Lewis Hamilton's Bahrain Grand Prix podium shows F1 season truth with Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton has won 103 Grand Prix but a third place in this season’s opening race in Bahrain will have given him as much satisfaction as many of those triumphs.

Against all the odds, the seven-times world champion stuck to his guns and took one of the most unlikely podium finishes of his career. It was a triumphant start to 2022 for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc taking victory ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz.

And Hamilton was booked for a predictable fifth placed finish until, first, Max Verstappen had to quit with mechanical failure and, then, his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, spun on the final lap when hit by a similar problem.

It was a nightmare start for Christian Horner’s team. If it had not been for Red Bull’s misfortune, Hamilton might be taking a different memory of this race with him to Saudi Arabia next weekend. For fifty laps, it looked like there just might be a thrilling new rivalry in town, one for the future of Formula One.

Two 24-year-olds - the world champion in a Red Bull, the man from Monaco in a Ferrari - going head-to-head for a long time to come. Verstappen versus Leclerc is certainly going to be the duel that sets the early stages of the season alight.

Twice within a couple of laps in the first half the race, Verstappen daringly dashed ahead of Leclerc. Twice, the Ferrari driver returned the favour. For a good while, it was exhilarating stuff, and then Verstappen started to suffer technical difficulties and started to swear into his radio.

And when a late safety car was deployed after Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri caught fire, there was drama to come. Behind Leclerc, Verstappen ground to a virtual halt and then Perez, hassled by Hamilton, also succumbed, giving Lewis third and his Mercedes