Leclerc wins F1 Bahrain GP as Red Bulls retire, Zhou 10th on debut

"A 1-2 today with Carlos, we couldn't hope for better. It's incredible to be back at the top."

Sainz's second place equalled his best-ever finish, and underlined that Ferrari appears to be genuine title contenders for the first time since 2018.

"Ferrari is back and it's properly back," said Sainz. "We had 1-2 and it's where the team should be."

"The hard work is paying off and we are there."

For his part, Hamilton appeared content with third place on a weekend where Mercedes were clearly inferior to Ferrari and Red Bull.

"So happy to see [Ferrari] doing well again," Hamilton said. "They're such a historic, epic team so it's great to see Charles and Carlos up there."

"This is really the best result we could have got. Of course it was unfortunate for [Verstappen and Perez] but we did the best we could and we're grateful for these points."