The three-time reigning world champion hit hard from the start.
Building on his 19 victories last season, Max Verstappen started again on the same basis.
The Dutchman dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first of the season in F1, by leading all 57 laps, signing his 55th career victory in the process.
Alone in the world, number 1 beat his teammate at Red Bull, Sergio Perez, and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).
To discover
Formula 1: drivers ranking
Formula 1: the season calendar
Verstappen escaped directly
The first start of the season was expected with Verstappen on pole and Charles Leclerc and George Russell in ambush but the Batavian showed his muscles at the start to remind us who was currently in control of the game. Author of a good start, the Dutchman gently resisted the Ferrari at the first corner before flying away...definitely.
After five laps, Verstappen was already 5 seconds ahead of the competition and the comet would slowly disappear from the eyes of the nineteen other drivers to finally navigate with around fifteen seconds ahead of his rivals.
Already above the rest.
Sainz biting
Behind, the battle raged in the race for the podium.
Suffering with his brakes, Leclerc quickly fell in the standings to fifth place.
Unable to keep up with the pace of Russell, Perez and Sainz, who also lost time behind his teammate.
The change from soft to hard tires, after the first stop, would ultimately prove fatal for Russell.
The Mercedes driver, less comfortable on this type of rubber, was overwhelmed by Perez then Sainz and then let the podium slip away definitively from halfway through the race.
And at the time of the second stops, Red Bull dealt the fatal blow to the competition.
When everyone put on hard tires again to go to the end, the Austrian cars took to the track again on new soft tires to secure a first double this season.
From the blackboard.
The Alpines adrift
At the end of the race, Leclerc regained some performance and pushed Russell to make a mistake to gain fourth place.
A small consolation for the Monegasque, quite annoyed during the race by his repeated blocks.
Far from all that, Alpine has confirmed its immense difficulties at the start of the season.
Starting on the last row, Esteban Ocon took 17th place while Pierre Gasly finished 18th.
The two Frenchmen finished more than a lap behind Verstappen...and the task before them is immense as the car lacks performance.
And it seems impossible that things will improve in Saudi Arabia next weekend.
Bad times for the Blues.