After a couple of months off the time has arrived for a new F1 season as teams and drivers get set to go racing around the Bahrain International Circuit. Need to Know is your all-in-one guide for the week ahead with statistics, driving pointers, strategy tips and plenty more. Plus, you can keep track of how fans have voted using our popular F1 Play predictor game.
After three days of pre-season testing, the 2024 campaign will officially get under way with two free practice sessions on Thursday, February 29, followed by final practice and qualifying on Friday, March 1 and the race on Saturday, March 2.
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*From the last eight events in Bahrain
FAN VIEW: Three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain last week clearly showed little evidence for gamers to desert three-time reigning world drivers’ champion Max Verstappen. Almost 90% of F1 Play voters so far expect the flying Dutchman to be fastest over a single lap. Next best is Charles Leclerc on 6%.
Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver: The most challenging part of the Bahrain track is probably braking into Turn 10 because you’re approaching it with a fair amount of speed from the Turn 8 hairpin and through the Turn 9 kink, and you unload the front-left tyre as you’re turning left. It’s easy to lock up, we’ve seen that so many times.
Turn 11 is also crucial because it’s fast; it can be quite wind-affected there as well, the gust can pick up, and you’re going through a long radius, so getting the balance right I think is particularly tricky.
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If you’re pushing with understeer you can’t get on the throttle; if you’re fighting oversteer, it’s difficult because you’re attacking with a lot of speed and then you’re overheating the rear tyres through the high-speed afterwards as well.
Overtaking opportunities are clear here: into Turn 1 and Turn 4, where the two DRS zones end. But there is another challenge in the transition from day to night. The track comes alive at night, the car works so much better – and one qualifying lap under the lights feels amazing.
2023 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2022 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 2021 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2020 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2019 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
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2023 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2022 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 2021 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2020 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 2019 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes
FAN VIEW: There is even more confidence behind Verstappen and the Red Bull RB20 when it comes to topping the podium in Sakhir. He is almost up to 95% in the share of F1 Play votes cast so far, with Leclerc again a distant second best at around 5%. There are tiny nibbles of support for Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
Bernie Collins, former Aston Martin F1 strategist: Bahrain typically combines very hot conditions with a very rough track surface. That means high tyre degradation and is why hard compounds are supplied by Pirelli – the C1, C2 and C3 being selected for 2024.
The other big effect with tyres around the Sakhir venue is that the morning and afternoon sessions often lead to very different situations in terms of management. Your hotter sessions – FP1 and FP3 – are going to need slower cool-down laps and slower out-laps compared to the twilight FP2 and qualifying.
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On push laps, drivers can often find themselves having a really good Sector 1, because they push really hard to begin with, but it then leads to a really bad Sector 3, so they need to try to balance the lap based on the tyres, and not immediately take everything out of them.
Another factor in Bahrain is that there is often a change of wind through the day. We saw that happen at the pre-season test, with headwinds turning into tailwinds. Turn 12 is a good example of where drivers can get caught out; it’s uphill and then, as they come around it, there’ll be a gust of wind and the car becomes a handful.
There are other little things, such as different steering wheel dash settings or different brightness for the gear shift lights, and drivers will sometimes have a day time and a night time visor.
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FAN VIEW: With Verstappen locking up one spot, F1 Play voters expect Ferrari and McLaren to be the closest podium challengers on Saturday – courtesy of Leclerc and Norris – followed by Hamilton and Sergio Perez. When it comes to the outsiders, it’s Oscar Piastri and George Russell.
Much has been written about the manner in which Verstappen and Red Bull wrapped up back-to-back world titles in 2023, with the Dutchman winning a whopping 19 out of 22 races and the team triumphing in all bar one.
But anyone who thought the RB19 would be lightly evolved to form the RB20 were in for a shock pre-season when an overhauled creation from Adrian Newey, Pierre Wache and the rest of the Milton Keynes design team broke cover.
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And, following three days of testing in Bahrain, the general feeling is that Red Bull remain the team to beat, with McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri believing they are a “chunk behind” the reigning world champions and Ferrari, who also impressed.
Indeed, our data shows that in qualifying trim, Red Bull are around two-tenths clear of Ferrari, with McLaren a couple of tenths further back, Mercedes sitting fourth and surprise package RB a nose ahead of Aston Martin.
The situation looks slightly different in terms of race pace, for while Red Bull are still on top according to our numbers, Mercedes are this time second-best, just in front of Ferrari, with McLaren, Aston Martin and RB next up.
But given the variety of run plans in play, including different fuel loads, different tyre stint lengths and times posted at different times of the day, it is impossible to know exactly what the pecking order looks like.
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That means there is still plenty of excitement and intrigue heading into this week’s action at the Bahrain International Circuit, where the race for 2024 glory officially begins...
FAN VIEW: Fernando Alonso was the revelation of the early stages of the 2023 season after his move to Aston Martin, and F1 Play gamers expect him to be among the points again in Bahrain in 2024. Daniel Ricciardo is also backed to go well, while Alonso’s team-mate, Lance Stroll, is another popular choice.
This year not only marks 20 years of the Bahrain Grand Prix as a whole but also 10 years since an epic battle between then Mercedes team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg that has gone down in history as the ‘Duel in the Desert’.
Just three Grands Prix into the new turbo-hybrid era, Hamilton and Rosberg’s wheel-to-wheel exchange on opposing strategies thrilled fans at the track and on sofas around the world, while also setting the scene for a fierce rivalry in the races and years to come.
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So, with a new season just around the corner, sit back, relax and roll back the years in the video player below…
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