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Sparkling fruity fizz tasted as sweet as champagne for Fernando Alonso on Sunday after the Spaniard celebrated a triumphant Ferrari debut with his first win since 2008.
Even if a bottle of non-alcoholic vintage is the victor's traditional reward in Bahrain for cultural reasons, the double Formula One champion can expect to be spraying bubbly around on a more regular basis from now on.
The Spaniard made only one appearance on the podium last season, a third place with Renault in Singapore, while Ferrari won just one race.
Together they celebrated their return to the top as championship contenders with a one-two finish that established them as early favourites in what has been billed as the most competitive season in years.
"It's a very special day for me," said Alonso, savouring a third sweet victory in Bahrain, the first driver to complete a hat-trick of wins at the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, one more than his Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa, who came second.
"Coming back to the top of the podium is always special but I think it is even more special with Ferrari, with all the history behind the team and all the expectations a driver has when he drives for Ferrari. There is no better way to start the relationship. I am in the best team in the world," added Alonso, whose Ferrari predecessor Kimi Raikkonen also won his first race for the Italian team in 2007.
With Renault and McLaren, Alonso won 21 races but the 22nd was different - even if it was gifted to him by Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull suffering an engine problem after leading for more than two thirds of the race. Alonso also reaped the reward for overtaking Massa, who had started alongside Vettel on the front row, into the first corner.
Although Ferrari had changed the engines on both their cars before the race as a precaution, given the desert heat and long lap, Alonso said that even then he had been concerned about reliability.
"The last lap was very long ... you want to avoid all the kerbs, all the strange noises, everything, so it was a very long lap but nothing," he said.
Despite the victory, and the celebratory jig as he stepped out of the car, Alonso was under no illusions about the year ahead of him.
"We have been a little bit better than the others in the first race, he said. "But I think the key to being world champion will be the development during the season. We have a very good base but we need to keep working. This is only the start."
It was Ferrari's first one-two in an opening race since 2004 in Australia where Alonso was third for Renault behind Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.
The Spaniard's relentless precision and his sheer ambition on his debut have re-motivated the team and ignited Italian passions again following a memorable show that has wiped away all the bad memories of 2009.
Last season it took Ferrari until the 12th of the 17 races to record a victory and they endured their worst start to a season in F1 history.
No wonder Alonso dedicated his win to the team - its first one-two since the 2008 French Grand Prix and a landmark triumph delivered in front of Schumacher who upset many Italians by coming out of retirement to race for German rivals Mercedes. The seven-time world champion finished sixth. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton came third.
