Lewis Hamilton has won 103 Grand Prix but a third place in this season’s opening race in Bahrain will have given him as much satisfaction as many of those triumphs.
Against all the odds, the seven-times world champion stuck to his guns and took one of the most unlikely podium finishes of his career. It was a triumphant start to 2022 for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc taking victory ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz.
And Hamilton was booked for a predictable fifth placed finish until, first, Max Verstappen had to quit with mechanical failure and, then, his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, spun on the final lap when hit by a similar problem.
