Formula 1 is back! With the release of new “Drive to Survive” episodes and the first race of the season, F1 has hit 2024 with a bang.
Season six of “Drive to Survive,” the Netflix sports series documenting the behind-the-scenes of F1 racing, premiered February 23, 2024. Ten episodes of high-speed driving and drama for days, the newest season recapped F1 in 2023. It featured Nyck De Vries’ swift entry and exit, Daniel Ricciardo’s rocky journey, the tension at Alpine, Guenther Steiner’s rough year, record-breaking Red Bull Racing wins, and the fight for second place in the Constructor’s Championship. The season closed out the 2023 chapter of F1, and got fans ready and hyped to see more racing.
The first race of 2024 happened just last weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix. It was an unusual schedule, with qualifying on Friday and the race on Saturday instead of the events taking place as they normally do on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. This is because F1 will be in Saudi Arabia next weekend and a Sunday race would clash with the start of Ramadan, so it was moved to Saturday. Since F1 regulations state that there must be seven days between races, the Bahrain GP had to be moved up to Saturday.
All this meant was that F1 fans would be seeing cars on track much quicker, with practices starting on Thursday.
Practices may have been full of unlikely drivers taking the top spots, but qualifying is the real test of how teams seem to be shaping up for the new season. Expectedly, Max Verstappen topped the charts and put his Red Bull car on pole, with Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari coming in second. George Russell’s Mercedes and the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz made up the second row.
Race day saw no safety cars for the first time in seven years, and all twenty drivers finishing for the first time ever in Bahrain. Verstappen achieved his fifth ever “grand slam” – pole position, fastest lap, and winner of the Grand Prix – and Red Bull were able to repeat their 1-2 finish from last year with Sergio Pérez taking second. Third place went to Ferrari, though it wasn’t from the driver who started second (Leclerc); it was Sainz who scooped up the last step on the podium and the fan-voted Driver of the Day. Leclerc finished fourth, suffering from tire lockups throughout the race. The Mercedes drivers came home fifth and seventh, with the McLaren of Lando Norris between them and his teammate Oscar Piastri in eighth. Closing out the points places were the Aston Martins in ninth and tenth.
The drivers and crews now have a seven-day break to take what they’ve learned from the first race and improve their cars however they can before the next race in Saudi Arabia.
Freshman Emily Myers is a Staff Writer. Her email is emyers3@fandm.edu