Lewis Hamilton praises the return of Ferrari after their dominant performance in opening race of F1 season

• Ferrari removed any doubt about their newfound speed in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
• Ferrari finished 1-2 with Charles Leclerc taking the win and Carlos Sainz passing Max Verstappen late.
• Lewis Hamilton finished third and immediately praised the return of Ferrari to the top.

Ferrari answered the biggest question of the 2022 Formula One season with a dominant performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and even rival Lewis Hamilton was happy to see it.

Many wondered if Ferrari had the speed this year after an impressive showing during practice leading up to the first race of the season. The answer was an emphatic "yes!" as Charles Leclerc won the race from pole and teammate Carlos Sainz finished second after overtaking Max Verstappen late, who suffered a mechanical issue and had to abandon the race.

Hamilton, who was expected to struggle early in the season, passed Sergio Perez — who also had a mechanical issue — on the final lap to earn an impressive third-place showing and a spot on the podium for the 184th time in his career.

After the race, Hamilton took time to make it clear how happy he was to see Ferrari back at the top.

"Firstly, a big, big congratulations to Ferrari," Hamilton said. "I'm so happy to see them doing well again. They are such a historic, epic team, so it is great to see them, it's great to see Carlos and Charles up there as well. Congratulations to them."

This was Ferrari's first win since 2019.

You can see Hamilton's comments here: