Verstappen victorious and Ferrari fighting fit: What we learned from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Max Verstappen won the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix in fine style, beating his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by a clear 22 seconds on Saturday morning. It's Max's eighth consecutive Grand Prix victory and his 55th career win.

While Verstappen's win was largely expected, the Bahrain Grand Prix offered up plenty of surprises elsewhere in the grid. Here's what we learned from the first race of the Formula One season:

Ferrari's race pace is no joke ... and Sainz can weaponize it in his last season with the team. 

Coming into the Bahrain Grand Prix, the teams competing for second — Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin — looked too close to separate. All four traded places throughout qualifying and were equally competitive on a one-lap basis. 

But the 57-lap Grand Prix showed that it's Ferrari with the true race pace.  Drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc cruised to third and fourth place respectively, finishing a clear five seconds ahead of Mercedes's George Russell in fifth.

Ferrari threw its weight behind Charles Leclerc during the offseason, giving him a multi-year contract and a partnership with incoming driver Lewis Hamilton. But it was the soon-to-be-replaced Sainz who impressed most for the Italian team in Bahrain. 

Sainz took advantage of Leclerc's malfunctioning brakes to pass his teammate and clinch his first podium of the season.