F1 Bahrain Grand Prix LIVE: Christian Horner arrives for practice after being cleared by Red Bull

Another Formula One off season has come and gone – with its fair share of dramatic stories – but now we are set to go racing once again.

This Saturday’s season opener in Bahrain is the first of a record-breaking 24 races in 2024, which sees the season stretch from Bahrain GP practice on 29 February to the finale in Abu Dhabi on 8 December.

Max Verstappen is the unquestionable favourite to claim his fourth straight world championship this year, with Red Bull winning 21 out of 22 races last year and the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren all playing catch up.

But will there be a surprise in store? Can anyone make the jump up into the midfield contenders? And how will a fascinating driver market develop throughout the year?

Ahead of Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Formula 1 Correspondent Kieran Jackson makes his predictions for the upcoming season:

Twenty-three days after allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” first emerged through whispers in the Dutch press, and following countless denials on the eve of the new Formula One season, Red Bull boss Christian Horner has finally won the battle of his life.

Touching down in the Middle East on Wednesday night, Horner will be one relieved man stepping off his private jet. A team principal and chief executive who has barely missed a race since taking the reins at the inception of his Red Bull team in 2005, the 50-year-old will take his usual place on the pit wall at the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend as a man exonerated.

The statement on Wednesday afternoon from Red Bull GmbH – the parent company, based in Salzburg, of Horner’s Red Bull Racing – was unwavering. It spoke of an investigation, outsourced to an external KC, which was “fair, rigorous and impartial” and a “grievance” which has now been dismissed.

Christian Horner will continue as Red Bull team principal and F1 CEO after he was cleared of allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague.

The complaint, first publicised on February 5, alleged “inappropriate, controlling behaviour” against the Red Bull F1 boss. Horner strongly denied the allegations, both initially and in public at Red Bull’s 2024 F1 car launch in Milton Keynes as well as last week at pre-season testing.

But after an investigation was conducted and completed by an external lawyer, who interviewed Horner for nearly ten hours on February 9 in London, the world champions’ parent company Red Bull GmbH confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that the “grievance” against Horner has been dismissed. The female colleague does, however, have the right to an appeal.