Verstappen records a Grand Slam at the first race of the year, Hamilton sets a new record for consecutive points-scoring seasons and every driver finishes the season-opener for the first time. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS THE 2024 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
Max Verstappen secured the 55th victory of his Formula 1 career at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Verstappen won for an eighth consecutive race, making this only the third time in Formula 1 history that a driver has taken eight wins in a row. Verstappen did so during the 2023 season, with a streak of ten wins in total between the Miami Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix. It means that the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix is the only time in the last 19 race weekends that Verstappen has not won the Grand Prix.
Verstappen won the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix by 22.457 seconds – a new record for the largest winning margin in Bahrain Grand Prix history.
Winning from pole position and leading every lap plus setting the fastest lap on his way to victory, Max Verstappen recorded the fifth Grand Slam of his career. Verstappen is only the fifth driver – after Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to record as many as five Grand Slams during his F1 career.
This was the first time in Bahrain Grand Prix history that the race winner led every lap of the race.
Verstappen is only the fifth driver to record a Grand Slam in the first race of the season, after Alberto Ascari in 1953, Jim Clark in 1965, Nigel Mansell in 1992 and Michael Schumacher in 2004.
Red Bull recorded their 114th Grand Prix victory, equalling Williams for fourth on the list of most Grand Prix wins recorded by a Formula 1 team.
Having won in every season since 2016, Max Verstappen became the ninth driver to have won in as many as nine Formula 1 seasons and only the fifth to win at least one race in nine consecutive years. It also made Red Bull the sixth team to have won in nine consecutive years.
2024 is the 15th different season in which Red Bull have recorded a Grand Prix victory. Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Lotus are the only other teams who’ve won in as many as 15 seasons. In addition, Red Bull became only the third team – after Ferrari and McLaren – to have led a lap in 18 consecutive F1 seasons.
The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix was the 13th race in which Max Verstappen led every lap. He equalled Jim Clark for fourth in the list of most races which a driver has led from start to end.
Having also won last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Max Verstappen became the ninth driver to have won the season-opening race in successive seasons. Valtteri Bottas was the last driver to do so, in 2019 and 2020. Verstappen became the fifth driver to record consecutive Bahrain Grand Prix wins.
PEREZ AND SAINZ ON THE PODIUM
With Sergio Perez finishing in second place, Red Bull secured their 29th 1-2 finish. This was the second year in succession in which Red Bull recorded a 1-2 finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Red Bull are the first team to record 1-2 results in consecutive seasons at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Perez recorded his best result since finishing as runner-up at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz was voted Driver of the Day for the fifth time in his Formula 1 career.
Sainz’s podium finish saw Ferrari set a new outright record for the most podium finishes in Bahrain, having previously been tied with Mercedes. This was the team’s 17th top three finish at the track.
IN THE POINTS
Lando Norris finished sixth in the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, recording his best Bahrain Grand Prix result since finishing fourth in 2021.
Oscar Piastri was the only driver other than Max Verstappen to finish the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix in the same position as he started. This was only the second time in his career, after the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, that Piastri finished where he started.
During the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton joined Fernando Alonso as only the second driver to have completed 19,000 Grand Prix laps during their Formula 1 career.
Finishing seventh, Lewis Hamilton set a new outright record for the most consecutive seasons in which a Formula 1 driver has scored a point. Hamilton previously shared the record with Jenson Button before making 2024 the 18th successive year in which he has scored.
Seventh is Hamilton’s worst Bahrain Grand Prix result since 2012, when he finished eighth.
Hamilton crossed the finish line at the Bahrain Grand Prix for the 17th time, extending his record for the most finishes at the track.
With George Russell finishing fifth and Hamilton seventh, Mercedes recorded the same result at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix as they did in 2023, albeit with their drivers in the opposite order to last year. The team has never failed to score points with both cars on every appearance in Bahrain to date.
Finishing ninth in the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso became the first driver to score a point in 20 different Formula 1 seasons.
During the race, both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso surpassed Kimi Raikkonen for the most Grand Prix laps completed at Bahrain International Circuit. Hamilton now holds the record, having completed 959 racing laps at the venue.
Lance Stroll finished in tenth place at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, securing a point for the fourth time in his last five appearances at Bahrain International Circuit.
For the first time since 2018, only five teams scored points in the first race of the season.
This was the first time since 2013 that only drivers starting from inside the top 12 grid positions scored points at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Finishing 11th, Zhou Guanyu was the driver who gained the most places in the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, making up six places from 17th on the grid.
Having started 13th, Alex Albon finished 15th in the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix. This was the first time Albon has finished in a worse position than where he started in Bahrain.
Like Albon, Yuki Tsunoda lost positions from where he started in Bahrain – the first time he has done so in his four appearances at the circuit.
With Tsunoda 14th and Daniel Ricciardo 13th, this was the first time since 2015 that neither of the Red Bull junior team’s cars finished in the top 12 in Bahrain.
Nico Hulkenberg came home 16th in the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, losing six places from where he started. It was the most positions lost by a driver in the race.
Finishing 17th and 18th, the Enstone team recorded their worst Bahrain Grand Prix result since both Renault drivers retired from the 2019 race.
Finishing only 19th, Valtteri Bottas failed to score at the Bahrain Grand Prix for the first time since his first appearance at the track in 2013.
With Zhou 11th and Bottas 19th, this was the first time since 2021 that the Sauber team failed to score in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Logan Sargeant finished 20th for the third time in his career. He is only the eighth driver to have finished 20th on as many as three occasions in Formula 1.
F1 FIRST AS ALL 20 DRIVERS FINISH
For the first time in Formula 1 history, every driver reached the chequered flag at the season-opening race. This was also the first time that every driver finished the race in Bahrain Grand Prix history.
There were no Safety Car outings or Virtual Safety Car periods in the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix. This was the first race in Bahrain since 2016 not to feature any Safety Car interruptions.
The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix had a weekend attendance of 100,000. With 37,000 in attendance on race day, it was the best-attended event in the circuit’s history.
