The Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 provided an exciting spectacle, unlike the last seasons of Formula 1, a competitive fight on track that was defined by a regulation that gave the victory to Lewis Hamilton over Max Verstappen, the young Dutch promise who shows that he has already reached the maturity to compete for the title of champion 2021.

In Friday’s free practice and Saturday’s Pole Position the Red Bulls were superior to the Mercedes, even in the competition strategy the Austrian team was confident and intelligent giving indications to Max Verstappen to reach the end with an advantage over Hamilton, however a move to the limit of the Dutchman gave the victory to the British driver.

Hamilton, who started second behind Verstappen, the Red Bull driver, made an early pit stop on lap 13, and his second stop came 10 laps before Verstappen’s second visit to the pits. The Dutchman pitted the Mercedes driver on newer tires as the laps progressed. The reigning champion explained how he felt behind the wheel.

“It was horrible,” he said. “It wasn’t great. I was struggling obviously at the end with the rear of my car; my rear tires … they were gone and they were maybe eight laps older, maybe more, to Max’s tires. I knew he was going to catch me with 10 laps to go and I thought it was going to be virtually impossible to keep him behind, as it was, until the Turn 4 incident.”

says Hamilton

The spectacular season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix came to a nail-biting finish as Lewis Hamilton had the difficult task of holding off Max Verstappen, who had fresher tires, to take victory. And after the race, the reigning champion said the final laps were “horrible” as he struggled to stay ahead of his rival.

At Turn 4, Verstappen overtook Hamilton on lap 53 of 56. But the Dutchman was deemed to have swerved in doing so, and was ordered to give the place back. The Red Bull driver gave chase again but ended up 0.745s behind Hamilton at the chequered flag.

Last year we would have been very happy with this result and now we are disappointed, so we have taken a good step forward and of course the season is still very long. So… yes… we have to move on and try to do better.

says Verstappen

The eventual winner admitted that he was not convinced he could hold the lead until the last lap of the race, as he was struggling to control the W12 on worn hard tires.

After what was an exciting start to the season, the battle will resume at the next race in Imola in three weeks’ time.

@alex-martinez Source: F1 Oficial