Verstappen looks to continue his winning ways

Max Verstappen’s win of the Japanese Grand Prix last time out was a stunning conversion of his pole lap the day before. While overtaking was at a minimum over the field, he was under pressure from McLaren for much of the way, especially in the closing stages as they once again proved to have the fastest car.

This pressure from McLaren will be on again this weekend, though Verstappen has the form around the Sakhir circuit as the reigning winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix for two years running. While the papaya squad has the faster car, it doesn’t have enough of a margin, at least currently, to outright dominate a weekend. This leaves the door open for Verstappen, or others like Mercedes or Ferrari to grasp the win or vital podium places. As we’ve seen so far this year with four different winners over four races (including the Sprint), it could be anyone’s to play for…

New faces in FP1

The familiarity of the Bahrain circuit to the drivers means several teams are opting to sacrifice practice time for their race drivers to fulfil one of their rookie FP1 sessions for the year. Following a regulation change for 2025, the rookie practice requirements have doubled from two sessions per team per season to four, so we’re seeing teams start to address this early in the year whereas before it may have been delayed until the latter stages.

Ayumu Iwasa will replace Max Verstappen for the first hour of running to make an all-Japanese lineup for Red Bull, alongside Yuki Tsunoda. Frederik Vesti will be in the W15 in place of George Russell, Felipe Drugovich will step in for Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz will move aside for Luke Browning.

Ryo Hirokawa is set to make his second consecutive FP1 appearance after stepping into Jack Doohan’s car in Suzuka last weekend. This time however it will be for Haas in Oliver Bearman’s car after he was announced to have left the Alpine reserve/test driver pool in favour of Haas’ earlier this week – aligning with his Toyota loyalties.

Dino Beganovic, current Formula 2 driver and member of the Scuderia Ferrari Academy, will make his Formula 1 session debut behind the wheel of Charles Leclerc’s SF-25. 

Tsunoda and Lawson look to find form in their new seats

Though Yuki Tsunoda’s debut for Red Bull Racing didn’t live up to the podium goal he set for himself earlier in the week, it was still a solid first outing in the RB21. His final result of P12 arguably didn’t represent the job he’d done, after difficulties with overheated tyres on his final run of Q2 cost him the chance at progressing to the final stage of qualifying and in a race that was low on overtaking chances, set the tone for his race finish.

It was “not the result [he] wanted” and he identified qualifying as where it had come undone, but the positive is that the Bahrain circuit is very different to Suzuka, with overtaking much more on the cards. This weekend, given the circuit’s characteristics and familiarity, will therefore offer Tsunoda a chance to claim the result that he missed out on last time and continue to build on his start for Red Bull.

On the other side of this driver switch, Liam Lawson will be relishing in a similar opportunity. A P17 finish in Japan as he rejoined the Racing Bulls team was a result of him taking “some time to adjust and get used” to the new car, in his own words, which he felt was “generally good”. He’s been supported and backed by Racing Bulls’ team principal Laurent Mekies throughout this undoubtedly difficult transition back to the junior team, who said there were “plenty of positives” for Liam to take in spite of the result on paper. 

“With a full race distance now under his belt, we are sure he will be stepping up in Bahrain,” he said.

Expect more racing action

The Japanese Grand Prix was described as “long” by several drivers, including Nico Hulkenberg, as the lack of overtaking meant many were stuck in traffic for much of the race distance. For fans, the race was ‘boring’ as the durability of the tyres, dirty air effect and track characteristics meant the racing action suffered, but the good news is that it’s unlikely to be what we see in Bahrain…

The Sakhir International Circuit has three DRS zones, as opposed to Suzuka’s one, which is a critical tool in this era to allow an overtaking chance. This is especially the case where the zones are followed by a slower corner, like is seen for turns 1 and 4 in Bahrain which come after the first two DRS zones.

The track is also tough on tyres due to its abrasive surface, which means we’re likely to see at least some variation in strategy even though Pirelli are bringing their hardest possible compound range once again. The one-stop is predicted, but with a 63% safety car probability over the last eight races in Bahrain there’s a chance teams could take advantage of a cheaper pitstop beyond the mandatory one.

Wind is also a critical factor playing either for or against the teams this weekend, and sensitivity to the wind direction and strength has been a talking point for a few teams already this year. Over pre-season testing at the Bahrain circuit, McLaren appeared to have difficulty with rear instability when the weather was gustier. 

For others like Williams, who have struggled with susceptibility to wind changes for a few years, pre-season testing revealed some positive changes. Alex Albon said the FW47 was “holding on pretty well” in the gusts after changes over the winter, which could stand them in good stead given that this improved behaviour was paired with impressive pace over the three day test.

Looking for a comeback…

For drivers like Jack Doohan or Carlos Sainz, they’ll be hoping that this weekend represents a comeback of sorts.

Doohan has had a trickier start to the season after DNFing from his home race in Australia, and qualifying towards the back of the grid in China and Japan which he couldn’t convert to more than a P13 highest finish so far. His track time in Suzuka was limited by Hirokawa’s FP1 session and further again by a heavy crash in FP2 that saw him slam into the barriers at turn 1 with an impact of around 50G.

On media day in Bahrain, Doohan admitted that he was physically sore on Saturday following the shunt but after a few days off is feeling ready to go again.

“The biggest thing this weekend is to just put the weekend together, have a smooth one and just edge closer and closer,” he said.

For Carlos Sainz, despite showing promise in his Williams over testing, the results have not been up to the level seen from his new teammate Alex Albon. A technical mishap in Australia cost him the chance to get beyond the first few laps and though he picked up a point in China with a P10 finish, Japan saw him P14 while Albon was P9.

With 1 point on the board to Albon’s 18, Sainz insists he is still helping the team develop and move towards the front of the field, as is their goal: “The level of performance we have been able to add to the car compared to last year, it is a positive trend and that motivates me,” he said on media day.

“I’m contributing, I’m doing it in other ways than points – but hopefully the points will come later in the season!”

On track action gets underway in Bahrain from 2:30pm local time on Friday with Free Practice 1.

Schedule for the Bahrain Grand Prix (Local Time)

Friday April 11th

FP1: 14:30-15:30

FP2: 18:00-19:00

Saturday April 12th

FP3: 15:30-16:30

Qualifying: 19:00

Sunday April 13th

Bahrain Grand Prix: 16:00