Lewis Hamilton won the first race of the new Formula 1 season after managing to keep Max Verstappen in a tense finale after Red Bull driver temporarly took the lead four laps before the end while Valtteri Bottas finished third in the second Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel was handed five place grid penalty for disobeying the yellow flags in the first part of qualifying, but that won’t significantly affect his race as he qualified in a disappointing 18th place.

Max Verstappen took a commanding pole position in the first race of the season in Bahrain with a four-tenths advantage over world champion Lewis Hamilton while Valtteri Bottas finished third in the second Mercedes.

Formula 1 has a back-up plan if the Portuguese Grand Prix is ​​not held as the third race of the season at the beginning of May and in that case Bahrain would again host two races as last season.