Lewis Hamilton hopes winning the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix h🌼elps 'prove people wrong' after coming under 🌳criticism for only winning in the fastest Formula 1 car.

Hamilton claimed a remarkable win at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday, fending🧔 off a fast-charging Max Ve🍎rstappen in the closing laps.

One criticism put towards Hamilton and his🥀 success in the sport is that he ‘can only win in a dominant Mercedes F1 car’. 

Given Red Bull’s superior pace advantage in Bahrain, Hamilton showed yet aga💙in that he doesn’t need the outright fastest car to claim victories in F1 - as shown in Turkey last year.

Speaking after his 96th career victory, Hamilton said: “I think today was definitely a blessing in disguise perhaps. I think there’s always opportunities to prove people wrong and I🍃 like to think today is definitely one of them. 

“But I think there have been several in the past also, I’ve been here a long t🧸ime, and I hope there are many opportunities in the future to be able🅘 to show what I was able to do today also. 

“Of course we were fortunate with Max going wi♔de in Turn 4 but that won't happen again I’m pretty sure so we’ve got to do better, be smarter, with how we navigate through the weekends with the fact that we don’t have﷽ the fastest at the moment, but that’s all god for me. I don’t mind having to pull that extra in order to make the difference.”

F1 boss Ross♚ Brawn heaped praise on 🍃Hamilton in his post-race column, saying his drive in Bahrain was “among the very best of his career.”

“This was a race that🔯 featured a host of sensational drives, but Hamilton most deserves this accolade after a scintillating drive that was among the very best of his career.

“He simp🧸ly drove brilliantly, pacing his tyres really well and posing a quiet threat throughout the race, despite not having the fastest car in ཧthe field.

“There 🌸were one or two little moments where he faltered under pressure from Verstappen, but each time he held on remarkably and held fꦕirm in mighty impressive fashion.”