Could there be a better way to start the season than with a Grand Chelem?

That's exactly what Max Verstappen did at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with a dominant performance that saw him not only win the race, but also take pole position, as well leading each and every one of the 57 laps. The Dutchman also secured the point that goes with setting the fastest race lap, a stratospheric 1'32"608 on lap 39, a full second and a half quicker than the second best time of 1'34"090 set by Charles Leclerc. Max was joined on the podium by second placed Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, third.

This was Verstappen's 55th career win, while today's Grand Chelem was his fifth, which puts him third for this particular discipline equal with Alberto Ascari and Michael Schumacher: ahead of him are Lewis Hamilton (6) and Jim Clark (8). As for Red Bull, it now joins Williams in fourth place on the list of team race wins on 114.

In terms of tyre use and strategy, the race panned out pretty much as expected from earlier forecasts and simulations carried out after qualifying. All the drivers started on Soft tyres before switching to Hards. Those, such as Red Bull, who only had one available set of C1s used the new set of C3s saved from qualifying for the final stint, while the vast majority of drivers opted for the second set of Hards for the third and last part. The exceptions can be counted on the finger of one hand: the quartet in question were Nico Hulkenberg, forced to pit on the opening lap following a collision at the start, making three stops, as did Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Logan Sargeant (Williams.) They went for something different, doing two stints on the Hard and two on the Soft, while Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) made two stops, choosing a new C3 set to end the race.

Mario Isola: "The first Grand Prix of 2024 seemed almost like an extension to the previous season with Verstappen easily leaving the rest of the field in his wake, while it was all very close behind him. It's no coincidence that there were five teams in the ten points scoring positions, pretty much in the same order as they finished last season, the only exception being Ferrari ahead of Mercedes. In terms of how the tyres performed, there were no surprises: in fact the tyres are practically the same as those from last year's race here and the three days of testing prior to this race meant the teams were able to analyse every aspect of their performance. The slightly cooler temperatures meant the Soft was even more competitive, because there was less degradation taking into consideration the nature of the track. However, only Red Bull made a bold choice in terms of strategy, while the others preferred to play it safe, keeping two sets of Hard for the race."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Bahrain here.