Bahrain Grand Prix Preview

After 90+ days of heightened anticipation, the lights will go green for the long-awaited 2024 Formula 1 World Championship season tonight at the Bahrain International Circuit. 

Following Bahrain Testing last week, tonight will be the teams’ first official practice session on track in 2024, with the true covers coming off on the grids’ challengers in FP1 and FP2. 

Then comes Friday’s action, in which a thrilling Qualifying session of unknowns will take place to determine the very first grid of the season.

As always, the drastic difference in representative pace between day and night in Bahrain is something teams pay close attention to, with the cars and timing sheets lighting up as the sun goes down. 

The Bahrain GP is lit up at night by almost 500 floodlights. Image: Steve Etherington/LAT Photographic.

Unlike the usual schedule F1 fans are accustomed to, both Round 1 and Round 2 will run in a different format.

The Bahrain Grand Prix and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will each be held on a Saturday (local time) as opposed to the synonymous ‘Grand Prix Sunday’ due to the holy period of Ramadan in the respective nations. 

For Australian F1 fans, this means ‘lights out’ in Bahrain will take place at 2:00 AM, Sunday (AEST), making for a much easier start to the work-week on Monday. 

The race itself, in its 20th year of running, will be made up of 57 laps around the 5.412km circuit.

The drivers will have key overtaking opportunities in the DRS zones located from Turn 3 to 4 and down the start/finish straight, with the third DRS zone from Turn 10 catapulting the drivers into the fast-paced and often wind-affected Turn 11.

Pirelli has gifted the grid the choice of the C1, C2 and C3 tyre this weekend to carry them through all 15 corners. 

F1 Testing ran from February 21-23 last week, also at the Bahrain International Circuit. Image: Simon Galloway / LAT Images)

As for the on-track action, Bahrain will be the first true display of skill, speed and competition as teams left much unsaid after the three days of testing. 

Based on the limited testing revelations, Red Bull seemingly looks like the team to beat this weekend and indeed this season, despite their not-so-internal investigation causing quite the stir over the last few weeks. 

The reigning constructors champions’ garage was all smiles as Max Verstappen’s re-imagined, zero-sidepod sporting RB20 topped the timing sheets on many occasions last week, a step ahead of the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes. 

Speaking of Ferrari, the Italian squad will start its final season with the pairing of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at a track that has earned them a record seven victories in the past, with the most recent being a 1-2 finish in 2022.

Verstappen is no stranger to victory at the Bahrain International Circuit either, winning last year’s season opener by a solid 12 seconds to his teammate and Fernando Alonso after starting from pole, an achievement the three-time world champion will hope to recreate come the chequered flag. 

Max Verstappen shared last year’s Bahrain GP podium with Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso. Image: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images.

Despite this, Lewis Hamilton takes the cake as the most successful driver under the floodlights in Bahrain, with five victories to his name as well as a shared record for most pole positions with Sebastian Vettel at three front-row starts.

On a mission to lead yet another record-breaking season, Verstappen looks set to start on a strong note in FP1 tonight, which kicks off at 10:30 PM, AEST. 

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