(Motorsport) Charles Leclerc secured Ferrari’s first victory in Formula 1 since 2019 at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. The Monegasque and reigning champion Max Verstappen were toe-to-toe for majority of the race and enjoyed a couple of thrilling wheel to wheel battles but the Italian manufacturer had the last laugh when Leclerc and Carlos Sainz secured a 1-2 podium finish while both the Red Bull cars were forced to retire towards the end of the race.
Max Verstappen, who was second throughout the race, experienced reliability failures with three laps to go and was forced to retire, allowing Carlos Sainz to take his place on the podium. To make matters worse, Sergio Perez also experienced a fuel pump issue in the final lap, resulting in Lewis Hamilton clinching third place while the other Mercedes driver George Russell finished fourth. Kevin Magnussen, who replaced Nikita Mazepin before the start of the season, finished at an incredibly impressive fifth place in the Haas, a fantastic turnaround for Formula 1’s slowest car in 2021.
Former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas finished sixth in the Ferrari powered Alfa Romeo and debutant Zhou Guanyu managed to secure a point in 10th place thanks to Red Bull’s issues. Speaking after the race, Leclerc said "It's incredible to be back at the top” while his teammate Carlos Sainz said “Ferrari is back and it's properly back”. Red Bull will be bitterly disappointed with their reliability issues, which means that they will now have to play catch up to rivals Ferrari and Mercedes to defend their Driver’s Championship title.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Team Principal of the Red Bull Racing Christian Horner said “A brutal finish to that race for us. What looked like a decent haul of points suddenly evaporated in the last couple of laps." Meanwhile, a frustrated Max Verstappen added “Of course you can always say problems can happen and you might have a retirement, but I think at this level, after already having so much information with engines and stuff, it shouldn't happen." If that wasn’t all, Pierre Gasly was forced to retire due to reliability issues in his Red Bull powered AlphaTauri when the car caught fire in the middle of the race.
Also read: Bahrain GP: Red Bull set the pace with Ferrari closely behind in FP
