Max Verstappen saw no room for improvement in his team’s performance after winning the opening race of the 2024 season in emphatic style.
The reigning world champion was never headed as he led Sergio Perez to a one-two finish for the team. Verstappen set the fastest lap on the way, ensuring he and the team took a maximum points haul.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said afterwards. “I think today went even better than expected.
“The car was really nice to drive on every compound. I think we had a lot of pace and it was just super-enjoyable to drive today. We really stayed out of trouble and a great start to the year. I mean, it couldn’t have been better.”
Although Verstappen won 19 out of last year’s 22 grands prix, he said this one felt particularly good because the car had performed so well.
“It was a lot of fun. I felt really good in the car. It’s always very special to have these kind of days because they don’t happen that often, that it just all goes perfect and you’re just one with the car and everything just feels great.”
Charles Leclerc briefly challenged Verstappen on the run to turn one, but the Red Bull driver was easily able to hold onto his lead. “From there onwards we just focused on our own race,” he said.
Perez, who started fifth, finished 22 seconds behind his team mate in second place, which he believes was “the maximum we could have achieved.”
“It was quite a tricky race with the management of the tyres,” he explained. “I think there’s plenty we will learn from tonight’s race which will be important for the championship. But overall it’s a great way to start the season.”
He found the RB20’s performance more variable between different tyres than his team mate. “It was really compound to compound amount of sliding we were having,” he said.
“We had some issues with the engine braking, the reliability, which is not easy around here because there is plenty of low-speed. But I’m sure we’ll analyse all of that tonight and make sure we learn for Jeddah.”
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2024 Bahrain Grand Prix
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