2016 Bahrain Grand Prix

Previous race

In Australia, Nico Rosberg won from Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. The race was red-flagged on lap 17 after Fernando Alonso barrel-rolled at turn three following contact with Esteban Gutiérrez, experiencing a peak force of 46G before coming to rest upside-down against the barrier. Alonso walked away. Romain Grosjean finished sixth to score points for Haas on their debut — the first brand-new constructor to do so since Toyota in 2002. Rosberg’s win was also Mercedes’s fifth consecutive 1–2 finish.

Between-race developments

Fernando Alonso has been ruled out of Bahrain after medical examinations following the Australian crash revealed broken ribs and a pneumothorax. McLaren reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne replaces him for this race.

Qualifying

The elimination-style qualifying format, universally criticised after Australia, is retained for Bahrain following a meeting of the Strategy Working Group. The teams had voted to revert to the 2006–2015 format; the Working Group overruled them and chose to keep the elimination system, with a further review ahead of China. A subsequent proposal — in which each driver would set two timed laps and the aggregate time would decide grid positions — has been rejected unanimously by the teams. The format will be abandoned after this race.

Entrants

Alfonso Celis Jr. makes his first Formula One session appearance, driving for Force India in first free practice. Gutiérrez’s car was given a new chassis after his original was found to be too damaged to repair — the damage coming from the recovery crane in Australia rather than the crash itself.

Tyres

Pirelli brings the same three compounds as Australia: super-soft, soft and medium. Mercedes has opted for only one set of the harder medium compound for both drivers; Ferrari has taken three sets of mediums at the expense of softs.

Practice

FP1 was held in unusually cool conditions, described as representative of expected Sunday race conditions. Rosberg was fastest at 1:32.292, more than half a second clear of Hamilton; Räikkönen was third but almost two seconds off the pace. Vandoorne and Celis were slowest than their respective teammates. Sixteen drivers completed twenty laps or more as teams gathered race-simulation data.

Rosberg was quickest again in FP2 (1:31.001), over a second and a half faster than the previous year’s pole position time. Button set the third-fastest time for McLaren — surprisingly good pace described by Button as the team’s best “for a couple of years.” Grosjean had his front wing dislodge after running over kerbs. Kevin Magnussen failed to stop for the mandatory weighing check and returned to the garage while work was carried out on his car; he will be required to start the race from the pit lane.

Ferrari led FP3, with Vettel fastest (1:31.683) ahead of Räikkönen, then the two Mercedes. On the soft compound, Rosberg and Hamilton set identical times before Rosberg edged out his teammate on the super-softs. Jolyon Palmer punctured a tyre at the end of the session.