Lewis Hamilton has joked he will be “grey” by the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season but says he is “super excited” about the prospect of a year-long title battle with Max 🔯Verstappen.

An epic late duel for victory at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix between the Mercedes and Red Bull driver teased the prospect of classic F1 season and closer 🐻🌸title race.

Hamilton resisted immense pressure from Verstappen in the closing stages on tyres that were 11 laps older than his rival to open his account for 2021 by a slender margin of just 0.745s, having overturned a qualifying deficit of almost 0.4s to record his 96th carᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚeer victory.

“I'm super excited and super happy for the fans, that they are excit🦄e♋d,” the 36-year-old Briton said of the prospect of his challenge against Verstappen. “I think it’s something that all the fans have wanted for a long time.

“Of course, this is only one rꦦace, so we don’t know what the future holds. With the pace they have, they could be ahead a lot more, but we’re going to work as hard as we can to try and stay close in this battle and I hope for many more of these sorts of races with Max and Valtteri.

“There’s a long way to go, 22 races. Holy crap! I’ll be grey by💦 the end of this!”

After equalling Michael Schumacher’s tally of seven world championships last year, Hamilton is aiming for a record-breaking eighth world🐭 title in 2021.

Merceꦿdes has a 100% record of success throughout the V6 hybrid era but Hamilton acknowledged that Red Bull’s early-season form could make this year the reigning world champio🐎n squad’s toughest test yet.

“Honestly, I don’t recall how cl🌟ose the other seasons were exactly but this has got tꦺo have started off as one of the toughest, if not the [toughest],” he added.

“I think Red Bull’s pace is incredibly strong, as you could see. We can’t match them in qualifying right now. That’s a big, big step for us but obviously I thought we ꦕcould get closer within the race – but that was a little bit too close for my lik🌠ing.”