Bahrain's damp start forced a tyre gamble that nearly buried half the grid. Over half the field chose slicks despite the wet track, immediately losing chunks of time to those on intermediates. Lewis Hamilton fell more than a minute behind by lap five — a death sentence in normal circumstances. Then an early Safety Car bunched the field, erasing the intermediate runners' advantage and resurrecting the slick starters' race.
Hamilton's recovery stuck: he clawed back to third by the flag. Max Verstappen clocked the fastest lap at 1:38.220, three-tenths clear of Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli. At the other end, Cadillac's American entry posted brutal numbers — Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas finished 21st and 22nd in lap times, Bottas a staggering 21 seconds off Verstappen's pace. The Cadillac program has serious ground to make up.
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