Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton fought off Max Verstappen to win an action-packed Bahrain Grand Prix after an intense end race battle.
Hamilton opened his campaign with victory in his bid to win a record-breaking eighth world championship, he beat the hotly-tipped Verstappen in an enthralling affair in the deserts of Bahrain.
The reigning champion took the lead of the race after an early decision to undercut Verstappen on Lap 13, after lighting up the timing sheets it became apparent that the Red Bull driver could not respond while retaining his lead.
As Verstappen pitted and closed up to Hamilton, the Briton pitted for a second time to take another new set of C2 Hard tyres. Verstappen responded ten laps later as it emerged that the Dutchman would have to overtake the Mercedes driver on track to claim victory.
The 23-year-old was able to hunt down Hamilton throughout the remainder of the race before 36-year-old made a mistake at Turn 10 with four laps to go allowing Verstappen to get within DRS range.
It looked like Verstappen had claimed victory when he swept around the outside of Hamilton, making the most of the DRS and run off at Turn 4 to complete the move.
Facing a potential penalty, Verstappen was forced to give the position back to Hamilton on the run to Turn 11 after having all four wheels off the track when completing his overtake just a handful of corners earlier.
After picking up dirt on his tyres, it was enough for Hamilton to retain his lead claiming a sensational victory with Verstappen under a second behind.
Best of the rest in Bahrain
Valtteri Bottas completed the podium after switching to a three-stop strategy, the Finn found himself over 30 seconds behind the leading duo but did pick up the fastest lap and an extra world championship point.
Lando Norris topped off his strong weekend for McLaren as he finished fourth ahead of the second Red Bull in Sergio Perez, the Mexican was forced to start from the pit-lane when his car completely shut down on the formation lap.
Charles Leclerc continued his impressive run of form for Ferrari as took sixth ahead of new McLaren recruitment Daniel Ricciardo and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
After a disappointing qualifying, Yuki Tsunoda claimed his first points in Formula 1 in ninth ahead of Lance Stroll who rounded out the points-paying positions for Aston Martin.
His teammate Sebastian Vettel struggled on his debut as he started from the back of the grid after receiving a 5-place grid drop for ignoring yellow flags in Q1 yesterday.
It went from bad to worse for the German driver when Vettel made contact with Esteban Ocon at Turn 1, as a result, he was given a 10-second time penalty finishing 14th on his Aston Martin debut.
Formula 1 now takes a three-week break ahead of their trim to Imola, as it stands Hamilton heads the championship with 25 points ahead of Verstappen.
