Bahrain GP overreactions: Ferrari is clearly best of the rest behind Red Bull

There’s no better time to make sweeping statements about a new Formula One season than the days after the first race.

Out in front, things looked the same, with Max Verstappen sweeping to victory for Red Bull. But the picture behind is less clear, while two teams — RB and Alpine — created negative headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Here we look at some sweeping generalisations you could make right now ahead of the second race of 2024, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and whether they’re valid.

Ferrari is the closest challenger to Red Bull right now

Ferrari looked strong throughout the two weeks in Bahrain, with an impressive test followed by a solid race week. Lewis Hamilton struggled to replicate George Russell’s pace for Mercedes while McLaren and Aston Martin did not feature in the fight for the podium as they hoped. So, great news for Ferrari then?

Verdict: OVERREACTION

It was a solid start to the season for Ferrari, no doubt, but there’s some important caveats to consider here. The first, and most obvious being that Bahrain is just one race sample. The desert circuit has always been a bogey track for McLaren and, to a lesser extent, Mercedes, while Ferrari has traditionally been strong there.

George Russell’s hopes of challenging Carlos Sainz for a spot on the podium were thwarted by an overheating issue with his Mercedes early on which skewed an understanding of just how quick that car really is.

The margins are so close between those three teams it will take a little while to make sense of the order. It might stay too close to call for a while and the Saudi Arabian GP might muddy the picture further.

Jeddah features a lot of the high-speed corners McLaren thrived in last year, while Mercedes sounded confident of a stronger showing around the street circuit. And let’s not count Aston Martin out either — although they had an underwhelming opener compared to 12 months ago, the Silverstone team cannot be written out of this fight given the ambition and investment of team owner Lawrence Stroll.

The only thing we know for certain about the chasing pack is its going to be super close until one makes a clear break from the rest in terms of car development.

Red Bull really is in a ‘different galaxy’, like Toto Wolff said

Max Verstappen won the opening race…