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Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen to win the Bahrain GP. (Photo Credit: Reuters)
Bahrain Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen to win the season-opening race.
- News18 Sports Sakhir (Bahrain)
- Last Updated:March 28, 2021, 22:29 IST
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Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who put him under immense pressure. This is the first time Hamilton has won the season-opening race since 2015. It was an epic win for Hamilton, who held off Verstappen extremely well towards the end to cross the finish line first. Verstappen had started on pole and had the lead for most part of the race but Hamilton tried the undercut and overtook him as Verstappen pitted. Verstappen, with fresh tires, pushed and pushed Hamilton, even forcing a mistake off the Brit when he went off track but the Mercedes’ driver eventually held on.
Verstappen did overtake Hamilton towards the end but he was slightly off track when he did that and had to give back the lead to avoid penalty. This should be the first of many such fighting races between Verstappen and Hamilton this season and the Red Bull man will have to show more patience and strategy hereafter.
Verstappen admitted: “It’s of course a shame, but you also have to see the positive. We’re putting the fight on to them (Mercedes), so it’s great to start the year like that.”
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished third as Mercedes got a double podium finish once again.
“What a difficult race that was. Stopping early we knew was going to be difficult, but we had to cover Max. It was going to take something pretty special,” said Hamilton after his 96th career win.
“Max was all over me right at the end, but just managed to hold him off, one of most difficult races I have had for a while.”
(With AFP inputs)
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