Red Bull’s Max Verstappen started the new season as he ended the last, with a dominant victory in the Middle East.
The two-time champion led the Bahrain Grand Prix almost from start to finish, initially lapping at a pace beyond his rivals and then controlling the race.
The drive, Verstappen’s 36th victory, underlined his status as favourite for a third consecutive world title.
Sergio Perez made it a Red Bull one-two ahead of an inspired drive by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in third.
“It was very, very good first stint where I made my gap,” said Verstappen. “From there, it was all about looking after tyres. You never know what’s going to happen later on the race. We just wanted to make sure we have the right tyres and in good condition as well.
“We have a good race package. We can definitely fight with this car and also big thank you to the team, over the winter, to get us a quick race car again.”
Perez had won a fight with Charles Leclerc over second place before the Ferrari driver retired from third with 16 laps to go when he lost drive.
But the big excitement in the race was created by Alonso, who dropped from fifth on the grid to seventh behind the two Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on the opening lap, but fought back to take the final podium place.
Alonso passed Russell before the first pit stops, then caught and passed Hamilton after their second stops, before closing on Sainz.
The moves on Hamilton and Sainz were of the highest quality.
Alonso and Hamilton battled for a couple of laps, with the Spaniard passing the Briton into Turn Four before a snap from the rear allowed the Mercedes back past.
Then Alonso came back at Hamilton and overtook down the inside of Turn 10, an extremely rare place for a move.
With Sainz, the two touched as Alonso tried to pass out of Turn Four. Sainz was then wise to the same move at Turn 10, but Alonso got better drive down the following straight and passed into the fast Turn 11.
“To finish on the podium first race of the year is just amazing,” said Alonso. “What Aston Martin did over the winter, to have the second best car on race one, is just unreal.
“We had not the best start and had to pass on track – it made it more exciting but we enjoyed it.”
Alonso’s pass left Sainz holding off Hamilton for fourth. The seven-time champion initially looked as if he might also pass the Ferrari, but he was unable to close in, as both suffered with tyres and had to settle for fifth.
The second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll took sixth place, despite hitting Alonso at Turn Four on the first lap, costing the Spaniard a place to Russell, who finished seventh.
Verstappen ominous in his supremacy
In terms of a spectacle, the race needed the fight between Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes, because Verstappen was in a league of his own out front.
The world champion converted his pole position into a lead at the first corner, as Leclerc used the superior grip of the new tyres he had saved for the race to pass Perez for second.
But Leclerc had no answer to the man who he briefly challenged for the title last year.
Verstappen was more than a second clear after the first lap, four seconds clear after five and seven seconds in front after 10. It was clear the Dutchman would face no threat unless he ran into trouble and the Red Bull ran faultlessly, apart from some complaints from its driver about slow gearshifts.
Behind him, Perez’s challenge was to re-pass Leclerc.
He did so by using a second set of soft tyres for his second stint, while Ferrari chose hard tyres for Leclerc. The Mexican soon closed in and passed into Turn One on lap 26, and eased away.
Leclerc looked set fair for a podium, in the region of 10 seconds clear of Sainz, until his car lost power on lap 41 and he pulled off on the straight down to the final corner.
Despondent, and aware Ferrari are not in a position to challenge Red Bull, he said: “We are very far behind Red Bull. The first stint was as expected after the choice we made with tyres. We were second but we couldn’t bring the car to the end and that is what is most important.”
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas took eighth place, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who put in a strong drive from the back of the grid after as difficult qualifying. Alex Albon took the final point for Williams in 10th.
The second Alpine of Esteban Ocon had a nightmare day, hit with three time penalties.
The first was for overshooting his grid slot, the second for failing to correctly serve that penalty at his pit stop, and a third for speeding in the pit lane. Ocon eventually retired.
Lando Norris finished last for McLaren, hampered by a problem that required his car to be refilled with compressed air at regular intervals.
His team-mate Oscar Piastri retired with an electronics problem early on his debut.
