Formula 1 News: 2025 Bahrain GP Preview

From Japan and the historic Suzuka track surrounded by cherry blossom, Formula 1 is now setting up shop in the semi-desert archipelago of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

A significant difference, especially in terms of temperature, given that it will go from a maximum of under 20°C and the rainy conditions of last Sunday morning to predicted highs of around 30 °C for this coming weekend.

Bahrain was Formula 1’s first venture to the Gulf region in 2004 and the venue is now entering its third decade on the schedule.

Bahrain has opened Formula 1’s season for the last four years but for 2025 switches to the fourth round due to the timing of Ramadan. Nonetheless, the field already has experience of BIC in 2025 after it held the sole three-day pre-season test in late February.

The 5.4km circuit acts as a stern test of a car’s ability, with BIC featuring long straights, heavy braking areas, and several traction zones that punish rear tires.

Crosswinds can also be a factor at the circuit, adding to the challenge of unlocking the ideal car balance, while track conditions can vary owing to qualifying and the race taking place at dusk, often in cooling temperatures.

Overtaking – These new cars appear to be able to follow more closely through corners but benefit less from the slipstream along the straights. Bahrain’s three DRS zones should therefore prove beneficial. In 2021, there were 55 overtakes following the first lap. A key focus for engineers early in the season will be analyzing the difference in overtaking compared to previous campaigns.

Track Conditions – It’s tough from a tire management perspective as the temperatures are high and track is very rough; teams also have the added challenge of understanding how the 18-inch Pirellis cope with those conditions. The track is tricky because, as we saw in testing, it’s very windy, sandy and hot which are tough conditions to contend with.

Unlocking The Lap

Two key corners can make or break a lap around Sakhir’s 5.412km Bahrain International Circuit.

The first corner in Bahrain is crucial: blasting down a 1.2km straight, the 120m braking zone is particularly long, with drivers needing to shed roughly 241km/h (150mph). Getting the approach right is essential as it has a knock-on to Turns Two and Three and, often, can set up a pass into Turn Four. This is arguably the busiest part of the lap.

Turns 9-10 may look straightforward, but this combo is one of the most challenging corners on the whole calendar. Turn Nine is a flat-out kink, which reduces the load on the left-front tire, but Turn 10 arrives quickly and requires plenty of mechanical grip. With the heavier, ‘lazier’ cars, expect to see lots of understeering moments at the exit.

What you need in Bahrain is great braking stability because there are many braking zones where you’re close to hitting 5G.

You also need great traction. The first sector is all about traction, and Turn 10 is as well. The rear end is key in Bahrain, and therefore you need to keep the rear tires alive. The front tires don’t suffer, as it’s mostly longitudinal braking and acceleration, so you need a lot of rear stability and rear traction.

To protect the rear tires in the race, you have to be very careful when applying the throttle accelerating out of the slow speed corners. Any amount of unwanted wheelspin just adds stress and temperature to the rear tires and you’ll suffer the consequences if you keep doing that. It is very important to be very cautious when accelerating out of the corners and you need to make sure that you’re always driving a bit under the limit of the slip of the rear tires.

The high-speed corners in Bahrain also add stress to the tires because of the abrasive surface. You have to watch for thermal degradation and overheating – drivers can really make a difference by managing the rear tires efficiently.

The wind is also a factor. I’ve never driven in Bahrain with perfect conditions because it’s always windy. You need to know the intensity of the wind and the direction of it because it can affect things like braking points. It adds another to challenge to driving a lap of the circuit, but Lance and Fernando are both experienced drivers and will be well prepared for what awaits this weekend.”

Overtaking: Bahrain is traditionally one of the easier circuits to overtake on, with an average of 60 passes per race over the past five years. The trio of DRS zones are key: historically, 65% of all overtakes have used DRS. Turn One is the most popular overtaking location, with moves into T1 also setting up a counterattack into Turn Four.

Strategy: Like last year, Pirelli is bringing the C1, C2 and C3 compounds to Bahrain. Unlike last year, the C1 is no longer the hardest tire available this season, instead being a new, softer compound between C0 and C2. Despite a long pit delta, this has traditionally been a two- or three-stop race due to high tire wear.

Safety Cars: Four of the last five races have featured a Safety Car (SC), while the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) also has a strong likelihood of making an appearance, meaning teams need to factor it into strategy. With the long pit delta, a pitstop during a SC or VSC period can be very beneficial in the race.

Vesti to replace Russell, Drugovich to replace Alonso and Browning to replace Sainz in Practice 1

“I am really looking forward to getting my first taste of the W16 in FP1 in Bahrain. Being able to put all of my simulator work into practice on the track is a really exciting prospect for me. I am grateful to Mercedes for once again giving me this opportunity,” said Vesti

“At the start of the year, I set myself the goal of maximizing every chance I get behind the wheel of an F1 car in 2025, and that is what I hope to achieve in Bahrain. I will be doing everything I can to help the team, George and Kimi get set for the rest of the weekend.”

Felipe Drugovich, Test and Reserve Driver for the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, will step into the cockpit of Fernando Alonso’s AMR25 for the opening practice session at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Brazilian driver will take to the track for the 60-minute session, collecting crucial data and insights to support the team’s race weekend preparations and providing Felipe with valuable track time. The session will contribute to Felipe’s total mileage in Formula One machinery, which currently exceeds 9,100 km.

Felipe is well-acquainted with the 5.412 km circuit, having previously stood in for an injured Lance Stroll during 2023 pre-season testing at the same venue.

Atlassian Williams Racing announced that Williams Racing Academy Driver Luke Browning will take part in the first Free Practice Session at the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix, fulfilling one of four mandated rookie driver sessions this year.

Luke is currently racing in his first full season in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Hitech GP, where he has had a strong start to the year, stepping on the podium in the Sprint Race in Australia and leaving the opening round third in the standings.

Fact File: Bahrain Grand Prix

• Located in the middle of the desert, on what was formerly a camel farm, the Bahrain International Circuit features 1,120 palm trees.
• Being situated in a desert, you may expect sand to be an issue. However, the surrounding desert is sprayed with a sticky adhesive substance to minimize the amount of sand blowing on to the track.
• From the first breaking of the ground to build the Bahrain International Circuit to completion took just 496 days.
• The total run-off area is 140,000 sq. meters.
• The Bahrain International Circuit has five FIA certified track layouts.
• Focus for car set-up is on optimizing low and medium-speed corner performance. Mechanical grip is crucial out of the slower corners, whilst the high-speed sections are easily taken flat-out.
• This will be F1’s second visit to Bahrain in 2025, after the official three-day pre-season test in February.
• The track surface is made from a special aggregate that was shipped from a quarry in England.
• A few adjustments to the circuit have been made for 2025: the gravel bed at the exit of turn four has been extended, U-drains close to the racing line have been closed off and moved away into the run-off areas, and bumps at the start/finish straight and turn nine have been repaired.
• Four different layouts have been used to host the F1 Grands Prix over the years.

Defending Race Winner Max Verstappen

World Driving Champion Max Verstappen took the lead from pole at the start, led every lap, and won the 2024 Bahrain GP going away for his 55th F1 win.

Aiming to win his 4th straight F1 title in a row last year, Verstappen toyed with both Ferraris, the Mercedes of George Russell and his Red Bull Honda teammate Sergio Perez who finished over 22 seconds adrift despite Verstappen being in cruise mode.

Despite being in cruise mode, Verstappen took the one point for fastest race lap.

“Unbelievable, I think today went even better than expected,” said Verstappen.

“The car was really nice on every compound, it was really lovely to drive. It was a lot of fun, I felt really good in the car. It’s special to have these kind of days, where it all feels perfect and you feel at one with the car.

“It’s a long season, a couple of days rest and then yeah, we go again in Saudi Arabia!”

Verstappen’s Bahrain GP weekend:

• Pole Position
• Fastest Lap
• Led Every Lap
• Race Win
• Grand Slam 

“To win in Japan was an amazing moment for the Team and a perfect send off for Honda, who we have had such a great relationship and a lot of success with over the years,” said Verstappen ahead of the Bahrain weekend.

“It is amazing to have four wins in a row there and was a great start to the triple header. It was a good boost for the Team, and now we can hopefully go into this week with a bit more confidence.

“Bahrain is typically somewhere where we have gone well; the track is very technical and of course it is under night race conditions which is a bit different. It is going to be hot and think it will be tough race for us.

“There are still things to improve on the car: we are still working on our tire management and lacking some pace so we will just need to work hard and constantly push the car to the limit. However, I do always enjoy going there so looking forward to seeing what this week brings and hopefully we can maximize the performance of the car as best we can.”

Weather Forecast

FRIDAY, APRIL 11 – FP1 AND FP2
Conditions: Still very hot, but northerly wind peaking up to 20-30kph. Some uncertainties regarding the temperature level.
Maximum temperature expected: 34 Celsius/93 Fahrenheit
Minimum temperature expected: 28 Celsius/82 Fahrenheit
Chance of rain: 0%

SATURDAY, APRIL 12 – FP3 AND QUALIFYING
Conditions: Sunny. A light Northerly wind slightly increasing for FP3. FP3:
Maximum temperature expected: 34 Celsius/93 Fahrenheit
Minimum temperature expected: 25 Celsius/77 Fahrenheit
Chance of rain: 0%

SUNDAY, APRIL 13 – RACE
Conditions: Same weather than Saturday with hot air temperature. Northerly wind during the day decreasing for the race.
Maximum temperature expected: 32 Celsius/90 Fahrenheit
Minimum temperature expected: 25 Celsius/77 Fahrenheit
Chance of rain: 0%

Pirelli Tires

In fact, temperature will be a very important variable when it comes to tire management at the fourth race of the year. As was the case in Suzuka, the teams will have a choice of the three hardest compounds in Pirelli’s 2025 range, namely the C1 as Hard, the C2 as Medium and the C3 as Soft. However, the Sakhir track characteristics and indeed the temperatures, will require a different approach to that adopted last week in Japan.

In fact, all the teams will have a good baseline from which to start work, given that in the last week of February, the Sakhir circuit hosted the only pre-season test as per the 2025 sporting regulations. It means that everyone will have plenty of data to work with when it comes to setting up the cars and choosing the best strategies for qualifying and the race.

Over 24 hours of track time, the 20 drivers racked up 3,897 laps, equivalent to 21,090.564 kilometers and the tires to be used this weekend did the most work back then: the C3 did the lion’s share, completing 67.17% of the laps, followed by the C2 (20.88%) and the C1 (9.26%). There were a measly 104 laps run on the C4 and three on the Intermediate. However, this weekend’s temperatures will present a new challenge, because during the test week, Sakhir saw unusual weather with strong winds leading to much cooler air and track temperatures than is normal at that time of year.

The minimum start pressures for this weekend have changed based on analysis of the test data, to 23 psi on the front and 21 at the rear. That represents an increase of +1 on the front axle and +2 on the rear compared to the 2024 race and of 0.5 psi on both axles compared to February’s test.

If there’s one Grand Prix where a two-stop strategy would seem to be a given, then it’s Bahrain and that was the case last year, when it was the opening round of the season. All drivers made at least two stops, while some, like Hulkenberg (Haas) through force of circumstance, others by choice, Gasly (Alpine) and Sargeant (Williams) even stopped three times. Soft and Hard were the preferred compounds, with the vast majority opting to start on the C3 before making the most of the two sets of C1 they had saved specifically for the race. The exceptions were the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Perez, who did the final stint on a set of C3s, down to the Milton Keynes team’s technical superiority at the time, underlined by the fact they finished first and second. Their Racing Bulls sister team tried the same thing with Ricciardo, but he finished outside the top ten.

Based on what we have seen in winter testing and over the opening three rounds, it could be a different scenario because of modifications made to the compounds for 2025. While the C1 is pretty similar to its predecessor, the C2 and C3 are softer and most significantly, the three compounds have a better spread in terms of their performance delta. This could therefore bring the C2 back into play as a race tire, thus creating more strategy choices for Sunday, with even a one-stop becoming a realistic possibility. Much will depend on how hotter it will be compared to the test, so the three hours of free practice will be very important, especially FP2, which takes place at a similar time of day to the early part of the race.

There are two types of degradation, one that affects the tire surface and the other that impacts the chemical bonding of the materials that make up the tread.

The first, which we simply call overheating, is generated when the tire surface slides excessively on the track. In this case, the surface temperature increases and the tire loses grip. The phenomenon can be reversed by a change of driving style or if the weather conditions change.

As for thermal degradation, that occurs when the amount of energy exerted on the tire is high enough to generate heat capable of altering the chemical bonds of the tread and in this case, the loss of grip is irreversible.

These two phenomena are not entirely independent of one another.

Both types of degradation lead to a loss of tire performance and if a driver sees his is greater than that experienced by other drivers close by, then it might be time to change tires for a new or part-worn set. The original set has come to the end of its performance life in terms of how many laps it can run before it should be changed as the tires can no longer deliver a competitive level of performance. Wear life is the maximum number of laps that a tire can cover before the tread surface has completely worn away.

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