Sakhir, 3 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - World champion Max Verstappen romped to victory ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez at the season opening Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday as Red Bull continued their dominance from the past campaigns.

Verstappen destroyed the field after winning the start from pole to claim his 55th career victory, 22 seconds ahead of Perez and 25 clear of Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz under the Sakhir floodlights.

History repeated itself as Verstappen also won ahead of Perez 12 months ago which kickstarted a totally dominant season in which Red Bull won 21 of the 22 races, with Verstappen top in 19 of them for a third straight world title.

Saturday's outcome showed that Verstappen in particular and Red Bull in general remain untouchable in a race, after Verstappen had not been happy in practice and only just edged Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for pole.

Ferrari got the podium from Sainz and had Leclerc in fourth after some struggles, and Mercedes had to be content with fifth from George Russell and seventh from Lewis Hamilton who started his final season at the marque before a 2025 move to Ferrari.

Naming the performance "unbelievable," Verstappen said: "I think today went even better than expected. I think the car was really nice to drive on every compound.

"I think we had a lot of pace and it was just super enjoyable to drive today. We stayed out of trouble and it's a great start of the year, it couldn't have been better."

Perez said that second place was "the maximum" he could achieve but was happy for the team.

"It's a good team momentum and we've got to keep it up for the coming weekends," he said.

That was echoed by beleaguered team principal Christian Horner who said via team radio: "1-2, pole position and fastest lap, clean sweep. Brilliant, brilliant start to the year."

Horner was cleared in an internal investigation in connection with inappropriate conduct allegations but since then text messages allegedly around the affair have emerged and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the issue was "damaging" the sport.

Sainz was happy to be not far behind Perez which he named "a pleasant surprise" while "still not enough from where we want to be but a good step forward compared to last year."

Verstappen won the start against Leclerc who tried in vain to slip past on the outside on the first corner exit.

But Leclerc soon struggled for pace, was passed by Russell in lap three and soon after by Perez and Sainz as well.

Russell had no chance to draw closer to Verstappen who was more than five seconds clear in front by lap seven and steadily disappeared into the horizon.

Russell and Leclerc pitted first for fresh rubbers in lap 12, and Perez then got ahead of Russell after pitting as well.

Verstappen eventually also came in for fresh rubbers in lap 18 and emerged more than five seconds ahead of Perez for a Red Bull one-two lead.

Leclerc complained about brakes problems as he was passed by Sainz a second time before the Spaniard also left Russell behind to rank third, with Russell then also passed by Leclerc after the second round of stops.

Further back Nico Hülkenberg's Haas was hit by the spinning Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in turn one and required a new front wing as he had to settle for 16th after qualifying 10th.

The season-opener was on Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday slot because of a knock-on effect from next week's Saudi GP.

The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan starts on Sunday, March 10, which led to the Saudi race moved forward a day, and the Bahrain event as well because there must be a full week between races.

Photo: X