Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc diced for the lead several times. Photo / Supplied
Pre-season testing did not prove indicative as to which team had the best car.
Red Bull had set the fastest time overall in testing, while Ferrari was thought to have the best race package, and Lewis Hamilton predicted Ferrari would finish 1-2 in the season-opener in Bahrain.
That turned out to be intuitive because to the delight of the tifosi, that is the result the prancing horse team delivered, with Charles Leclerc - who had started from pole position and also set the fastest lap in the race - taking the chequered flag, while his teammate Carlos Sainz was second.
It was a dream start to the championship for Ferrari, and while Red Bull provided new world champion Max Verstappen with a car that qualified in second place and was second quickest for most of the race, it also proved unreliable, as with two laps to go Verstappen went from second place to a DNF.
A lap later his teammate Sergio Perez also had to retire when third place looked to be his, benefiting the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and his new teammate George Russell. They finished third and fourth, despite being 35 seconds behind race winner Leclerc at one stage, until a Safety Car intervention to retrieve the burning Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly because of what he called a "barbecue at the back" brought the field back together.
Not only was it a Ferrari 1-2, but the Ferrari-powered car of Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, making a successful return to F1 that he might never have imagined, finished fifth and Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, also using a Ferrari power unit, was sixth. So with four cars using a Ferrari power unit in the top six, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotti left Bahrain in an upbeat mood.
"I am very happy with this result, as our race today shows how well this team has worked over the past two years in Maranello," Binotti said in the official Ferrari press release.
"Personally I have always had faith in them. They have worked as a united group and reacted to the difficulties we encountered. It's nice to see we are once again battling for first place, which is our goal this season.
"Tonight I wanted to go up on the podium to collect the Constructors' trophy because I felt it was the best way to represent the whole team back home and here in Bahrain. I have to admit it was an emotional moment. I am also thinking of the fans who have always supported us, even when things were a bit tricky and I can admit I can't wait to get to Imola to race in front of them."
Ferrari has not won the drivers' championship since 2007, when Kimi Raikkonen beat the McLaren duo of Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point. It also won the constructors' title that year, and again in 2008, even though Hamilton won the drivers' title for McLaren. Leclerc won two races for Ferrari in 2019, with victories in Belgium and at Monza in Italy. He should have won the Bahrain GP that year as well, as he had a commanding lead but suffered a loss of power, which enabled Hamilton to snatch victory. Despite Verstappen overtaking him briefly a couple of times after the first pit-stop, Leclerc had the power and nous to keep Verstappen behind him.
"I did a bit of a joke on the radio on the last lap, saying there was something strange with the engine," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1. "And the engineers I'm pretty sure didn't like that. But it was fun. I had that in mind for the last 10 or 15 laps of the race, hoping there were no reliability issues. And obviously then I see Max had the issue. I was like 'come on, please stay with me until the end' and it did, so it's great."
Asked what his third grand prix victory meant to him, Leclerc referred to winning at Monza in 2019 as being "very special" but sees this latest win as a sign of his maturity as a driver.
"A victory is always very special and I definitely feel much grown as a driver compared to my victory in 2019," he said. "2019 felt incredible obviously at Monza, it was just very, very special, but here today everything felt a bit more under control and it felt nice. Obviously there were some tense moments on track with Max after the first stop, with the Safety Car restart after that, but everything was managed well and I could bring the victory home.
"Coming into the season, we knew we would be a better position than we have been for the past two years, but we didn't know exactly where we'd stand. To be back on top with a car that is capable of winning feels incredible. A huge thank you to all our team, you've done an amazing job and this victory is for all of you."
Sainz was happy with second place for the team's sake, but not his own drive.
"For me, I'm very happy with the result but I'm not particularly happy with my race. It was probably one of the hardest ones since I joined Ferrari. I wasn't feeling at home with the car and we need to understand why," he told interviewer David Coulthard, who suggested he was being too hard on himself. Sainz did accept it was a great team result.
"This is definitely a day to celebrate for the entire team. Starting the season with a 1-2 is the perfect reward for the tireless work they have done over the last two years and congrats to Charles on a solid win. We also want to share our joy with all our tifosi around the world because we always felt their support even when we were not fighting at the top."
Ferrari came away with maximum points heading into this weekend's Saudi Arabia GP at the Jeddah circuit, whereas Red Bull left Bahrain with no points, even though two laps from the finish they looked like scoring at least 30 points. It is believed a fuel pump issue on both cars led to their late-race demise that team boss Christian Horner called a "brutal finish".
"What looked like a decent haul of points suddenly evaporated in the last couple of laps," Horner lamented. "It looks like a similar issue on both cars."
Horner did concede, though, that Ferrari appeared to have a faster car.
"I think Ferrari were just that little bit quicker than us today. They have demonstrated over the winter they have been very quick, they confirmed that today. The negative is zero points, that's the brutal start, the positive we've got a great car."
For the world champion, it was the worst possible start to defending his hard-won title, and his problems included overheating of the brakes, a car balance problem due to a locked steering wheel and the fatal blow believed to be the aforementioned fuel system problem. But he tried to remain positive despite losing 18 points.
"It was not great today. I think we didn't really show what we could really do, for whatever reason," he suggested. "But there is potential for sure. I mean, otherwise you are not up there. But we already lost a lot of points again, in one race weekend. Of course, I know with one retirement it's not over, but I would prefer to have at least 18 points."
Considering he only qualified fifth and was 35 seconds behind Leclerc before the Safety Car came out, Hamilton had to acknowledge a podium finish was more than he expected.
"Oh for sure, we definitely wouldn't have expected it," he conceded. "We did struggle in the race, but George did a great job. To get a third and a fourth I think is pretty remarkable given the problems we have."
The Mercedes cars struggled when sent out on hard tyres, a decision team boss Toto Wolff equated to putting your hand in the toilet. Apart from the Ferrari drivers, the happiest driver had to be Kevin Magnussen, who left the Haas team in 2020 to race in the US last year. His recall came when Nikita Mazepin was sacked because he's Russian, and Magnussen has grabbed his second return to F1 with both hands.
"It's been crazy," he noted. "I feel as though I keep saying the same thing all week because it's getting better and better and every time it goes - I still can't believe it. And then getting back in the F1 car, driving out of the garage, qualifying with that result [5th] and then nailing it in the race. The team deserves it so much. They have worked so hard over the past couple of years and they took a lot of bashing last year because they were focused on this year, and got a good result today."
Given Haas scored no points last year, rival teams are sceptical about how they are suddenly a midfield contender, and point to the car's likeness to the Ferrari, with a Ferrari engine, Scuderi gearbox, suspension and other parts and access to the Ferrari wind tunnel.
Alpine boss Otmar Szafbauer, who was with Aston Martin last year, told F1 TV: "The worry is those who share wind tunnels can have a coffee together. And especially if they are partners and say over coffee 'how did that go, the latest floor you tried? Don't go in that direction, not so great'."
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl, who saw his drivers finish a dismal 14th and 15th, says how Haas and Ferrari "are in place at the moment is a concern to us".
But Haas boss Guenther Steiner has dismissed the critics: "If we are good, they call our car a 'white Ferrari'. If we are bad, then no. I'm starting to find that ridiculous."
What is not ridiculous is that the Ferrari power unit seems to have got the better of Mercedes and Honda. And even though there has only been one race, if the aim of the new regulations was to change the order at the top, it has been a resounding success.