F1 is finally back with the first race weekend of 2024. The season-opening Bahrain GP will take place this weekend from February 29th to March 2nd. Like the past three years, the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir will once again host the season opener near Manama, the capital of Bahrain. The Bahrain Grand Prix will once again be of 57 laps. However, on this occasion, the race will take place on a Saturday.
Why is the 2024 Bahrain GP on a Saturday?
Due to the start of Ramadan falling on the evening of March 10th, F1 had to adjust the schedules of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs this season. As the Saudi Arabian GP organizers requested a Saturday race (March 9), F1 and the FIA had to adjust their schedule for Bahrain too.
The FIA regulations mandate that there has to be a seven-day gap between two Grand Prix events. Therefore, F1 had to bring forward both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races by a day and host them on Saturdays.
2024 Bahrain Grand Prix Weekend schedule
The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend will begin on Thursday, February 29th. Qualifying will be held on Friday, March 1st. Meanwhile, the Grand Prix is scheduled for Saturday, March 2nd.
The Free practice sessions will happen on Thursday, with media day also taking place a day earlier on Wednesday. As Bahrain is a night race weekend, FP2, Qualifying and the Main Race will be held in night conditions as per local time. Here is the entire schedule and session timings of the entire weekend for fans to take note of:
February 29 – Thursday
Free Practice 1 (FP1)
14:30 to 15:30 AST (local time)
6:30 to 7:30 EST
Free Practice 2 (FP2)
18:00 to 19:00 AST (local time)
10:00 to 11:00 EST
March 1 – Friday
Free Practice 3 (FP3)
15:30 to 16:30 AST (local time)
7:30 to 8:30 EST
Qualifying
19:00 to 20:00 AST (local time)
11:00 to 12:00 EST
March 2 – Saturday
Main Race
18:00 AST (local time)
10:00 EST
Weather Forecast for the Bahrain GP
As FP1 will happen during the afternoon in Bahrain, the conditions won’t be representative of the true pace for teams during race conditions. There are expectations of strong winds up to 30 mph from the desert that may make things tricky for drivers in the first practice session of the year.
FP2 may have calmer conditions as the sun sets and lights come on the Bahrain International circuit. This session will perhaps give a more accurate representation of where teams stand when it comes to race pace. No rain is expected across both sessions, just like pre-season testing happened in the dry.
FP3 on Saturday afternoon will witness similar wind speeds as that of FP1. As we move toward qualifying, which is taking place an hour later than FP2, things will be cooler with ambient temperatures dropping.
For the main race on Saturday, the strong winds from Thursday and Friday are forecast to be subsided. In the cool night conditions in Sakhir, the race will have perfect conditions.
While rain in the desert of Bahrain is quite rare, there is still a 5% chance of some precipitation happening during the race. Still, one can expect the Bahrain GP to be run completely in dry conditions.
What are the tire compounds available for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix?
As one of the tracks prone to tire degradation the most, Pirelli is bringing the second hardest compounds from its range to Bahrain. According to RacingNews365, the C1, C2, and C3 are the selected tire sets for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix as usual.
Last year, Pirelli introduced the C0 as another hard compound above C1, but did not use it for any races. Bahrain could have been one of the venues for the debut of the C0, but not this time.
Pirelli expects the Bahrain track to be highly abrasive on its tires and expects high-track evolution. So, teams and drivers will have to strategize accordingly to use the hard (C1), the medium (C2), and the soft (C3) across the race in the best combination possible.
With long straights and hard braking zones, there will be a lot of stress on the tires with a medium amount of braking and lateral forces during the race. This can cause the drivers to slide around if the tires start to degrade quicker and lose pace if a stint goes for too long.
Usually, the Bahrain GP is a two-stop race due to the high tire degradation. So, expect teams to use different permutations of the three available tire sets and maybe multiple pit stops if any team is looking to deploy an aggressive strategy. Still, given the pit lane loss time in Bahrain of 25 seconds on average, teams may look to stick to an optimum two-stop strategy.
Bahrain International Circuit track details
Having held its first race in 2004, the Bahrain GP will celebrate its 20th anniversary since F1 first came to the island country. Hermann Tilke built the 5.412 km track in Sakhir, like many others in the 2000s, and fans quite liked it. The Bahrain International Circuit has become a fan favorite on the F1 calendar since then.
While this track has multiple layouts, F1 only uses the Grand Prix circuit layout for its races. Besides these, two other layouts of the Bahrain track have been used for a Grand Prix so far.
The 2010 Bahrain GP was held on the Endurance layout (6.299 km in length) that has an extended set of corners in the middle sector. It was not a popular one and F1 reverted to the Grand Prix layout in 2011. Besides this, F1 also used the outer circuit layout to host the Sakhir GP in 2020. Fans liked this layout but again it was a one-off event.
In 2024, F1 will continue racing on the Grand Prix layout. The track has some great elements to it that drivers like and have fun racing around. The two long straights before the final and the first corner provide hard braking zones and a good racing line to help drivers follow in pursuit.
The Turn 1 to Turn 3 complex is one of the most popular overtaking spots due to the hard braking zone and a good opening corner sequence. Thus, one can expect many overtakes in this section. Even Turn 4 provides a good opportunity for the battle to carry on after Turn 3.
The Turn 10 corner is one of the toughest corners on the calendar and drivers often struggle through there. Last year, Fernando Alonso pulled off a top-drawer move over Lewis Hamilton at this corner. However, it is not a traditional overtaking spot and one can expect lockups at this corner like Turn 1.
Meanwhile, turns 11 and 12 are also fast-flowing corners that help drivers to continue following in pursuit. However, these corners can put pressure on tires and stimulate more degradation.
Bahrain has three DRS zones on its track. The first DRS zone is naturally on the main straight till turn 1. The second DRS zone comes between Turns 3 and 4. Meanwhile, the last DRS zone is between Turns 10 and 11 in the middle sector. So, one can expect many moves in the first two sectors courtesy of these DRS zones.
