The 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season got underway on Thursday at the Bahrain International Circuit, and after the belief that Oracle Red Bull Racing would dominate again, the picture on Thursday told a very different story, at least at this time.
Daniel Ricciardo and the Visa CashApp RB Team paced the opening session of the season under the sunshine in Bahrain, but the times tumbled in the second, more representative session where the soft tyre came to the fore, and Lewis Hamilton led the way this time around for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
The top ten drivers from the faster, second session, share their thoughts on day one of the season!
#44 – Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team
“It was very windy in FP1, and the track was very different to during the test. We didn’t know exactly where we would stack up against everyone else, but we had a positive FP2 session. The car was feeling good, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We know there is more to extract, and our long run pace isn’t in the fight with the Red Bulls.
“Overall though, I’m feeling much happier with the car than last year. We’ve made some good improvements and it feels much more like a race car. It’s a really good platform for us to build from. We just need to keep our heads down and keep chasing.”
#63 – George Russell – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team
“We’re not going to get carried away after one day of practice. Our qualifying pace did look strong. We made some changes from the test and the improvement exceeded our expectations. But ultimately our long run pace is where it counts.
“Verstappen looked comfortably quickest, and it was very tight with the Ferraris, the McLarens, and the Aston Martins. So we’ve likely got a real fight on our hands there.
“Nevertheless, we’re pleased with how our day has gone; the car is performing well. We will sit down and understand where the main improvements came from and try to sustain that. We want to be fighting for good positions on Saturday night.”
#14 – Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team
“We focused on our programme today and are happy with the work we’ve done.
“We used Medium tyres during FP1 and then focused our attention more towards the Softs in FP2. We learnt more about the car whilst making some positive setup changes that we’re happy with.
“It’s important not to read too much into the timesheets at this stage because of a number of different factors and variables, but I’m feeling positive and looking forward to the first Qualifying of the season.”
#55 – Carlos Sainz Jr. – Scuderia Ferrari
“It was a trickier practice day compared to testing with lower temps and higher winds, which made it more difficult to be consistent on track. We obviously don’t know the run plan of the others, but in terms of competitiveness it looks like we’re more or less where we expected to be.
“Apart from that, I feel we have had a good Thursday, completing all our programme and tyre testing. Now it’s time to analyse the data and get ready for tomorrow’s quali. I look forward to it, it looks like it’s going to be tight!”
#81 – Oscar Piastri – McLaren F1 Team
“It was a good session. I felt like we were pretty competitive in both low and high fuel running. It’ll be interesting to see what we’re like tomorrow, but I think it was a pretty solid day overall.
“I was happy with my driving, and we got some good information out of the session. It will be interesting to see what the grid is like when all the sandbags are gone, but I think we’re about where we expected to be and we’re in a good place going into tomorrow.”
#1 – Max Verstappen – Oracle Red Bull Racing
“The practice sessions today were not perfect but we weren’t too far off. The long runs were quite decent, and I think we can always do a little better on those laps.
“There were a few small balance issues that we will work on but I am quite happy with everything with the car overall. Today was just about trying to find that sweet spot and getting the perfect balance in the car. Performing well in qualifying is important, so we will make sure the car is in good shape ahead of tomorrow.
“I’m not too worried about the gap to P1 and we aren’t looking too much at the others and are just focusing on ourselves at the moment. It’s going to be very close in qualifying but we will try and work a bit more and fight for pole tomorrow.”
#27 – Nico Hülkenberg – MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
“It was a pretty good Friday – the first one of the year – so not much of a reference yet. This morning, we continued to focus on long-run and race-pace stuff, trying a couple of things. This afternoon was more like a normal program.
“The pace over one lap was maybe a bit unexpected but also there’s no reason to get over-excited or over-ambitious now. I think there were a few people who didn’t do low-fuel runs and have more potential, but it’s going to be tight and fun to see.
“I expect a very tight field in qualifying, like it was last year, it will continue to be like that – so the smallest mistake can have a big impact. I’m not exactly sure where we’ll slot in, but we’ll put everything that we have into tomorrow.”
#18 – Lance Stroll – Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team
“Overall, it’s been a solid day here in Bahrain. I think we made a step in FP2, the car felt good with the setup changes we made.
“I haven’t looked fully into the long run pace yet but the car felt pretty good, so that’s positive.
“Obviously, it’s still early days and we don’t know what others were doing with their fuel loads in the session. We’ll know a lot more after Qualifying and the Grand Prix.”
#16 – Charles Leclerc – Scuderia Ferrari
“First day done. Not much to say, as it’s very difficult to read our competitiveness for now but there were no big surprises. It was good to be back in the car alongside all the other drivers to kick off the season.
“Now we have quite a lot of work to do, especially in terms of balance. Let’s see where we stand tomorrow.”
#11 – Sergio Perez – Oracle Red Bull Racing
“I think these sessions were key and very interesting, we have a plenty to explore on the car, that we didn’t have the chance to during testing, so we are exploring it now with the mechanical balance here and there.
“The good thing is that whatever we do on performance runs seems to help the long runs. We just have one aim, which is to make a more balanced car and that will make things better for the race and qualifying. Today was as expected.
“We heard a lot of people saying that we were a second ahead after testing, which made me smile because I knew things would be a lot closer. It is looking very competitive across the grid, and it is going to be tight on Friday night in quali.”
