Hamilton won the season opener, but Red Bull is there in the corner of Merci

Hamilton, 36, is the 96th race victory of his career and has triumphed for the fifth time in Bahrain.

The defending champion had to fight hard in his hair with Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver for Red Bull, who eventually finished second.

In third place was Valtteri Bottas, the Finnish driver of Mercedes, who ran the fastest lap in the last lap, so he received the plus one world championship point.

Sergio Pérez's Red Bull stopped on the lead due to a technical error, so the competition court ordered an extra lap, which shortened the race distance to 56 laps instead of 57. Pérez's race car started in the meantime, allowing the Mexican driver to start the race from the pit lane.

Starting from pole position at the start, Verstappen retained the lead, followed by Hamilton and Bottas, but the Finn was already overtaken by Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) in the first lap. Verstappen repeatedly signaled on team radio that something was wrong with his car, while in the sixth lap, Bottas went past Leclerc and took back third position.

At the first wheel changes, Hamilton was in the pits three laps earlier than Verstappen, and with that, the British defending champion took the lead, followed by Verstappen, Bottas was the order in the podium places. Early in midfield, Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) fought a spectacular and big battle, from which Sainz finally came out the best.

Hamilton got a box change again at the end of lap 28 and Bottas got new tires in lap 31. Verstappen made his second wheel change on lap 40, so Hamilton took the lead, but the Dutch Red Bull rider chased the lead defending champion.

Ten laps before the knockout, Verstappen was three seconds behind Hamilton, who was overtaken four laps before the end, but was let back right after him because, in consultation with the team, he considered his overtaking maneuver to be irregular. Hamilton no longer gave Verstappen the opportunity to overtake the remaining three laps despite the fact that Mercedes’s rear tires were much more worn and less sticky than Red Bull’s tires due to the different strategy.

Lando Norris (McLaren) finished fourth and Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) finished fifth, with the two Ferraris also finishing in the top ten: Charles Leclerc sixth and Carlos Sainz Jr. eighth. Of the rookies now making their debut, Japan’s Cunoda Juki (Alpha Tauri) performed best, earning two world championship points in ninth.

Mick Schumacher (Haas) finished 16th in the first Formula One race of his life, his teammate, also rookie Russian Nikita Mazepin, dropped out right after the start.

The season will continue in three weeks in Imola with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti / Photo: pixabay)