Summary

  • Red Bull one-two as Verstappen dominates, with Perez 2nd

  • Sainz 3rd, Leclerc 4th, Russell 5th, Norris 6th, Hamilton 7th

  • Season-opening race

  • Max Verstappen backs Red Bull boss Christian Horner over allegations as wife Geri attends race

  • Get involved #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Gary Rose

  1. Team radio - Sainz to Ferrari

    Sainz: "I have more pace than the guys at the front"

  2. Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    I'm surprised Alonso is struggling as badly as this, his race pace has looked decent this weekend and before the race other teams were pointing back to last year's race here and how good his tyre management was.

  3. Sergio Perez attacks Charles Leclerc down the straight and gets the job done into Turn 10. Perez is up into third.

  4. Team radio - Norris to McLaren

    "We are going for plan B"

  5. It is the youngest driver on the grid versus the oldest... and it is youth that wins out as Oscar Piastri overtakes Fernando Alonso and he is up into seventh, behind McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

  6. Rosanna Tennant
    5 Live F1 reporter

    Not too much action down in the pitlane, but a few excited faces in the Mercedes garage when George made that move on Charles Leclerc, showing that the Mercedes has got some pace especially when you add DRS in the mix, which makes me question why Hamilton is not able to make much progress, he's still down in P9.

  7. Team radio - Leclerc to Ferrari

    "Track limits for Russell"

  8. Verstappen extending lead

    Max Verstappen is starting to disappear into the distance as he moves four seconds ahead of George Russell. It is clear already he is going to be very hard to catch.

    verstappenGetty Images

  9. It hasn't been a great start by both Ferraris as they seem to be struggling for pace already. Carlos Sainz is fifth but almost six seconds behind Sergio Perez.

    Carlos SainzGetty Images

  10. Get Involved

    #BBCF1

    Katie: Looking good for Sargeant so far!

  11. Charles Leclerc now has Sergio Perez to worry about as the Red Bull looks to close in on the Ferrari in third. There's four seconds between them at the moment.

  12. Great move into turn four by George Russell as he sweeps around the outside of Charles Leclerc's Ferrari and the Mercedes is up into second.

  13. Alice Powell
    British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Charles Leclerc has not been able to keep it in that one second, it's already opened to 1.2 seconds.

  14. Nico Hulkenberg pits, has that damaged front wing replaced and moves onto hard tyres. He's back out in last place but plenty of laps ahead of him.

  15. 'That can give him a 0.3 second advantage per lap'

    Andrew Benson
    BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

    That extra set of new softs that Max has is sending shivers down the spines of the other teams, they are very worried about that. That can give him a 0.3 second advantage per lap over used softs. He's not using them at the start but he's likely to deploy them later in the race.

  16. fan holds a 'Max will you marry me' signGetty Images

    The start to the race Max Verstappen fans will have wanted to see. He leads by 1.2 seconds into lap two.

  17. Team radio - Hulkenberg

    Hulkenberg: "I have front wing damage"

  18. Further back it looks like Lance Stroll spun into Turn One and might have caught Nico Hulkenberg too.

  19. Charles Leclerc attacks at the first corner and he is side by side alongside Max Verstappen, but the defending champion holds his nerve to squeeze through and stay first.

    Race start at BahrainGetty Images

  20. Go! Go! Go!

    LIGHTS OUT and the 2024 season is under way!