That was a promising start for the new aerodynamics and 18-inch wheel era of Formula 1.
I left for the airport more than just relieved that we'd seen close racing, I thoroughly enjoyed the race and all that it promises for the seasons ahead, and the cars look great both stationary and out on track, if a touch ponderous in the slow corners.
It wasn't a total revelation, and as Ross Brawn's engineering mind puts it 'we only have a sample of one so far', but it was clear from the testing and particularly racing in Bahrain that the drivers can follow each other more closely and without experiencing anywhere near as much unpredictable sliding followed by overheating of their tyres.
The cars remain very heavily aero loaded, of considerable girth, and extremely fast, and so they'll never trade paint and places with each other like a hoard of Minis or Formula Fords, but that's fine so long as we can experience the attack and counter-attack we witnessed between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen over three laps on Sunday night.
It was very interesting to observe those two slugging it out. Max would slice up the inside into turn one having used the slipstream, DRS rear wing open, and superior straight-line speed to remarkable effect down the pit straight, along with late braking.
Charles was measuring this constantly in his mirrors, accepting the inevitable, and then intelligently ensuring he was second car past the DRS detection point, meaning he could get the rear wing open on the way up to turn four and regain the lead.
Verstappen's defence was firm but very fair, and with significantly less aggression than he dished out to Hamilton last season. Indeed, it was Leclerc who sliced across his nose into turn four on one occasion. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out as the championship unfolds.
