The Bahrain Grand Prix was the first race of the 2024 season, and has been since 2021. It has been on the calender since 2004, which was infamous due to its high temperatures. The track is 5.4km long, and comprises 3 DRS zones and 15 corners.

The circuit is heavily affected by hot temperatures and strong wind. The latter is evident in turn 11, which is a long and high speed corner making it crucial for drivers to get the perfect balance. The ideal overtaking opportunities are at Turn 1 and 4 which’s where their respective DRS zones end.

The circuit is quite an outlier in the season due to its rough asphalt punishing the rear tyres. With there being more right hand turns, the left rear tyres are further challenged. With that, tyre management is essential on a circuit like this. During qualifying laps it’s essential not to push them too far. For example, an aggressive Sector 1 can result in a weak Sector 3 due to weakened tyres

At the Bahrain GP, tyre evolution is one of the highest on the calender. During the 2024 qualifying, Max Verstappen (who took pole) had a lap time of 1:30.031 and 1:29.179 in Q1 and Q3 respectively. Therefore, choosing when you’re going to do your outlap and push lap is of critical importance and all comes down to Head of Strategy, Peter Hall. Many strategists argue the hardest qualifying session of the year is Bahrain’s due to its high track evolution and being the season opener (up until 2025 where it’ll be Melbourne).

The likelihood of a safety car is high at 70%. This is because of the difficult conditions present on the track. The 2024 Bahrain GP was the first race since 2017 where the virtual / full safety car wasn’t used. With a standard pit loss time of 24 seconds (coupled with the highly abrasive surface + long track), the Grand Prix has one of the strongest undercut opportunities on the calendar.

During the race, it would be rare for the medium tyres to be utilised. This is because there’s higher degredation than the hard tyres, yet offer the same lap times. With that, the common tyres shall be the soft and hard. During the race the conventional strategy shall be a two stop strategy, with a soft fitted at the start for the first quarter of the race, a set of hards to last half of the race, and then a final pit for the softs at the end. Despite this, many teams may attempt an offset strategy and bank on the probability of there being a safety car (pit loss under SC is 13 seconds).

TRIVIA:

• Fastest lap record: 1:31.447 set by Pedro de la Rosa (Aston Martin F1 Team’s Ambassador)
• Most wins: Lewis Hamilton – 5
• Pit loss of 24 seconds
• Fernando Alonso’s 2024 average speed: 207mph
• Laps: 57

2024’s TYRE STRATEGY: