Max Verstappen picks up from where he left off in Bahrain as Christian Horner gushes

But Horner, who was joined by his wife, Geri, in a show of unity ahead of the 57-lap race, can take temporary relief from seeing Verstappen lead a Red Bull one-two, with his teammate, Sergio Pérez, finishing second.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took the chequered flag in third, one place ahead of his teammate, Charles Leclerc, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton a disappointing fifth and seventh respectively for Mercedes. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished sixth.

During an extraordinary week in Bahrain, Horner was exonerated by Red Bull Racing parent’s company, Red Bull GmbH, on Wednesday after an investigation into allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” made by a female colleague. Hundreds of WhatsApp messages appearing to be written by him were then leaked to the F1 world a day later.

Horner has remained defiant throughout and put on a show of unity with Geri, as they strode hand-in-hand along the paddock one hour and 45 minutes before the lights went out.

Red Bull’s majority shareholder and a Horner ally, the Thai billionaire Chalerm Yoovidhya, joined the duo on the team’s terrace in another public show of support for the team principal. Horner planted a kiss on Geri before he headed to the pit wall to watch his team blow away their rivals. The pair stood together smiling underneath the podium as Verstappen celebrated his win.

Verstappen has raced to the past three world championships and his crushing streak looks set to continue into 2024 after a commanding lights-to-flag win. The Dutch driver saw off Pérez’s challenge by 22.4 seconds to take his 18th win from the last 19 F1 races and, remarkably, his 36th victory since Hamilton last won a grand prix.

“Great start to the year, guys, a one-two finish as well, so fantastic,” Verstappen said over the team radio. Horner replied: “As you say, Max, pole-position, one-two finish, fastest lap, a clean sweep. A brilliant way to start the year. Thanks very much.”

After the race, Horner was asked by Sky Sports if he was confident he would be leading the team in Saudi Arabia next week. He replied: “Absolutely, I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

Such was Red Bull’s stranglehold on last season’s championship that they were afforded the luxury of turning their attention to this year’s machine earlier than their competitors. The revered designer, Adrian Newey, appears to have built a car that could take Verstappen to another stratosphere.

After holding off the challenge from Ferrari’s Leclerc on the run down to the opening corner, his victory never appeared in doubt. By the end of lap 11, Verstappen had already pulled 10 seconds clear.

Behind, Russell was on the move, taking second from Leclerc on the third lap in an encouraging start. But that would be as good as it got for the Silver Arrows, with Pérez moving ahead of Russell on the exit of turn four on lap 14 before Sainz gazumped the British driver for third three laps later.

Hamilton started ninth and was making little early progress, complaining on lap 25 that his seat was broken. He started to make his way through the field, getting past McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on lap 35 and then Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin for seventh on lap 39. But the seven-times world champion, who will join Ferrari next year, made no inroads into Norris ahead. Mercedes’ poor evening was dealt another blow when Leclerc took fourth off Russell with 11 laps to run, while Hamilton finished 50 seconds behind Verstappen.

For Verstappen, it was another emphatic display, with fireworks exploding into the night sky as he cemented his status as the overwhelming favourite to march to another title — despite Red Bull’s off-track turbulence. “Unbelievable,” said Verstappen after claiming his 55th career win. “Today went even better than expected. The car was really nice to drive. We had a lot of pace. It was super enjoyable.”