2025 F1 Bahrain GP: Preview and Predictions

The 2025 F1 Bahrain GP will be the 4th race of the season, and it comes at a crucial juncture in the year. The first 3 races have had three different winners, and in Suzuka, Max Verstappen ended McLaren's run at the top of the podium.

As we get ready for the F1 Bahrain GP, we're looking at a championship standings where the top 2 drivers are separated by just a point. At the same time, the drivers in P3 and P4 are not too far behind.

What's even more important here is the fact that the top 4 teams have cars that are very close to each other in terms of performance. Yes, McLaren does end up at the sharp end, but the chasing pack is not too far behind either.

The pecking order should change from race to race, and if a team brings an update on the car that gives them a couple of tenths, they would stretch the gap to their rivals. With that being said, as we get ready for the F1 Bahrain GP, what can we expect from the race weekend? Let's take a look.

2025 F1 Bahrain GP: Preview

Key Storylines

#1 McLaren's approach to races

It's safe to say that McLaren lost the race in Japan by having a rather conservative approach to racing. Talking to the media afterwards as well, it was evident that the team is not finding what can be described as a ruthless approach to racing. It's more about banking points wherever it can every weekend.

Will the drivers be happy with such an approach? There was muted discontent from both drivers in Japan, but it remains to be seen if it manifests itself in the upcoming races.

#2 Lewis Hamilton's car with the faulty part

Lewis Hamilton shared a strange claim in the aftermath of the F1 Japanese GP where he said that his car had a faulty part on it in the first three races. According to the driver, it is something related to the floor, and it was costing him three tenths. We're yet to hear anything about this from Ferrari in terms of both a confirmation or a denial, but the F1 Bahrain GP could potentially shed more light on what is going on at the Italian team.

#3 The racing

'Boring' was a word promptly used by a lot of viewers, including the drivers for the racing in Japan. A part of it has to do with the cars, and another part has to do with the fact that the tires had next to no degradation. Pirelli has leaned more and more on the conservative side recently, but it's safe to say that the FIA took note of the criticism and would be working to put a few fixes in place for the upcoming races.

Form Guide

In form

Can we look beyond Max Verstappen in this category? The Red Bull driver is the benchmark in F1 right now, and it should surprise everyone that heading to the F1 Bahrain GP, the driver is just a point off Lando Norris in the championship. He's in the title battle for sure, and it must be interesting to see the approach he continues to take moving forward.

Out of form

By this point last season, Ferrari had a win and multiple podiums in the bag. This season, the team has a sprint as its only highlight. We can get into the technicality of it, but there's a bigger question at play here.

Why does Ferrari find itself floundering every time in the last 15 odd years? Irrespective of what the answer is to that question, the heat has turned up at Ferrari as the glorious union with Lewis Hamilton has had a bit of a disappointing start.

Driver in the spotlight

Lando Norris started the season in flawless fashion in Australia. The Brit was on pole, he made sure he had a good start, and made sure that he brought the car home in very challenging conditions. The same, however, cannot be said for the next two races, as Norris had an iffy sprint weekend in China and he lost the race in Japan to Max Verstappen's brilliance.

Heading into the F1 Bahrain GP race weekend, he's only got a one-point advantage in the championship and this weekend is an opportunity to make use of that.

2025 F1 Bahrain GP: Predictions

Who wins the race?

While Max Verstappen had a word of caution for everyone in the media that felt Red Bull could challenge McLaren more consistently in the future, the F1 Bahrain GP could be a track where the driver once again turns heads.

The RB21 might be a tough car to drive, but it certainly has its strengths where the car is just better than its primary rival. As pointed out by Lando Norris himself, the Red Bull has a better top speed and a better ability to maneuver itself through the slow-speed sections.

There are quite a few areas on the track this weekend where Max Verstappen could exploit them. While the McLaren duo would go into the F1 Bahrain GP as the favorites, we're backing Max Verstappen to win the race.

Biggest surprise of the weekend? (Driver)

Yuki Tsunoda's debut in terms of results was not as impressive. However, if we look at the inherent pace that he showed, it was quite clear that the driver was closer to Max Verstappen than Liam Lawson had been in the first two races.

We don't expect the Japanese driver to match Max Verstappen in just his second race with Red Bull, but we expect Yuki Tsunoda to take a step from the Japanese GP and score points at the F1 Bahrain GP.

Biggest surprise of the weekend? (Team)

Haas does continue to blow hot and cold this season because of a major issue that the team encountered in Australia. The team has been implementing fixes to the car, and the modified floor in Japan was one of them.

With that being said, the track at Bahrain was the one where the car worked perfectly the last time they ran it here during pre-season testing. For the F1 Bahrain GP, we're backing the team to finish in points and be competitive against the likes of Racing Bulls and Williams.

Biggest disappointment of the weekend? (Driver)

Lewis Hamilton has had an impressive start to life at Ferrari. The reason we call it impressive is because the driver's adaptation period for the car has not been extensive, and instead he is more or less just a few tenths behind Charles Leclerc already.

The problem for Lewis, however, is that the F1 Bahrain GP is one of the tracks where Leclerc excels. This is one of his better hunting grounds for that very reason.

While the gap has not been much in general between the two drivers, this time around it is going to be exaggerated as we predict Leclerc to pull away a little compared to his teammate.

Biggest disappointment of the weekend? (Team)

This might not be the best track for Mercedes, and one of the reasons behind it is the elevated temperatures. George Russell was quick to point out after Japan that one of the reasons why the German team has been a factor this season has been the lower temperatures in the first few races. For the F1 Bahrain GP, that would not be a factor, and we might see Mercedes slip to being the 4th fastest car this weekend.