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By Alan Baldwin
MANAMA, March 5 (Reuters) – Formula One world champion Max Verstappen won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday with a one-two finish with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, while Ferrari found themselves without podium.
Verstappen win from pole position, Pérez taking the checkered flag 11.9 seconds behind.
“Very well done, very good result. We had good race pace,” Verstappen told the team. “Very happy with it. Thanks guys.
“Exactly the start to the season we wanted and needed. A perfect double.”
As they celebrated and the night sky was filled with fireworks, Ferrari licked its wounds again with Charles Leclerc sidelined by a loss of power as he lapped in third and Carlos Sainz ahead of Alonso .
Verstappen, for his part, had no problems as he started in first position
For the champion, it was his first win in Bahrain and also the first time the two-time champion won the opening race of a campaign.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was racing in third when he braked and came to a stop with 17 laps to go, shouting “No, no, no! No power” over the team radio.
Meanwhile, veteran two-time world champion Fernando Alonso passed Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel move with 12 laps to go to secure the final podium spot for Aston Martin.
“It’s a wonderful car to drive,” the 41-year-old Spaniard, the oldest driver in the race, told his cheering team.
“Coming here and finishing on the podium in the first race of the year… it’s amazing what Aston Martin has done over the winter to have the second best car in the first race. It’s just unreal,” he told the crowd after the finish. (Report by Alan Baldwin edited in Spanish by Javier López de Lérida)