Formula 1 experienced passionate competition at the Bahrain circuit, where Lewis Hamilton took the victory, ahead of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

The competition started bumpy before the start, due to the inconvenience suffered by Mexican Sergio “Checo” Pérez in his Red Bull debut. The car turned off, was stopped and when he was able to start it again, he headed to the pits to start from there.

When the traffic light went out, Verstappen won in the first acceleration against Hamilton’s attack . Behind, Leclerc had won the position to Bottas.

However, in the back pack, rookie Mazepin hit a wall and broke the Haas suspension. In the first few meters, he touched with Latifi’s Williams and surely as a consequence he broke the direction, which caused the Russian’s confusion.

Midway through the race, a pit stop complication reduced Bottas’ chances as he struggled with the right front wheel. There he lost 10 seconds.

From there, Verstappen led his guard, Hamilton, by 18 seconds, and in third place, Bottas. From there, with hard compound on his tires, the Mercedes champion appealed to his strategy.

In turn 34 Fernando Alonso left. The former Formula 1 champion, who returned to the top flight after a two-year absence, suffered brake problems on his Alpine. The Spanish driver had reached 9th place.

With 16 laps to go , Verstappen changed from medium to hard and was 8 seconds behind the new leader, Hamilton. And from there, the Red Bulll pilot went hunting for his rival. He discounted lap after lap, until three from the checkered flag, Verstappen finally overtook Hamilton.

But the champion did not give up and immediately afterwards Hamilton regained first place. In reality, Verstappen had beaten him off the track and gave him back. The excitement reached the end of the race. The hand in hand between the two. It was maintained until the last meter. And in an exciting denouement, Hamilton withstood the onslaught of his rival.

The podium was completed by Valtteri Bottas, who also set the lap record on the final lap, taking the extra point.

Behind Lando Norris, with McLaren, who was fourth, was the fifth place of Mexican Sergio Pérez, who after starting from the pits due to the initial problem with Red Bull, recovered until he reached that position.

With these results, the Hamilton championship started as the leader, with 25 points, followed by Verstappen, with 18, and Bottas, with 16.

The next competition will be on April 18, in Imola, with the Emilia-Romagna GP.

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Red Bull Racing 2021