Today marks the start of the real, meaningful action of the 2024 season. Of course, yesterday’s practice sessions are important and we learned a decent amount from them (some of it surprising, perhaps) but an actual competitive session when something is on the line (grid places) is when the teams have nowhere to hide. And indeed the drivers, too.
Yesterday’s second practice session saw Lewis Hamilton lead a Mercedes 1-2 with reigning champion and massive favourite for the title this year Max Verstappen nearly half a second off the pace in sixth. Now, come qualifying this evening I do not believe he will be that far away. In fact, it would be a surprise if he wasn’t on pole. What it does show, though, is that there is at least a little bit of doubt that the Red Bull might be dominant over one lap.
In fairness that was not the case last season after about the half-way point. In any case, Red Bull’s race pace simulations looked clearly ahead of the field and the races will be won on Sunday (apart from the first two, which take place on Saturday). But if the advantage is not quite so large and there are, perhaps, several cars between Verstappen and the leader, then it might not be quite as plain sailing. We can only hope…
Of course, the on-track action is looking increasingly like taking a back seat once again when it comes to the main talking points of the weekend. That has been Christian Horner’s position at Red Bull. The team principal was cleared of inappropriate behaviour in an independent report on Wednesday, but the story refuses to die.
On Thursday, during second practice there was “a leak of secret evidence from the investigation that cleared him of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague,” Telegraph Sport reported. Senior figures in the F1 paddock including the head of the FIA and the CEO of Formula One, as well as numerous journalists, received the e-mail from an anonymous sender.
In any case, the show must go on and that begins with third and final practice at 12.30pm GMT with qualifying at 4pm. We will be here for all of it and any other news and updates.