2025 Bahrain Grand Prix

Championship standings

Norris leads the Drivers’ Championship with 62 points, one ahead of Verstappen and thirteen ahead of Piastri in third. McLaren lead the Constructors’ with 111 points.

Previous race

Verstappen won in Japan from pole, closing to within a single point of Norris in the championship. The pit stop phase at Suzuka produced a notable moment: Verstappen and Norris exited the pit lane side-by-side, with Norris pushed onto the grass before Verstappen maintained the lead — the stewards chose not to investigate. Kimi Antonelli set records as the youngest driver in Formula 1 history to lead a race and to set the fastest lap.

Entrants

Six teams field alternate rookie drivers in the first free practice session as part of the mandatory young driver requirement: Dino Beganovic for Ferrari (Leclerc), Ryō Hirakawa for Haas (Bearman), Frederik Vesti for Mercedes (Russell), Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin (Alonso), Luke Browning for Williams (Sainz) and Ayumu Iwasa for Red Bull Racing (Verstappen). Beganovic makes his Formula One practice debut.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the three hardest compounds — C1, C2 and C3 — designated hard, medium and soft.

Practice

Norris topped FP1, ahead of Gasly and Hamilton. Piastri led FP2 ahead of Norris and Russell. Piastri again set the pace in FP3, with Norris second and Leclerc third. During qualifying, Ocon’s crash in Q2 brought out a brief red flag; Hülkenberg had a Q1 lap time deleted after the session for a track limits breach at turn 11, dropping him to sixteenth and creating a knock-on effect for Albon, who had been due to advance.