Aussie watch ahead of the F1® Bahrain Grand Prix
Matt Clayton
Thursday, 29 February 2024
F1® is back in action in Bahrain this weekend, where Aussie pair Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri make up 10 per cent of the grid while having realistic chances of points-scoring starts to 2024.
The three best words for any Formula 1® fan? (Other than ‘Australian Grand Prix’, of course) ‘It’s Race Week’ … which it is this weekend as the 2024 campaign roars into life under lights in the desert for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix (February 29-March 2).
It’s round one of the longest season in F1® history (24 races and six Sprints), yet a first instalment of the drama to come with a twist; with the region observing Ramadan, the race will be held on Saturday night just outside of Manama – or the early hours of Sunday morning for us here in Australia.
For the first time since 2013, we have two Aussies in the field for the first race of a season, too; the entire grid that took part in the 2023 finale in Abu Dhabi is back for more in ’24, with pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit last week seeing some familiar faces up front – and a midfield pack that looks to be closer than ever.
Here’s what we’re watching for this weekend.
New name, new outlook for Ricciardo
If there’s a record for driving for the same team under the most different names, Daniel Ricciardo has to be in the conversation – the Toro Rosso team he drove for in 2012-13 was called AlphaTauri by the time he made his mid-season return to the sport in 2023, and has undergone another name change to the (deep breath) Visa CashApp RB Formula One Team in the off-season.
RB – it’s what everyone else is calling them, so we will too – looked strong with Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda in pre-season testing in Bahrain, with the chance of a faster start than 2023 a clear motivator for the team and its drivers after spending much of last year anchored to the foot of the constructors’ standings.
Ricciardo barely took an off-season break after his comeback was halted with a broken hand last year, and he comes into 2024 fitter and lighter than ever. A deep dive into the testing data suggested RB looked to be around the fifth to sixth-quickest car on merit, with the 34-year-old targeting a Q3 berth on Friday night as a springboard to season-opening points.
Continuity key for Piastri
Season two for Ricciardo’s compatriot Oscar Piastri comes with familiarity – of F1® and everything that involves – but with one underlying, atypical feeling. The 22-year-old’s rise through the junior ranks was so rapid that he hadn’t raced a sophomore season in the same category since 2019 when he won the Formula Renault Eurocup series; since then, it’s been an F3® title in 2020, an F2® title in 2021, and 2022 spent as a reserve driver for Alpine before McLaren gave him his F1® shot last season.
One of the few weaknesses Piastri showed in a double-podium debut campaign last year was in long runs during races, where his lack of reps and understanding of tyre management was one of the rare times he actually looked like a rookie. Experiencing everything for a second time can’t help but be of benefit, and Piastri has proof that his very best can mix it at the sharp end, as he did in Qatar and Japan last season.
The stop-start nature of the Bahrain track isn’t likely to play to McLaren’s strengths – last year’s car was mighty on circuits with high-speed corners, of which Bahrain has very few – but pre-season testing pace suggests McLaren sits at the top of a packed midfield, but perhaps lacks podium pace for now. Simply scoring points this Saturday will be a tick for Piastri after last year’s debut at the same track ended with an electrical failure after just 13 laps.
What’s the pre-season pecking order?
It’s THE talking point of every F1® pre-season and one that will immediately go out the window once the cars are properly unleashed in anger for qualifying on Friday night local time. Testing painted a picture of the very front and back of the field, but everything in between seems up for grabs.
It’s no surprise that Red Bull Racing and it’s strikingly-different RB20 appeared to have pace in hand through testing, and given Max Verstappen has won 17 of the past 18 Grands Prix and Red Bull has won a staggering 37 of the 41 Grands Prix held since Australia 2022, it’d be a shock if the three-time world champion didn’t start his title defence with maximum points. Haas – without long-serving team principal Guenther Steiner for the first time in its history – seems destined to be anchored at the other end of the field, for now at least.
In between? Ferrari was fastest overall in pre-season testing with Carlos Sainz – albeit using the Pirelli C4 soft tyre that isn’t part of this weekend’s allocation – while last year’s early-season surprise, Aston Martin, was one of just three teams to not have either driver inside the top 10 after three days of running.
The best part? We – and the teams and drivers themselves – don’t have a definitive answer to the age-old question of ‘where do we stand?’ Which makes this season's opening as anticipated as ever.
The Formula 1® Bahrain Grand Prix 2024 will be available to watch live on Foxtel and Kayo. See our article on What time does the F1® Bahrain Grand Prix 2024 start for Australians? for your local timings.
