MANAMA (REUTERS) - Charles Leclerc embarked on Formula One's new era in triumphant style, leading team mate Carlos Sainz in a one-two for a resurgent Ferrari in Sunday's (March 20) season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Monegasque crossed the line 5.5 seconds ahead of Sainz, who moved up to second place after world champion Max Verstappen retired three laps from the end.
World champion Max Verstappen, who several times went wheel-to-wheel with Leclerc in a battle for the lead, was on course for second but was forced to retire three laps from the end, with team mate Sergio Perez suffering the same fate shortly after, as Red Bull left Bahrain with nothing.
Red Bull’s problems played into the hands of struggling Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton snatching third and new team mate George Russell finishing a career-best fourth.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said it had been a “brutal finish” and the double retirement was the team’s “worst nightmare”.
Sunday's win was the third of Leclerc's career and Ferrari's first since the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix.
It was also the Italian team's seventh at the Sakhir desert track.
The result puts Leclerc in the overall lead of the drivers' standings with another 22 races to go. Ferrari lead the constructors' table.
“Again, I keep repeating myself, but the past two years have been incredibly difficult for the team,” said Leclerc, after ending a 45-race winless streak dating back to Singapore 2019 for the sport’s most successful outfit.
“It was a huge opportunity for the team – we couldn’t hope for better.”
“Firstly, a big congratulations to Ferrari, happy to see them doing well again,” said seven-time world champion Hamilton, who for much of the race was running a distant fifth.
“I think it was such a difficult race, we struggled throughout practice but we did the best we could,” the 37-year-old Briton added.
Leclerc, who also took the fastest lap and was voted driver of the day by fans, started Sunday's race from pole but it was not an unchallenged cruise to the flag for the 24-year-old.
He engaged in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Verstappen after the first pitstops with the pair passing and repassing each other for the lead over several laps.
He also perfectly judged the restart after a safety car period, breaking away from Verstappen as the field returned to racing speed.
Red Bull's race came undone at the very end.
Verstappen's car, hobbled for much of the race by a steering issue, appeared to suddenly slow. Perez reported a loss of power immediately afterwards and blamed the engine for his sudden spin.
F1 returnee Kevin Magnussen put Haas back in the points with a solid fifth-place finish.
The result put the team, who in 2021 finished last and were the only outfit to not score a point, third in the overall standings.
Valtteri Bottas was sixth in his first race for Alfa Romeo, ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who served a time penalty for pushing the Haas of Mick Schumacher into a spin.
Yuki Tsunoda was eighth for AlphaTauri ahead of Spanish double world champion Fernando Alonso.
Zhou Guanyu, who became the first Chinese driver to race in Formula One, scored the final point in tenth on his debut for Alfa Romeo.
Schumacher missed out on scoring his first points but still took home his best result so far in 11th.
Pierre Gasly failed to finish after his AlphaTauri expired in a plume of smoke and flame.
