F1 LIVE: Christian Horner encounter riles up Red Bull star, while Guenther Steiner secures new position
Express Sport keeps you informed about the newest F1 news ahead of the new season.
Next week, we shall know the outcome of the season’s first Grand Prix in Bahrain. Max Verstappen is the odds-on favourite to win and get his 2024 championship defence off to a good start, having won four Drivers’ Championships in a row with Red Bull.
Ferrari set the fastest lap times in pre-season testing, albeit on the super-fast C4 compound tyres, and Carlos Sainz will be eager to establish his point to the Scuderia before being replaced by Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
Mercedes, McLaren, and Aston Martin will also try to ride Red Bull’s coattails more effectively than they did last season, when Christian Horner and his team dominated the competition.
With an interesting day of continuous F1 coverage ahead, check out Express Sport’s live updates below…
Oscar Piastri feels Max Verstappen and Red Bull will be far ahead of the competition when the Bahrain Grand Prix begins this weekend.
Piastri said, “They don’t appear slow. On the first day of pre-season testing, Max appeared to be very strong.
“Sergio [Perez] appeared to be more at ease on the last day than he did the previous season. They’re the squad to beat.
“I’m wondering how much their advantage is.
Jolyon Palmer believes that tyre degradation could be McLaren’s ‘Achilles heel’ in 2024, after the team struggled with reliability during pre-season testing.
“What concerns me is the race itself,” Palmer told Sky Sports.
“Oscar Piastri got in the vehicle [on the last day] and didn’t have the best racing run; he had a lot of degradation, which was his Achilles heel.
“He demonstrated incredible one-lap speed, but his race performance was subpar. That looked the same, but Lando Norris did not perform a race simulation.
“Due to reliability issues at McLaren, he only drove 20 laps [on the last day] and did not get a race run, so that’s a question mark for
According to Williams team principal James Vowles, Logan Sargeant must be the’surprise of the season’ to increase his chances of earning a new contract. “He knows that what he was doing last year, that’s not fit for purpose anymore,” he said. “We have to step it up. He has to be the surprise of the season and use the knowledge base that he spent 12 months gathering to good effect.”
