McLaren call Bahrain their “second home race” – but they’ve never won it. Will they change that this weekend? Here are the talking points for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
McLaren to hit back at ‘home’?
Since McLaren ended their 26-year championship drought last year, winning has started to seem familiar again for the team. It’s easy to overlook the fact that, though they won the first two rounds this year it took them more than half a season to score as many victories last year.
Now the team is winning regularly again, there’s a gap in their trophy cabinet which they will be especially keen to fill. McLaren has never won the Bahrain Grand Prix – its best result remains Lewis Hamilton’s second place in 2007.
This is an especially important race for the team as Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat took full ownership of the McLaren Group last year, which owns a majority stake in the racing division which includes the F1 squad.
The squad may be British-based and founded by a New Zealander (as Liam Lawson was eager to draw attention to last year) but as team principal Andrea Stella noted Bahrain is their “second home race.” Will they finally win it?
Verstappen’s shot at the lead
Max Verstappen’s record reign in the lead of the drivers’ championship came to an end at the season-opening race. But there’s a strong chance he could take it back this weekend.
His superb performance at Suzuka, which resulted in his first victory of the season, has brought him within a single point of Lando Norris at the top of the championship table.
Norris talked up Red Bull’s chances this weekend in the wake of Verstappen’s win, pointing out how effectively the RB21 pulled out of the slower corners at Suzuka, neutering McLaren’s advantage through the quicker corners. Bahrain, which is biased more towards low-speed turns than Suzuka, should therefore suit the RB21.
However McLaren’s performance over a long stint looked strong in pre-season testing at the circuit. Verstappen won in Japan by capturing pole position and resisting his rivals for 53 laps, but the same approach may not work so well for a second weekend in a row.
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Ferrari seeking a solution
Lewis Hamilton revealed all is not well with Ferrari’s car after the team’s disappointing start to 2025 continued in Japan. He finished seventh while team mate Charles Leclerc had a more successful run to fourth, but neither was happy with their car’s performance.
Will they have a solution ready for this weekend? Rumours in the Italian media suggest changes are coming to the car.
Ferrari’s start to the season has been much less successful than many expected for the team which ended last year just 10 points off world champions McLaren. They are already 76 points behind and badly need to stop the rot.
Qualifying championship?
Before the 2025 season began hopes were high that the championship would remain as competitive as it was at the close of last year. In one respect the signs are encouraging so far – three different drivers have won the first three grands prix; that becomes four from four if the Shanghai sprint race, won by Hamilton, is included.
But the racing has tended to be processional. Last weekend’s race, where more than half the field finished in the same places they started, was the clearest example yet.
The Bahrain International Circuit may be as exciting a layout as you’d expect a converted camel farm in the middle of a desert to be, but its long, wide straights at least make overtaking fairly straightforward.
That plus high tyre degradation and ample DRS zones should make for plenty of changes of position. But it’s becoming clearer with every passing year that F1’s post-2021 rules overhaul did not achieve its stated goal of making the cars less sensitive to running in turbulence.
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Rookie takeover
Now that teams must give twice as many opportunities for rookies to drive their cars this season, at least half of them will do so this weekend. Therefore George Russell, Carlos Sainz Jnr, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Oliver Bearman will all sit out the first practice session so a junior driver can take over their car.
Dino Beganovic will get the thrill of driving a Ferrari in an official F1 practice session for the first time. Ryo Hirakawa will be in action for the second Friday practice session in a row, but this time with Haas instead of Alpine.
Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin), Frederik Vesti (Mercedes) and Luke Browning (Williams) will all join in the fun. But how many of them are likely to graduate to F1 race seats in the future?
Are you going to the Bahrain Grand Prix?
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Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Bahrain Grand Prix? Have your say below.
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2025 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Will McLaren win their ‘second home race’ for the first time? Five Bahrain GP talking points
- Vesti, Browning and Drugovich join Hirakawa and Beganovic for Bahrain practice runs
- Bahrain’s low-speed corners will play to Red Bull’s strength over McLaren – Norris
- How to watch the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix, IndyCar at Long Beach and more
- Hirakawa leaves Alpine to join Haas as test and reserve driver