Confidence in Verstappen: 'Brilliant drive'

Max Verstappen saw the opening race in Bahrain end as a nightmare. The Dutchman was unable to finish it due to problems with his car, leaving him empty-handed on Sunday night. However, confidence in Verstappen remains high.

Prior to the Grand Prix weekend, it was clear that Verstappen faced competition primarily from Ferrari. Whereas Charles Leclerc proved the strengths of the Italian racing team by obtaining pole position, the Dutchman also failed to overtake Leclerc.

Verstappen seemed to be satisfied with a second place, until his car lost power and the reigning world champion had no choice but to bring his car in. Despite that, Verstappen himself showed in Bahrain that he wants to fight for the world championship again this season, so the outage should be seen in perspective.

"It shouldn't overshadow reigning champion Verstappen's brilliant drive, which would likely have resulted in P2," Formula1.com states. "He kept Leclerc under pressure throughout, only bowing out when his RB18 sprung an engine issue. There's more to come from the flying Dutchman, that's for sure."

The website therefore put Verstappen in third place, ahead of winner Leclerc and number two Kevin Magnussen in their driver rankings.