F1 season sparks into life with four-way team battle

It's Saturday night in Bahrain, March 2024. Away from the hullabaloo of paddock gossip and the Red Bull soap opera, the world champions had blown away the field - again - on their more comfortable field of racing tarmac.

- KIERAN JACKSON

Max Verstappen stormed home in first, 22 seconds clear of teammate Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz, in third, was 25 seconds off Verstappen and Charles Leclerc 39 seconds behind in fourth.

Cheeks were puffed out, gloomy faces descended. After a 2023 campaign where Red Bull won 21 out of 22 races, were we really in for another 10 months of ultra-domination? Would more eyes be turned away in the absence of any competitive action at the front once more? Could Verstappen, perhaps, be the first driver ever to win every race in a season?

The answer to all the above, at the halfway stage of this record 24-race campaign, is a reassuring no. Because, after two years, the others have finally got their act together. While last year we only had three different grand prix winners all year, 12 races in '24 have already produced six different winners. In fact, since that Bahraini bore-fest, the narratives have been compelling.

We had Ollie Bearman's excellent and somewhat fairytale Ferrari debut in Saudi Arabia, before Sainz (weeks after being dropped for Lewis Hamilton next year) took advantage of a rare case of Verstappen mechanical misfortune to lead home a Ferrari one-two in Melbourne. Granted, Red Bull restored their momentum in Japan and China but since Lando Norris'sthrilling inaugural win in Miami, the contest at the front has been absorbing and wide-ranging.