Honda: 'Great to see Verstappen and Albon on the podium'

"First of all, we are really relieved that Romain Grosjean got out from that terrible accident with only minor injuries," says Tanabe afterwards. "We have not seen a crash like that for many years, but it proved how safe are the current Formula 1 cars and that is down to the hard work of the FIA in the area of safety over so many years."

After a red flag of almost an hour and a half it was possible to start again on the Bahrain International Circuit. "It was a solid performance from Red Bull and it was great to see both drivers on the podium. It was a positive start to this final triple-header with the added bonus of Max taking the race fastest lap", said the Japanese.

AlphaTauri also had a positive afternoon. Pierre Gasly finished sixth, Daniil Kvyat finished just outside the points after a time penalty of ten points. "Pierre was the only driver to go for a one-stop strategy and he drove an intelligent and patient tyre management race to make it work and finish sixth. Daniil finished just outside the points, his race compromised by a penalty."