How 'outlier' Leclerc left even Hamilton impressed

History will record the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix as another victory for Lewis Hamilton, his 74th in Formula 1. Considering he was in the second-fastest car and forced Sebastian Vettel into a mistake in battle to ensure he inherited the lead late in the race, it was a fine win.

But what the record books won't reflect is that this was the moment a star was born in Charles Leclerc, whose maiden F1 podium deserved to be a victory of consummate skill worthy of Hamilton at his best. That Hamilton magnanimously raised his hand as he apologetically passed the stricken Ferrari, later calling Leclerc's crushing performance an "outlier", tells you everything you need to know.

The agonisingly slow death of Leclerc's race was thanks to his V6 engine dropping a cylinder on lap 46 of 57. Associated problems, such as not being able to use the MGU-H, costing him 40km/h (25mph) on the straights, condemned him to limp home.

The only consolation was that a late safety car, triggered by the expiry of the works Renaults within a few hundred metres of each other, stemmed the bleeding and allowed Leclerc to stay ahead of Max Verstappen and hold onto third place behind Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

The quality of Leclerc's performance, even in what was clearly the fastest car in Bahrain, cannot be understated.

With Ferrari back on the kind of form it showed in testing, primarily thanks to gaining almost 0.5 seconds on Mercedes on the straights in qualifying trim, it was Leclerc who led the charge. Fastest in two out of three practice sessions, then all three segments of qualifying, you might expect an ordinary 21-year-old not possessed of extraordinary mental fortitude to fold given what then happened on the first lap. Instead, Leclerc used first-lap setbacks to show just how strong he is.

Wheelspin off the line meant Leclerc instantly dropped to second behind nominal team leader Vettel, before Bottas went around the outside of him for second into the Turn 4 right-hander.

Hamilton, who had been passed by Bottas through Turn 2, then attacked Leclerc into the Turn 8 right-hander, with Leclerc staying ahead but only after his front-left rubbed with Hamilton's front wing and a quick front-right lock-up. Leclerc ended a bruising first lap third, but what followed demonstrated rare star quality.

Bottas went wide into Turn 1 on the second lap and Leclerc pounced up the inside. It didn't just cost Bottas one position, as it also allowed Hamilton to make a move for third place into Turn 4.

"I had a great start to the race, I managed to get into P2 but then on lap two into Turn 1 I think the wind caught me up a bit," said Bottas. "I braked a bit too late, trying to keep my position, and I lost two places - so back to fourth place."

"It's always a tricky situation when you get to fight your team-mate because the risks are very high. I had an opportunity on the outside and I went for it" Charles Leclerc

Leclerc's two-second gap to Vettel rapidly closed and Leclerc was soon pointing out over the radio that he was faster.

By lap five, Leclerc was hassling Vettel. On lap six, with an advantage that peaked at around 35km/h (22mph) thanks to the use of the DRS, he forced Vettel to defend and went to the outside after braking later for the Turn 1 hairpin.

On the outside line, he didn't get too greedy, ensuring he was still there to hang Vettel out to dry on the outside line into the left-hander that followed.

But his illustrious team-mate had fallen just behind by the time they reached the detection line for the second DRS zone at the entry to Turn 1, meaning Vettel had a speed advantage on the squirt from Turn 3 to Turn 4. Leclerc defended, Vettel thought better of a risky move around the outside and the lead was in the hands of nominally Ferrari's junior driver.

"It's always a tricky situation when you get to fight your team-mate because the risks are very high and in every team they will warn you before that it's your team-mate," said Leclerc. "I had an opportunity on the outside and I went for it. It was successful the first time I tried, so I'm happy with that."

In the six laps that followed, Leclerc outpaced Vettel by 0.363s per lap to establish a comfortable advantage before diving into the pits at the end of lap 13 to switch from soft to medium Pirellis. With Verstappen (lap 11), Bottas (12) and Hamilton (13) all having made their first stops, Leclerc breezed past the long-running Daniel Ricciardo's Renault to retake the lead on the start/finish straight on lap 15.

That should have been the last anyone saw of him. Leclerc made his final stop under no pressure on lap 36 and seemed certain to cruise serenely to a first grand prix victory.

At the end of lap 42 of the 57-lapper, Leclerc had an advantage of 10.441s over Hamilton and, with fastest lap already assured, had no need to do anything too aggressive. But soon Leclerc reported to Ferrari that "there is something strange with the engine".

Hamilton had closed on Leclerc by six tenths on lap 43, then another four tenths on lap 44, then by nine tenths on lap 45. But it was on the following lap that it became clear that Leclerc was in serious trouble, his pace dropping into the 1m38s bracket, three seconds slower than a few laps earlier, and allowing Hamilton to close to just 6.835s behind.

Soon his lap times had dropped to 1m40s - and on one lap as slow as a 1m42.317s. Hamilton was already ahead by then, breezing past apologetically on the run to the last corner on lap 48.

Leclerc was given a target time of 1m38.7s to hang onto second place, but this was impossible. Bottas, 40s behind before Leclerc's problem, took second place effortlessly on lap 54 on the run to the first corner and Max Verstappen was on course to follow him through. Only the serendipitous double Renault retirement, which cost Nico Hulkenberg sixth place and Daniel Ricciardo 10th, saved Leclerc's podium by triggering a safety car.

This was a tortuous way for Leclerc to lose what should have been a famous breakthrough win. A maiden podium, even with the bonus point for fastest lap, was little consolation. But Leclerc had made his point, emphatically.

"From the whole weekend there are a lot of positives to take," he said. "After Australia we were quite a lot far off.

"We found some answers - not all of them - but we found some. We came here, front row lock-out, which was very positive for the team, and we showed that they have done an amazing job. That doesn't mean we'll stay there for the rest of the season but that just shows off how good of a job they've done between the two races.

"And then I think we've shown also that we had very strong pace during the race. Probably we were the strongest today. Unfortunately the issues stopped us winning - but, on the other hand, issues always happen in a season and, if any time I have an issue, I finish third, then I think we could be quite happy.

"Today was not our day. It's sad, because obviously I was so close to realising a dream that you have since childhood, which is your first win in Formula 1, but hopefully this day will come one day in the future.

"I'll work for that, and I'm pretty sure the team will work for this but they should be proud about what they've done this weekend, and we'll come back stronger."

Leclerc's fate was just one side of the Bahrain GP coin. To understand the other we have to wind back to the moment he took the lead from Vettel.

Given Ferrari's pace advantage, Leclerc's demise shouldn't have handed a one-two to Mercedes, but instead given victory to Vettel. That he wasn't there to perform a salvage job was a consequence of the irresistible attacking ability of Hamilton, and Vettel's propensity to make key errors in pressure situations.

Because the undercut was so powerful in the high-degradation track conditions, Hamilton jumped Vettel for third place by making his first stop a lap earlier. With Vettel switching to mediums and Hamilton on another set of softs, the expectation was that, early in the stint at least, Hamilton would consolidate what was initially an advantage of three seconds. But Vettel was faster, and on lap 23 claimed second place by using the DRS to close on the run to Turn 4 before completing the pass around the outside.

Mercedes took the initiative at the second round of pitstops, with Hamilton stopping on lap 34 and Vettel one lap later. Vettel held onto the position this time, but with both on fresh mediums Hamilton came back at him.

On lap 37, the attack came. In a reversal of the earlier pass, Hamilton used the DRS on the run to Turn 4 and went around the outside of Vettel. The Ferrari then spun at the exit of the corner. Not for the first time, Vettel had crossed swords with Hamilton and emerged worse off. And while the windy conditions that made life particularly difficult at Turn 4 contributed to the spin, Vettel was happy to own the mistake.

"When I was fighting with Lewis, the target was to stay ahead," said Vettel. "I got surprised when I lost the rear that suddenly and when I was in the spin I was already too late.

"It was my mistake, so I need to digest that. Obviously our race could have been a bit better without that spin, nevertheless it was a difficult race so plenty of homework on my side, not having the feel for the car."

Worse was to come. Vettel had instantly radioed in to say he had to pit for fresh rubber thanks to flatspots caused by the spin - particularly to the left-rear. But on the back straight, the resulting vibration led to the front wing supports breaking under increasing load, with the Ferrari bouncing over its own discarded wing amid a shower of sparks. He made it back to the pits, but significant time had been lost.

Vettel returned to the track in ninth place, picking up one position when Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly made his pitstop. He then dispatched Ricciardo, McLaren driver Lando Norris - who was on his way to an excellent sixth place - and Hulkenberg to move up to fifth. But even if the safety car hadn't intervened, he'd lost so much time that he wasn't close enough to pass the cruising Leclerc.

Hamilton, meanwhile, simply had to cruise to the finish. Although he crossed the line only 2.980s ahead of Bottas, his advantage had been 21.7s at the moment the safety car was deployed. To that we must add the caveat that Bottas lost some performance to a plastic bag that became stuck in his front wing and cost him after strong pace early on.

Leclerc had been brilliant, but so too had Hamilton to get the better of Vettel. Without Hamilton's attacking surge after the second pitstops, Vettel would probably have been there to pick up the pieces.

Given Vettel once again came off second best in a scrap with Hamilton, you have to wonder which Ferrari driver Hamilton needs to worry about more?

Once again, Hamilton had forced the issue and made his own luck - and managed to show his class by showing genuine respect for the fact this was a race Leclerc had won. But this wasn't like Baku 2018, when Hamilton had to apologise repeatedly for taking a win that should have gone to Bottas, for Hamilton had maximised his machinery and was in the right position - ahead of one of the faster Ferraris - when Leclerc hit trouble. And all this at a track where, despite this being his third win here, Hamilton is not very at home.

"I was really happy with how I drove in the race," said Hamilton. "We struggled with the balance of our car throughout and it kind of worsened as we got more into the race. I can't express to you how hard I've been working on my starts, and the start really wasn't good. I'm just going to keep working on it. Basically you stumble and you fall and you get back up. So I just keep pushing.

"Fortunately I was still within the mix and got past Valtteri. I was happy with that manoeuvre, and then had that battle with Sebastian, which was awesome.

"We worked really hard and made some really good steps with the set-up through the weekend, moving in the right direction. This is a track where I struggle, probably one of the most out of the lot of them, so to come out ahead, I was really happy with that."

Verstappen had to settle for fourth place after a fairly lonely race, but only after seeing off McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr. The Spaniard briefly got ahead of the Red Bull driver at the start, then attempted to pass him four laps in around the outside of Turn 4.

Verstappen defended to the inside, but made contact with Sainz as they ran side by side into the corner. The resulting puncture ruined what was a very promising race for Sainz and for McLaren, which for the first time in a long time was able to battle on merit with a Red Bull. Sainz was always doomed to lose out given a gearbox problem later set in, but at least Norris came through with sixth for McLaren, his first points in F1 on what was a day for the new guard.

While this was a victory lost for Leclerc, he proved beyond doubt he's a gold standard driver by outclassing Vettel and doing everything but win the race. Given Vettel once again came off second best in a scrap with Hamilton, you have to wonder which Ferrari driver the five-time world champion needs to worry about more for the rest of the season?

What happened in the Bahrain Grand Prix has only delayed what nobody doubts will be the first of many victories for Leclerc. While he didn't get the winner's trophy, this might go down in history as a very significant race in the rise of a driver who should be a major force in F1 for the next decade or more.