Hopes, doubts, ambitions, difficulties, the cards have now been revealed and the ranking has started to speak! The first weekend of season Formula 1 2024 has been put on hold, with a race held exceptionally on a Saturday due to Ramadan. Who started off on the right foot and who will have to take action to avoid compromising the World Championship? Let's find out with the top 3 and flop 3 at the Fanta F1 of the Bahrain Grand Prix won, not to mention dominated by Max Verstappen!
The RB19 was the car to beat last year, but despite the great competitiveness demonstrated, the team led by Adrian Newey has further raised the bar by bringing another philosophy of ground effect single-seaters to the track. The RB20 is once again the car to beat, and Max Verstappen the man to beat, if that were possible for anyone given the gaps on the track. In fact, the season has always started in the name of the Dutch driver, who in addition to taking Pole yesterday took home a landslide victory, complete with a fastest lap and bonus from the best Sky driver. Red Bull emerged from Bahrain with a great show of strength, even risking the softs for the final stint, almost as if to tell the others that they can really afford to dictate the game.
The top 3 of the Bahrain Grand Prix
Carlos Sainz: However, Red Bull is not the only team that stood out in this first meeting in Bahrain. In fact, Ferrari, net of Leclerc's problems and also considering the struggle of its two drivers, leaves the Sakhir circuit as the second undisputed force. Carlos Sainz was the one leading the red team, who immediately proved to be very fast. His fight with Charles in the opening laps? Heartbreaking for the Red fans but respectful. After all, we are still at the beginning of the season and with this car both have excellent chances of getting to the podium, and if Red Bull were to grant it, even some victories.
Sergio Perez: Max Verstappen is not the only one who has performed well at Red Bull. Perez brought home a double that wasn't entirely obvious given the feeling expressed in the tests. The Mexican is playing for his place this year and seems intent on not giving up too much ground to his direct opponents.
Guanyu Zhou: There is still a slot for this top 3 and we would like to use it for one of the drivers who did not reach the top 10 but who despite this got an excellent score at Fanta F1 thanks to his extraordinary comeback. We are talking about Zhou, the Chinese driver from Sauber - we will continue to call her Sauber - who came one step away from the top 10 with a car that was not exactly competitive.
Flop 3 of the Bahrain Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc: we decided to put Charles Leclerc among the flops exclusively because today this Ferrari could aspire to more than a third and fourth place, considering that the Monegasque had several problems managing the car during the braking phases. A problem of a strange nature, which does not depend on the balance or feeling with the car, but precisely on the factor that moved the car to the right during braking. Despite this, however, Charles did not retire and actually completed the Ferrari one-two, a symptom of an SF-24 which is currently second in the championship. In short, a small miracle in misfortune.
Valtteri Bottas: the worst on the grid and with a negative score in Fanta F1. He won't surprise many, but considering where he's at, Zhou could have done better. Not to mention the nut problem he just put the icing on the cake.
Nico Hulkenberg: perhaps he still had to recover after his impressive qualifying yesterday. Cannona Stroll at the first corner and fate miraculously does not take a penalty, but his race is totally destroyed. The positions lost cause him to slip in the Fanta F1 ranking, occupying the place of one of the worst.
In Flop 3 we didn't put the Alpine right because it's a miracle that they crossed the finish line with both cars.
