F1 Bahrain GP live commentary and updates - race day

Lap 17

Antonelli's trying to put a move on Verstappen, but gets short shrift at Turn 4. 

Leclerc pits, despite his protestations - he wanted to take a one-stopper but takes another set of mediums. Leclerc drops to fifth, Hamilton comes out behind Tsunoda.

Lap 16

Leclerc is told that he's on course for "Plan Bravo" - he contends that he'd like "Delta". Which one of those is a one-stopper? He's about 10s up on Hamilton, who in turn is 5s ahead of Piastri.

Lap 15

The two Ferraris are yet to stop, as is Albon. Russell gets past the Williams driver, and now he's going to chase Piastri to get in contention for the win. 

Lap 14

Piastri's turn to pit. Swift service from McLaren, trading his softs for mediums. Sainz and Bearman now also stop. 

Lap 13

Russell pits for the medium, and comes out of the pits just about clear of Norris - who had to brush Lawson aside. Norris has at least got into the same ballpark despite the five-second penalty he'd served earlier.

Lap 12

Antonelli pits, swapping softs for mediums. He comes out behind Verstappen, who's currently trying to clear Ocon.

Lap 11

Tsunoda pits, and takes the mediums. He's been undercut by Hadjar and Doohan, as the two pitted quite early into the race - Verstappen came out of the pits behind Ocon, so there's some undercut power here.

Lap 10

Antonelli puts a move on Gasly to claim fifth place, which leaves the Frenchman in Verstappen's clutches. 

Norris comes in to pit, serves his penalty, and picks up the mediums. Verstappen and Gasly also pit; mediums for the Alpine, hards for the Red Bull, which was slightly slow out as the red light was still on.

Lap 9

Hamilton forces Sainz into a defence at Turn 4, but Sainz just about holds on and keeps the place down the hill. But Hamilton eases past at Turn 11 with his mediums now proving to be in good nick. Tsunoda also swipes his way past Sainz to move up to ninth.

Lap 8

Norris is told he'll recover any positional losses from his penalty, but he needs to find a way past Russell. Ocon pits to cover off Hadjar. 

Lap 6

Verstappen's move seemed to be in bounds - just about. Norris is currently under investigation for his false start.

Hadjar pits from P16, and picks up the medium tyre.

Lap 5

Antonelli puts a move on Carlos Sainz and moves up to sixth - which allows Verstappen to get in the mix and forces his way past at Turn 4, but is he out of bounds? We'll need a replay to know for sure.

Lap 4

There's a hint of saving in these early laps, although Norris is keeping a 0.8s vigil to Russell and Gasly remains in Leclerc's DRS range.

Lap 3

Norris has been noted by the stewards for a potential false start. He's currently trying to stay in DRS range of Russell - and just about clings on for the end of the third lap.

Lap 2

Verstappen is now putting Antonelli under some pressure, and will get DRS assistance. Bearman rockets up the order from last to 15th. 

Sainz has had a good start, and has fired his way up to sixth place - and he's chasing after Gasly. Antonelli's dropped to seventh, as Verstappen also loses a place and drops to eighth.

Tyre information

All begin on softs, except: Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Lawson, and Bortoleto, who start on mediums. We've got a nice mix of potential strategies; most are expecting this to be a two-stopper, but somebody brave might be able to take it to just one...

We've got an air temperature of 27C, and a track temperature of 33C - expect those to continue to fall throughout the night. 

10 minutes to go! You could cut the tension with a knife - the wind's picking up in Bahrain, as the temperature continues to drop.

Sir Jackie Stewart took to the circuit earlier in his old Tyrrell 006 to mark the 10 year anniversary of his charity Race Against Dementia, which he began following his wife's diagnosis.

Sir Jackie Stewart drives his Tyrrell 006

Photo by: Clive Mason - Getty Images

2025 Bahrain Grand Prix starting grid

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	Tyres	km/h
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	1'29.841		216.863
2	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.334 1'30.175		216.059
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.168 1'30.009		216.458
4	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+0.375 1'30.216		215.961
5	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.372 1'30.213		215.968
6	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.426 1'30.267		215.839
7	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.582 1'30.423		215.467
8	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	+0.839 1'30.680		214.856
9	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.931 1'30.772		214.638
10	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22		Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.462 1'31.303		213.390
View full results

Drivers are currently in the process of doing their reconnaissance laps to the grid, as we approach the 30-minutes-away mark for the start of this race. 

Qualifying recap

The main story, of course, was Oscar Piastri's run to pole for today's race. George Russell had qualified second, but was given a one-place grid penalty as Mercedes put its two cars into the pitlane during a Q2 red flag - before a restart time had been called. This also put Andrea Kimi Antonelli down to fifth after qualifying fourth.

Charles Leclerc starts on the front row alongside Piastri, while Russell joins Gasly on row two. Antonelli is alongside Norris, who only starts sixth.

2025 Bahrain GP live updates

Hello everyone, and welcome to our live update feed for the Bahrain Grand Prix! Here's hoping that we're in for a treat!