F1 news LIVE: Mercedes ‘punch above weight’ at Bahrain GP and Max Verstappen slams Red Bull reliability

LIVE – Updated at 17:20

Charles Leclerc won a thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix to open the new F1 season and afterwards revealed a cheeky prank played on his Ferrari team as he closed in on victory.

“I did a bit of a joke on the radio on the last lap, saying there was something strange with the engine,” he told Sky Sports. “The engineers I’m pretty sure didn’t like that, but it was fun.”

Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz finished second as Mercedes enjoyed the benefits of Red Bull’s woes to finish third and fourth, with Lewis Hamilton on the podium ahead of new teammate George Russell. Red Bull boss Christian Horner described the race as “brutal” after both Max Verstappen and then Sergio Perez suffered issues which saw them fail to finish.

Elsewhere Haas enjoyed an impressive day as returning F1 driver Kevin Magnussen collected a fifth-placed finish, the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas came in sixth and his teammate Guanyu Zhou finished 10th to collect a first world championship point on his F1 debut.

Follow all the latest news and reaction from the Bahrain Grand Prix below, as the F1 world looks ahead to the next race in Saudi Arabia.

Red Bull are hoping for a strong showing in Saudi Arabia this weekend after retiring both cars in the opening race in Bahrain on Sunday.

Drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both looked set to finish in the top four slots before power losses in the closing laps so both cars retire meaning they picked up no points in the Championship.

Motor racing can be brutal, but we'll come back fighting in Jeddah