuit, with many more high-speed corners. The tarmac, of course, is completely different from here, with less tire degradation. Naturally, this will probably help other teams compared to us. It seems that for us, it’s always better to have this kind of tracks, so I don’t expect it to be easy.”
Verstappen Wins Bahrain 2024. Verstappen Wins Bahrain 2024
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