Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024
Event Overview
BIC is set to celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, as the opening round of the 2024 season and its first-ever Saturday night race at the Home of Motorsport in the Middle East on 29 February to 2 March 2024.
View More
Hospitality
Due to exceptional demand, we have continued to expand our hospitality offerings. This year, we are delighted to offer The Dome Lounge by F1 Experiences, as well as The Champions Club, both tailor-made in response to the massive interest in hospitality options for the grand prix. In addition, the ultimate in world-class hospitality is available in The Paddock Cub Please note that Corporate boxes for 2024 are now sold out.
View MoreVettel tops the times in F1 Free Practice 2 under the stars
The sun had set but Ferrari continued to shine Friday evening in the Second Practice of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2019 at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).
After Charles Leclerc set the pace in the day’s opening session in the daylight, Sebastian Vettel took over as the fastest man on the track as the floodlights illuminated the Sakhir desert facility.
Vettel clocked a fastest lap of 1m 28.846s.
His time was around a second-and-a-half quicker than Leclerc’s leading mark from Practice One.
Leclerc continued to set a quick pace by finishing just 0.035s behind his teammate. Both Ferrari drivers were the only ones on the day to clock below the 1m 29s mark around BIC’s 5.412-kilometre track. They also both completed 32 laps of work in the hour-and-a-half evening session.
World champion Lewis Hamilton narrowed the gap to the frontrunners to just 0.603s after earlier clocking nearly a second behind. He had 33 laps in Practice Two.
Valtteri Bottas was classified fourth 0.711s back while posting 36 laps in the other Mercedes car.
Nico Hulkenberg steered Renault to fifth position with a lap 0.823s within Vettel’s time, while Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing was sixth, also within a second after going 0.823s off the pace.
Kevin Magnussen of Haas was seventh 1.154s back while Lando Norris of McLaren was classified eighth 1.171s behind.
Romain Grosjean (+1.222s) and Daniil Kvyat (+1.247s) rounded out the top 10.
The Practice Two classification from 11th to 20th, respectively, featured Carlos Sainz of McLaren, Pierre Gasly of Red Bull,
Alexander Albon of Toro Rosso, Sergio Perez of Racing Point, Daniel Ricciardo of Australia, Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo Racing, Lance Stroll in the second Racing Point challenger, Antonio Giovinazzi in the other Alfa Romeo car, and the Williams pair of George Russell and Robert Kubica.
A third Formula One Practice session will be held Saturday starting at 3pm. It will be over just an hour. Qualifying will then take place from 6pm to determine the start grid for Sunday’s 57-lap Bahrain Grand Prix.