Bahrain Grand Prix: track and statistics

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a group of 36 islands in the southern Arabian Gulf between the east coast of Saudi Arabia and the Qatar Peninsula. The largest island is Bahrain, its area is 663 square kilometers. The capital – the city of Manama – is the trade center of the country and one of the free trade zones in the Persian Gulf.

On September 14, 2002, the Kingdom of Bahrain signed a contract to host the Grand Prix, and construction soon began on a circuit that could hold races 365 days a year. The project was developed by the Hermann Tilke architectural firm, the construction cost $ 150 million, the official opening took place on March 17, 2004 – two weeks before the debut Grand Prix, which was won by Michael Schumacher.

In 2010, a new track configuration of 6299 meters was used – in the section between the fourth and fifth turns, a section was added that increased the circle length by 887 meters, but in 2012 they reverted to the previous version.

In 2011 the stage was canceled due to protests suppressed by the authorities, in 2012 the fate of the race was decided a week before the Grand Prix, but several major television companies refused to send journalists to Bahrain for security reasons. The situation has stabilized in recent years.

In 2014, the Bahrain race was held under artificial light for the first time, and it has since become a tradition. According to another tradition, due to local characteristics, riders on the podium are not served with champagne, but with non-alcoholic soft drinks.

In 2020, two stages were held simultaneously in Bahrain. First – on the classic version of the track, and a week later – on the outer perimeter, in which the 4th and 13th turns were connected.

track features

The circuit places high demands on acceleration dynamics, efficiency and cooling of the brakes. Cars are tuned for medium downforce. Racers drive 75% of the lap distance with the accelerator fully depressed, going faster than 300 km/h three times per lap.

Lost time at the pit stop – 18.6 seconds, total pit stop time – 22.6 seconds. Tire wear on abrasive asphalt is high. In particular, the organizers stressed that the tarmac remained the same – unlike several previous stages, where cars slid across fresh tarmac, the road surface on the Sakhir circuit remained the same. Last year, most drivers covered the distance with two pit stops. The maximum speed in the pit lane this weekend is 80 km/h.

This year there are again three independent DRS zones on the track simultaneously – pilots can change the position of the rear wing’s controlled element on the straights between Turns 3 and 4, between 10 and 11, and on the straight on take-off .

The load on the cooling system in Bahrain is not as high as in Malaysia, but because of the sand on the track, the teams have installed extra filters, exacerbating the problems.

There are almost no fast corners on the track, you can overtake by braking at the end of the straights. A long start straight and a relatively slow center section force engineers to look for the traditional compromise between downforce and speed.

Weekend schedule

You can follow the progress of all Formula 1 sessions on our live streaming page.

Tire sets given to teams for the weekend

For the second year in a row, tire manufacturers are bringing the toughest compounds to Bahrain – C1, C2 and C3 as Hard, Medium and Soft.

One set of the softest tires must be kept for the qualifying final – then those who drove in the final must return this set to Pirelli.

One set of Medium and Hard tires must be retained for the race – unless declared wet, riders must use at least one of these sets.

Performance of active riders in Bahrain

Sebastian Vettel: “From a driver’s point of view, the difficulty of the circuit in Bahrain is normal. However, it is not always easy to find the right pace during training here, because the track is filled with sand and there are often strong winds.

Sometimes every lap on this circuit is different from the last, which can play a role, especially in qualifying – it’s enough to deviate a few centimeters from the ideal trajectory for the wheels to slide and you irrevocably lose tenths of the job. one second.

Any mistake here in terms of lap time is very costly – for the same reason you have to be very careful when overtaking, waiting for a little mistake from the driver to get ahead of him. The ideal points to attack are the first and 14th corner, after two long straights.