Here are all the facts and statistics you need to know about the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix!
?? RACE WINNERS
Since its inaugural race in 2004, the Bahrain Grand Prix has been held fourteen times. During that time, seven different drivers have won the race.
Sebastian Vettel is the driver with the most wins in Bahrain, with his victory last year giving him his fourth victory at the track. Ferrari are the team with the most wins here, having taken victory on six occasions. Those six wins also make Ferrari the engine manufacturer with the most wins at the Bahrain International Circuit, with Renault and Mercedes on four apiece. German drivers have taken more wins than any other nation, with Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg contributing six wins to Germany’s tally.
Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are the three drivers to have taken back-to-back wins at this circuit, with Alonso winning consecutive races in 2005 and 2006 and Hamilton winning consecutive races in 2014 and 2015. Meanwhile, Vettel has won back-to-back Bahrain Grands Prix twice. He won consecutive races in 2012 and 2013, and then again in 2017 and 2018. If he wins this weekend, he’ll become the first driver to take three consecutive Bahrain victories.
From the 2019 grid, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers to have previously won here. While Vettel has four victories, Hamilton has won here twice – in 2014 and 2015.
The longest streak of different winners here is four. Between 2008 and 2012 there were no repeat winners.
The smallest win margin at this track came last season, when Sebastian Vettel was chased down for the victory by Valtteri Bottas, the German eventually winning the race by 0.699 seconds. That’s the only time a Bahrain Grand Prix has been won by less than a second. The largest win margin here is 16.099 seconds, a record held by Fernando Alonso on his début appearance for Ferrari in 2010.
The Bahrain Grand Prix has been won by less than five seconds nine times. The average win margin at the track is 5.683 seconds.
?? ON THE PODIUM
From the fourteen previous races here, fifteen different drivers have finished on the podium at the track.
Kimi Raikkonen is the driver with the most podiums in Bahrain. Despite never winning here, the Finn has finished in the top three eight times at this track. Ferrari are the team with the most top three finishes here. They’ve finished on the rostrum thirteen times.
Finland and Germany are currently tied as the nation with the most podium finishes at the track. Drivers from each country have finished in the top three on ten occasions, while British drivers have scored nine top three finishes between them.
From the 2019 grid, there are seven previous podium finishers. Kimi Raikkonen has the most top three finishes here, with eight podium finishes but no wins. Lewis Hamilton is next up with seven top three finishes, Sebastian Vettel has five, Romain Grosjean and Valtteri Bottas each have two top three finishes at the track, while Sergio Perez scored a single podium here, in 2014, as did Robert Kubica in 2008.
?? POLESITTERS
Nine different drivers have started from pole at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel has the most poles at the track, with three. Mercedes are the team with the most poles here, having set the fastest Saturday time five times in the last six seasons. German drivers have far more poles than drivers from any other nation here, with seven poles. Britain is the only other nation to have more than one pole position here, thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s poles in 2015 and 2016.
From the current grid, there are four previous Bahrain Grand Prix polesitters. Sebastian Vettel has three pole positions here, Lewis Hamilton has two and Robert Kubica and Valtteri Bottas took their maiden F1 poles in Bahrain in 2008 and 2017 respectively.
The longest streak of polesitters at this track is six. Between 2005 and 2010, there were no repeat polesitters.
Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers to have taken back-to-back poles here. Vettel took his in the consecutive races in 2010 and 2012 (there was no Bahrain Grand Prix in 2011), Rosberg in 2013 and 2014, while Hamilton took his in 2015 and 2016. No driver has taken more than two consecutive poles at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The track record at the Bahrain International Circuit is a 1:27.958, set last year by Sebastian Vettel.
The difference between the fastest pole lap and slowest pole lap on the current configuration of track is 5.473 seconds.
The smallest pole margin in Bahrain is 0.023 seconds, when Valtteri Bottas narrowly took pole in 2017. The most pole was taken by at this track is 0.455 seconds, by Fernando Alonso in 2005.
Pole has been decided by less than a tenth on five occasions.
The average pole margin at the Bahrain International Circuit is 0.208 seconds.
?? SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
The Bahrain Grand Prix has been won from pole six times and has been won from the front row of the grid ten times.
The furthest back the Bahrain Grand Prix has been won from is fourth on the grid, which has happened twice – in 2006 and 2009.
The Bahrain Grand Prix polesitter has only failed to finish on the podium here twice.
The furthest back a podium finisher here has started the race from is 22nd on the grid. That happened in 2006 when, after a rear wishbone failure in Qualifying, Kimi Raikkonen started from last. That didn’t stop him from taking his second podium finish in Bahrain though.
There has never been a Bahrain Grand Prix where all of the top three on the grid have failed to finish on the podium.
No driver starting from fifth on the grid has ever finished on the podium in a Bahrain Grand Prix.
?? SUNDAY STATS
The most drivers to finish on the same lap as the leader in a Grand Prix here is sixteen in 2013, while the least is six, which has happened three times – in 2005, 2016 and 2018.
Just three Bahrain Grands Prix have seen a Safety Car period, while last year’s race saw the Virtual Safety Car called for the first time at this track. The Safety Car has never appeared more than once in a race at this circuit.
Unsurprisingly, there has never been a rain-affected race in Bahrain.
The shortest race at this track came at the inaugural event, which was won in a time of 1:28:34.875 by Michael Schumacher. The longest Bahrain Grand Prix was the 2014 race – perhaps the most memorable Grand Prix at the track – which Lewis Hamilton won after 1:39:42.743 of racing.
Nico Rosberg is the driver who has set the most Fastest Laps at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He’s taken the honour three times – in his maiden F1 race in 2006, in 2014 and in 2016.
In total, 300 cars have entered a Bahrain Grand Prix. 235 of them have reached the chequered flag, giving an average finish rate of 78.4%. The lowest number of finishers at this track is twelve, which happened in 2005, while the most to finish a Bahrain Grand Prix is 21, which happened in 2013.
There has never been a red-flagged Bahrain Grand Prix.
There have been 790 Grand Prix laps raced at the Bahrain International Circuit so far in its fourteen year history.
?? CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
There has never been a World Champion crowned at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is unsurprising given that the race has never been later than the fourth round of the season.
The winner of the Bahrain Grand Prix has gone on to win the World Championship in the same year on nine occasions, while the title leader after the race has gone on to win the title eight times.
