2024 F1 Bahrain GP: Why Max Verstappen apologized to his race engineer after winning the pole position

Max Verstappen apologized to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase after finishing the 2024 F1 Bahrain GP qualifying in pole position owing to a bet that the latter lost.

Much like the 2023 season, Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko placed a bet regarding Max Verstappen's qualifying position, but with Gianpiero Lambiase this time. It was a €50 bet for Marko if Verstappen managed to get another pole position. Marko also told ServusTV that he would have to give €25 to Verstappen as part of the bet.

"I earn €50, but I have to give €25 of that to Max - he's a tough negotiator."

Helmut Marko had placed a similar bet during the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP with team principal Christian Horner but he lost.

Speaking of the first qualifying session of the 2024 F1 season, he was pleased after Verstappen's P1 qualifying:

"We worked hard after practice and then, of course, the Max factor came around the corner again."

"It's nice to be able to start the race here at the front of the field."

Max Verstappen faced more competition this time in Bahrain as Ferrari proved to be quite a challenger. Interestingly, Charles Leclerc's final laptime during Q2 (1:29.165) was faster than Verstappen's pole laptime (1:29.179).

This gives hope for a more competitive battle at the top in the main race later.

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Max Verstappen expecting a 'close' race with competitors in Bahrain

After Red Bull's dominance in 2023, many expect the team to continue with the same momentum. But as it currently seems, their rivals have managed to develop enough to pose a challenge during the race.

Speaking ahead of qualifying, Max Verstappen stated that the winds had been "tricky" on the Bahrain International Circuit.

"It was a lot of fun actually. The track had a lot of grip, but with the wind the last two days it’s been quite tricky to get the whole lap together. It was the same in qualifying," F1 quoted him.

"Q1, Q2, you naturally go a bit faster with the track ramping up, but then to really get everything out of it in Q3 was a little more difficult. But of course I’m very happy to be on pole. To be honest, it was little bit unexpected, but luckily in qualifying I think the car came to us and I felt a bit happier with the whole car."

Charles Leclerc's Ferrari followed Max Verstappen for the P2 position. Behind him was the Mercedes of George Russell. Although the latter is also in a strong position, his teammate Lewis Hamilton fell to P9, 0.533 seconds off the pole time.

Analyzing the qualifying results, Verstappen feels that the race will be quite close as well.

"I think in the race it’s going to be close as well. We do look good in the race and that’s of course the most important [thing], but we’ll see tomorrow. I’m confident that we can have a strong race."

Owing to the fact that the top nine cars are split just a little over half a second, a close challenge is expected at the top. Ferrari, as mentioned earlier, was in constant competition with Red Bull during the entire qualifying session.