COATES

The real start of F1’s latest great rivalry?

That’s what we wanted – and perhaps what Formula 1 needed. For the first time in the turbo-hybrid era, Red Bull has started a season on the front foot. Yes, Lewis Hamilton still managed to take a narrow victory for Mercedes last weekend, but it looks as though Max Verstappen has the car to take on the seven-time champion.

It’s still early days, of course, and Bahrain hasn’t been the best track for Mercedes in recent years. You’d still have to be brave to bet against Hamilton at this stage. But Verstappen should have won and the Red Bull advantage in qualifying – nearly 0.4 seconds – was significant.

Part of the turnaround is believed to be down to the new rules hurting the teams with a ‘low-rake’ philosophy, such as Mercedes (see page 4).

From a fan’s perspective, the important thing is that it raises the prospect of a genuine battle between two of the real stars of recent years. As Alex Kalinauckas shows in our race report (p18), there were a number of small factors that led to Verstappen’s defeat and Hamilton, who has always said he likes a good fight, knows this season could be rather different to the ones he has enjoyed of late.

● One daft thing about F1 was demonstrated by Valtteri Bottas at Sakhir. Never in the lead fight, he stopped for fresh rubber, set fastest lap by 1.1 seconds and scored an extra point. This isn’t what the point for fastest lap was meant to be about. Time to scrap it.

Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com

NEXT WEEK

8 APRIL Hamilton’s biggest threat We speak to Red Bull’s Max

Verstappen as he gears

up to take on Lewis

COVER IMAGES Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

PIT & PADDOCK 4 F1 changes help spark title fight 6 Manufacturers commit to WRC future 8 More Formula E for Porsche 11 Button team backs away from DTM 13 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 15 Opinion: Rodi Basso 17 Feedback: your letters

RACE CENTRE 18 Bahrain GP report and analysis 34 World of Sport: Formula 2; Mugello 12 Hours; MotoGP

INSIGHT 40 What you need to know about Extreme E 42 Extreme E teams and drivers guide 46 Top 10 Le Mans Ferraris

CLUB AUTOSPORT 60 Jewiss to Carrera Cup with Team Parker 62 Hollamby in dad’s old car for Classic F3 64 Welsh motorsport restart still unclear 65 Opinion: Stephen Lickorish 66 What we’re looking forward to in 2021

FINISHING STRAIGHT 70 What’s on this week 72 From the archive: 1968 Monaco GP 74 In defence of… Formula 3000

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