We arrive at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain for the fourteenth edition of this Grand Prix, which began in 2004. The first world championship race to be held in the Middle East, it became Formula 1’s second night race ten years after its debut.
The inaugural Grand Prix was won by eventual seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher from his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button in his BAR. In 2005, the new forthcoming champion Fernando Alonso took the spoils. Schumacher had run off the track in his chase of the Renault driver and soon retired with a hydraulic problem, bringing his run of 58 races without a mechanical retirement to an end. Race day also brought the hottest conditions yet seen at a Grand Prix, with 41.9 degree and 56 degree air and track temperatures. Alonso again had the measure of Schumacher the following year, where Bahrain held the season opener, overturning Schumacher’s lead during the pit stops.
Felipe Massa won in his Ferrari in 2007, with Lewis Hamilton 2nd in the McLaren and Kimi Räikkönen 3rd for the third successive season, this time in a Ferrari. Alonso, Räikkönen and Hamilton all left the race equal on points after three Grands Prix. Massa won again in 2008 from Räikkönen, with Robert Kubica completing the podium for BMW-Sauber. Hamilton drove into the back of Alonso and ended up a lap down.
In 2009 Jenson Button won for Brawn, while Alonso led home a Ferrari 1-2 the following year, where for one occasion only as it turned out, the Grand Prix used a longer 6.299 km layout. This was the season opener for the second time. In 2011, a month before the Grand Prix was due to be held, it was cancelled following the Bahraini protests.
The race returned the following season and saw the first of two successive Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull victories before Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes repeaed that feat in 2014 and 2015. The first of those two years saw a particularly thrilling duel between team-mates Hamilton and Rosberg, with some hard and close racing.
In 2016 Rosberg won after a first corner collision between Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo. Last year, Vettel won in the Ferrari from the Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Bottas.
This year, Ferrari enter the second round as championship leaders, but are under no illusions about the challenge from Mercedes who appear to have a quicker car in most conditions. Still, they will take heart from the fact that if they get certain things right, they do have the beating of the Brackley team. Last year, Ferrari managed the super-soft tyres better than the Mercedes, and you might think the hotter conditions will suit their car based on previous form.
Kimi Räikkönen has taken eight podiums in Bahrain but never won. He has also not won since his return to Ferrari but was quicker than Vettel in Australia, so might fancy his chances this weekend. The ever unflappable Finn will wait to see what will happen rather than predicting such an outcome, however.
Pirelli are bringing medium, soft and super-soft tyres to this race, as they did last year and Pirelli expect to have one more than one pit stop for most drivers, so hopefully the race will be strategically more interesting than Melbourne. It is also a track where overtaking is readily possible, so overall we ought to see something more engrossing on a number of levels than the Australian Grand Prix.
Circuit length: 5.412km
Number of laps: 57
Race distance: 308.238km
Dry weather tyre compounds: Medium, Soft and Supersoft
Lap Record: 1:31.447 (2005 – Pedro de la Rosa – McLaren-Mercedes)
First Grand Prix: 2004
Constructors' Championship standings:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2018/team.html
Drivers' Championship standings:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results....8/drivers.html
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