Oscar Piastri’s debut in Formula 1 has ended after 15 laps while Max Verstappen made the perfect start to his title defence, with a victory for Red Bull Racing in Bahrain.

Sergio Perez completed the quinella for the team, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso came home in third.

Piastri was having a commendable race in Bahrain — having made three positions — before suffering what appeared to be an electrical issue with his car.

The Australian was called into the pits on lap 15, with his team telling him over the radio that they would be changing his steering wheel.

He had to turn off his car for the steering wheel change, but Piastri’s McLaren would not restart, leading to his retirement.

McLaren team principal Zak Brown told Sky Sports that the Australian appeared to have been failed by electrical faults.

“Looks like he has some kind of electrical issue and a gearbox related issue on track,” Brown said.

It was a sorry day for McLaren with Lando Norris also suffering several issues with his car. The Briton pitted six times during the race, mainly for engine issues, anchoring him to the rear of the field.

Red Bull off to flying start

While it was a rough start for McLaren is was not the case for two-time defending champion Verstappen, as he sounded a warning shot to his championship rivals with a blistering victory in Bahrain.

The Dutch driver was flawless in the season-opener and never looked threatened in a clinical display.

It was a brilliant start to the year for Red Bull, with Verstappen’s teammate Perez coming home in second.

Red Bull executed a different strategy to their main rivals, electing to use two sets of the soft tyres and a set of hard tyres.

Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin all opted for a more conservative approach by using two sets of the hard tyres, seemingly worried about tyre degradation.

Verstappen described his race as “lovely” over team radio at the end of the race. 

“Very lovely that, very happy with that. Exactly the start to the season we wanted and needed,” he said.