Published By: Sports Desk
Last Updated: March 03, 2024, 00:01 IST
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Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen eased to victory within the seasonopening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday regardless of the turmoil surrounding his Red Bull staff principal Christian Horner.
SAKHIR, Bahrain: Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen eased to victory within the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday regardless of the turmoil surrounding his Red Bull staff principal Christian Horner.
Verstappen began on pole place and was by no means severely challenged on his method to a commanding one-two win for Red Bull forward of his teammate Sergio Perez.
“Today went even better than expected,” Verstappen stated. “It was a lot of fun.”
He stated he felt “one with the car.”
Carlos Sainz Jr. was third for Ferrari after preventing exhausting with teammate Charles Leclerc.
At the beginning of the longest-ever F1 season at 24 races, Verstappen already reveals indicators of repeating his close to-excellent document from 2023, when the Dutch driver received 19 of twenty-two races on his method to a 3rd straight title.
Saturday was the eighth win in a row for Verstappen going again to September final yr. He set an F1 document of 10 consecutive wins final season.
Horner arrived on race day hand in hand along with his spouse Geri Halliwell, also called Ginger Spice of the pop group the Spice Girls. The race got here after FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem stated the turmoil round Horner was “damaging the sport,” in feedback to the Financial Times.
The F1 paddock’s focus has firmly been on the Red Bull staff principal this week, with Verstappen saying Saturday his boss was “probably a little bit distracted.”
On Wednesday, the staff’s guardian firm dismissed a criticism of alleged misconduct by Horner towards a staff worker. A day later throughout observe for the Bahrain Grand Prix, a file alleged to include proof towards Horner was emailed to almost 200 folks within the F1 paddock, together with Liberty Media, F1, the FIA, the opposite 9 staff principals and a number of media shops.
The authenticity of the information has not been verified by The Associated Press; the file got here from a generic electronic mail account.
Charles Leclerc was fourth and George Russell was fifth, with Lando Norris sixth for McLaren and 7-time champion Lewis Hamilton seventh after an uneventful race within the second Mercedes. Oscar Piastri of McLaren was eighth, forward of the 2 Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
