The first race of the new regulation era treated us to a fantastic duel for victory between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. Both competed very hard, but with cleanliness, making us all enjoy it.
Perhaps it was the presence of a new race director like Niels Wittitch, who has started his mandate with greater rigor than that applied by Michael Masi in the past. Or perhaps the good relationship between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, something that cannot be said of the relationship between the Dutchman and Lewis Hamilton.
Be that as it may, the duel that both gave us in the dispute for the victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix did not look too much like the last ones that Verstappen and Hamilton starred in last year.
On this occasion, both Charles Leclerc and the reigning world champion behaved impeccablysomething that led to even more fun and spectacle for the fans, and that gives us the opportunity to remember it again.
Leclerc, very intelligent
Already in the same start, both pilots fought for position with cleanliness. Both started in a very similar way, which allowed Leclerc to protect the interior and make useless the late braking of Max Verstappen, who, being forced to draw the first corner on the outside, had to lose.
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However, on lap 17 of the race and after the first pit stops, Max Verstappen found a new opportunity on the finish straight and, after taking the slipstream of the Ferrari and taking advantage of the DRS, he took the inside of turn 1 to overtake Charles Leclerc.
What the Red Bull driver did not expect is that Leclerc put up so little resistance in that braking to prepare acceleration towards curve 2 and the line after it. Cleverly, the Monegasque turned the tables on his opponent with a neat maneuver around the outside at Turn 3, reclaiming the lead.
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But the duel was not over and, on the following lap, Max Verstappen repeated the maneuver, although this time diving into the inside of Turn 1 from further away. Again, Leclerc did not raise resistanceknowing that passing this second turn could open the DRS on the next straight.
He did so, repeating the maneuver of the previous lap at turn 3, although this time on the inside. The best of all these maneuvers? What neither of them tried at any time to expel the other from the tracka maneuver that in recent years has become commonplace in a Formula 1 dominated by asphalt loopholes.
Verstappen, angry
The rest of the race was dominated by Charles Leclerc, who after getting far enough away from his opponent to not allow him to use the DRS, began to impose his pace and gradually moved away from Verstappen, who made it very clear to his team his discomfort at having obeyed the order to take it easy on the first lap after each pit stop.
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In any case, none of this had consequences in the final result of Max Verstappen, because a problem with the power steering and another with the fuel pump they ended up leaving him at the mercy of Carlos Sainz and, finally, of a painful abandonment. For his part, Charles Leclerc scored the first victory of the season.
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Will we see a new duel between Ferrari and Red Bull at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that takes place this weekend? We look forward to it!