Bahrain: Charles Leclerc claimed a brilliant win for Ferrari at the season-opening Bahrain GP while Red Bull suffered two late podium-costing retirements as a new era of Formula 1 got off to a pulsating start in the desert.
Leclerc and Max Verstappen went toe to toe for much of the first race of the year, and had multiple thrilling wheel-to-wheel battles, before a Safety Car preceded last-gasp drama, agony for Red Bull and joy for Ferrari.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion who was running second, saw his race ended with a reliability failure with just three laps remaining, opening the door for Carlos Sainz to seal a Ferrari one-two.
The closing laps were packed with drama, with a safety car period and then reliability problems forcing Verstappen’s retirement promoting Carlos Sainz to second.
And then the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez suffered a failure at the first corner of the final lap leaving Lewis Hamilton to take the final podium place for Mercedes.
