F1: five things we learned from the Bahrain Grand Prix

Quietly confident in testing, Ferrari played down expectations before the season opener. After Bahrain, though, their form cannot be denied and on this performance they are title contenders. The car is fundamentally quick and is a well-balanced platform at which they can begin to throw upgrades as fast as Maranello can churn them out. Equally, in Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz they have a driver pairing more than capable of making a tilt at titles. Leclerc, especially in the manner of his victory, was superb. Calm, confident and driving with steely grit, he has made unforced errors in the past but there were none in Bahrain. Best of all was his no-nonsense precision in the thrilling scrap with Max Verstappen. The Dutchman is used to muscling around the track but when they went wheel to wheel and Leclerc came back at him, particularly at turn four – heading to the outside, braking late and then turning in across the Red Bull – he laid down his own marker in emphatic terms.

Third and fourth for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell with a 27-point haul was realistically far more than the team would have expected. They did so well because both the Red Bulls they were trailing retired. Had they not, Mercedes were very firmly the third fastest cars on the track and by some distance off the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull, indeed to the tune of a full pitstop behind Leclerc by mid-distance. Their problem is the porpoising – bouncing – caused by their ground-effect aero stalling on the straights. The team principal, Toto Wolff, has admitted that even contemplating fighting for the championship at this stage is not viable. Yet Wolff, Hamilton and Russell still all exude a quiet calm. There is confidence in the team they will solve