Martin Brundle hailed Carlos Sainz during the 2024 Bahrain GP after watching the Ferrari racer pull off a ‘lovely’ overtake on his Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc.
The 2024 season got underway in Sakhir on Saturday but in the same dominant manner that took Max Verstappen to his third Formula 1 drivers’ title last year. No driver could match the Red Bull ace as he controlled the Bahrain GP to win 22.457 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez.
A far slimmer margin split Perez in second to Sainz in third as the Spaniard started his Ferrari farewell tour. Sainz will leave Maranello after the 2024 season following Ferrari’s decision to sign Lewis Hamilton for 2025. The Briton will move from Mercedes to partner Leclerc in red.
Carlos Sainz beats Charles Leclerc for Ferrari’s best 2024 Bahrain GP result
Sainz took the finish 2.653 seconds behind Perez to record the 29-year-old’s 19th podium in Formula 1 to date. He only enjoyed three rostrum finishes in 2023 and had to wait until the Italian GP in September for the Madrid native’s first – but Sainz then won the Singapore GP.
It was also the same podium finishers as in Monza last year with Verstappen winning ahead of Perez and Sainz. While, also like at the Temple of Speed, Sainz had to fight Leclerc to earn Ferrari’s best finish. Leclerc finished the Bahrain GP in fourth place, 14.559 seconds behind.
Martin Brundle praises Carlos Sainz for his daring dive on his teammate
Sainz made his ultimately decisive overtake on Leclerc on Lap 17 of the Bahrain GP to move into third place. Leclerc struggled throughout the early stages with front locking, also much to Brundle’s disappointment, and he begun to hold his soon-to-be departing teammate up.
Sainz pulled out from Leclerc’s slipstream only 200 metres from the apex of Turn 1 to catch his teammate sleeping. The move left the Monegasque with no time to react and with zero room to defend as Leclerc followed the Mercedes of George Russell through the first bend.
Russell taking to the apex of Turn 1 almost cost Sainz and the Mercedes ace dearly, though. Sainz’s daring, late braking saw the nose of his Ferrari sail close to the gearbox of the Silver Arrows ahead. A point Brundle was quick to note before voicing praise for Sainz’s overtake.
“That was very close up the back,” Brundle said on Sky Sports F1 (2/3, 15:30). “Lovely move there from Sainz.”
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