Bahrain 2021: the Grand Prix that set up F1's greatest title battle

“The rear doesn’t feel particularly great with this new regulation change and we’re trying to find the sweet spot,” he said in the build-up to the race, while engineering director Andrew Shovlin called it a “poor start”.

Merc’s worst fears were confirmed when Verstappen swept all practice sessions at Bahrain as well as taking pole from Hamilton – Silver Arrows boss Toto Wolff admitted his team was now in a “dog fight” with Red Bull.

The Dutchman managed to keep the lead at a race start under the floodlights, while mild chaos unfolded behind – new Haas recruit Nikita Mazepin, under much scrutiny after appearing to sexually harass a woman live on Instagram months before, binned his VF-21 into the barriers at the second corner all by himself.

On the safety car restart Hamilton tried to overtake Verstappen while simultaneously fending off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the cars almost three-abreast into Turn 1.

In the same exchanges Haas’s Mick Schumacher then spun off by himself while Pierre Gasly tripped over McLaren‘s Daniel Ricciardo, liberating his AlphaTauri‘s front wing.

Hamilton, who had already used his weekend’s allocation of medium compound tyres, pitted for hard Pirellis on lap 14 – Verstappen, who had a 1.7sec advantage over the Mercedes before it pitted, put on the afterburners over the next few laps in a bid to avoid the undercut.

It was all in vain though – Hamilton zoomed into the lead when the Red Bull pitted on lap 18, as Verstappen then hoped his fresher tyres would pay dividends later in the race.

As the leaders fought an intense battle at the front, Fernando Alonso squabbled in his Alpine with Aston Martin‘s Sebastian Vettel and Leclerc as an entertaining race unfolded.

Verstappen had emerged seven seconds behind Hamilton after the first stops, but had got it down to 2sec when the Brit decided to trade in his Pirellis on lap 28. Next, the Red Bull came in on lap 40, leaving him 9sec behind.

All the while, there was a track limits debate raging.

Race director Michael Masi, in one of several key cameos throughout the season, had said before the GP anyone gaining a “lasting advantage” from going off at Turn 4 would be punished –  this was clarified as being in relation to overtakes, but that no one would be penalised for improving their lap times by going off the circuit at that point. However the rule had been different in practice and qualifying. No one was allowed off at all in these sessions.

By mid-race Hamilton had regularly put all four wheels over the white line at Turn 4 (29 times to be exact, worth roughly 0.1sec per lap), so on lap 32 Red Bull told its driver he could do the same.

Then the FIA appeared to change its mind – instructing Mercedes to warn Hamilton about going off track in a bid for a faster lap time. The team told its driver to be wary in case of a penalty, and he replied: “I thought there was no track limits”.

Meanwhile Verstappen was fast closing, the race reaching its crescendo when with three laps to go, he prepared to dive down the outside of Hamilton at Turn 4. The Brit had covered him off at Turn 1, but this set Verstappen up for a run down to the fourth corner – aided by the slow Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi on the inside.

Verstappen got past, but oversteered wildly ‘off-track’ in the process of doing so do so. Hamilton hadn’t forgotten his radio conversation and was straight on the blower to complain.

Red Bull was told to cede the position by the FIA, and Verstappen grudgingly let the Mercedes back past at Turn 10, in the hope of getting another run down the start/finish straight.

It never happened. Verstappen’s rear tyres were beginning to complain on the highly abrasive Bahrain surface – one of F1’s least forgiving – and he never again got close enough to get past as Hamilton drew first blood.

Afterwards Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and its star driver raged.

“It’s frustrating,” said the principal. “With these track limit things, they’re always going to be contentious. But we do need to just have a consistent situation. You can’t say it’s okay to use it in the race, but you can’t overtake out there; it should be black or white, it shouldn’t be shaded grey.”