The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024) was a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

motor race held on 2 March 2024 at the Bahrain International Circuit in

Sakhir Sakhir ( ) is a desert area located in the Southern Governorate of Bahrain, near Zallaq. It contains the Al-Sakhir Palace, built in 1870. Camping in Sakhir during the winter months is a popular activity in the country. Notable sites In the earl ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. It was the opening round of the

2024 Formula One World Championship The 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship is a planned motor racing championship for Formula One cars set to be the 75th running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), ...

. After taking

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

in qualifying,

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...

of Red Bull Racing led every lap, won the race, and had the fastest lap, his fifth career

grand chelem The following is a glossary of terminology used in motorsport, along with explanations of their meanings. 0–9 ;1–2 finish: When two vehicles from the same team finish first and second in a race. Can be extended to 1–2–3 or 1–2–3– ...

. His teammate

Sergio Pérez Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (; born 26 January 1990), is a Mexican Auto racing, racing driver who races in Formula One for Red Bull Racing, having previously driven for Sauber, McLaren, Force India, and Racing Point. He won his first ...

finished in second, followed by

Carlos Sainz Jr. Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro (; born 1 September 1994), otherwise known as Carlos Sainz Jr. or simply Carlos Sainz, is a Formula One drivers from Spain, Spanish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He is th ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Background

The event was held across 29 February – 2 March. It was the opening round of the

and the twentieth running of the

Bahrain Grand Prix The Bahrain Grand Prix ( ar, جائزة البحرين الكبرى), officially known as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, is a Formula One motor racing event in Bahrain. The first race took place at the Bahrain Internat ...

. It also marked the 20th anniversary of the first Bahrain Grand Prix held in 2004. The Grand Prix began at 18:00 local time (

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...

) on Saturday, 2 March 2024, becoming the first Formula One World Championship Grand Prix season-opener race to start on a Saturday since the

1982 South African Grand Prix The 1982 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 23 January 1982. It was the first race of the 1982 Formula One World Championship. It was the 28th edition of the South African Grand Prix and the 16th time that ...

. The event was held on Saturday to comply with regulations that require a minimum of one week between Grands Prix, as the following Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia was scheduled to take place on 9 March. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was moved a day forward from Sunday to avoid a conflict with start of

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, which was expected to begin on 10 March.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...

brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (the three hardest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 29 February 2024, at 14:30 local time (

), and was topped by

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( "Ricardo", ; born 1 July 1989) is an Italian-Australian racing driver who last raced in Formula One driving for McLaren, under the Australian flag. He made his debut at the 2011 British Grand Prix with the HRT ...

of RB ahead of

Lando Norris Lando Norris (born 13 November 1999) is a Belgian-British racing driver currently competing in Formula One with McLaren, racing under the British flag. He won the MSA Formula championship in 2015, and the Toyota Racing Series, Eurocup Formul ...

and

Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri (born 6 April 2001) is an Australian racing driver who previously served as the reserve driver for Alpine F1 Team, having previously been in the team's driver academy. He won the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup with R-ace GP, and won ...

, both of

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 18:00 local time, and was topped by Lewis Hamilton ahead of George Russell, both of

Mercedes Mercedes may refer to: People * Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name Automobile-related * Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...

, and

Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

. The third free practice session was held on 1 March 2024, at 15:30 local time, and was topped by

ahead of Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and

of Red Bull Racing.

Qualifying

Qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

was held on 1 March 2024, at 19:00 local time (

Qualifying classification

Race

The race was held on 2 March 2024, at 18:00 local time (

), and was run for 57 laps.

Race report

won the race ahead of teammate

and

He led every lap and took fastest lap, for his fifth career

. Charles Leclerc finished fourth despite suffering brake problems throughout the race.

were hampered by engine cooling and

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battery issues as their drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and seventh, respectively.

finished with a sixth place for

and an eighth place for

. It was the first season-opening race in Formula One history without any retirements.

Race classification

Notes * – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...