Trackside – 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix

Full weekend schedule and trackside tips for F1 fans attending the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit.

  • The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix is from Thursday February 29 to Saturday March 2.
  • The last tickets are on sale. 3-day grandstand tickets are priced from $180 USD
  • Official Ticket Package from F1 Experiences are also available. We recommend The Dome by F1 Experiences hospitality for $1,099 USD.
  • Join our private Facebook group for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Connect with fellow fans & get advice about attending pre-season testing and the race at Sakhir
  • Interested in attending the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix? Sign up to our mailing list (and check the box for Bahrain) to receive updates on tickets sales and event news
  • All photos © F1Destinations.com. The Editor attended the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
  • This post contains affiliate links. We may receive a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links

With most of the on-track action taking place late in the afternoon and at night (avoiding the worst of the daytime heat), you can have a lazy start to the day in Bahrain and still make it to Sakhir Circuit in time for the best racing. The first F1 practice sessions run during the day, but qualifying and the race take place after night falls. Sunset in Bahrain during March is around 5:45pm.

Due to the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on March 10 this year, both the Bahrain Grand Prix (March 2) and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (March 9) will be staged from Thursday to Saturday. F1 session times for the 2024 season have been published. The start times for Bahrain are listed below.

Entry & Orientation at Bahrain International Circuit

  • Entry Gates: Most entry gates and free parking spaces are located behind the Main Grandstand at Bahrain International Circuit. 
  • Prohibited Items: Spectators may be subject to bag searches upon entering the circuit. No animals will be admitted to the Venue or any car parks. The following articles must not be brought within the Venue – knives, fireworks, drones, smoke canisters, air-horns, flares, weapons, dangerous or hazardous items, phone jammers, radio scanners, walkie-talkies, laser devices, bottles, glass vessels, and any article that might be used as a weapon and/or compromise public safety or items including protest (of a political, religious or other nature) or offensive slogans or messages. Any person in possession of such items will be refused entry to the Venue. Read the full Terms & Conditions
  • Trackside Parking: Parking passes are issued for every three tickets purchased. Additional parking passes can be purchased via the call centre on 1745 0000. “Please do not arrive and attempt to park at BIC unless you have your car pass with you, as entry will not be permitted otherwise. Your pass will also need to be stuck to your windscreen and you will be directed to your allocated car park.”

2024 Bahrain Grand Prix Schedule

  • On-Track Schedule: The full schedule for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix race weekend has now been confirmed and is posted below in local Bahrain time (Bahrain is UTC +3). Check F1.com for updates. Sunset on race weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix is at approximately 17:40 local time.
  • Support Categories: Formula 2, Formula 3 and the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East will be the main support categories at the 2024 Bahrain GP. It will be the first race weekend of the year for both Formula 2 and Formula 3
  • Pit Lane Walks: A pit lane walk for 3-day ticket holders will be held on Wednesday, February 28 from 19:00-20:30. (F1 Experiences also has a pit lane walk for selected guests on Wednesday, Feb 28 from 18:15-19:00). Guests in the F1 Paddock Club can take part in daily pit lane walks at selected times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday – see below.

Thursday, February 29

  • 09:45-10:30: Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East – First Practice Session
  • 10:55-11:40: Formula 3 – Practice Session
  • 12:05-12:50: Formula 2 – Practice Session
  • 13:00-14:00: Formula 1 Paddock Club – Pit Lane Walk & Track Tour
  • 14:30-15:30: Formula 1 – Free Practice 1 (FP1)
  • 16:00-16:30: Formula 3 – Qualifying Session
  • 16:45-17:35: Formula 1 Paddock Club – Pit Lane Walk & Track Tour
  • 18:00-19:00: Formula 1 – Free Practice 2 (FP2)
  • 19:30-20:00: Formula 2 – Qualifying Session
  • 20:25-21:10: Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East – Second Practice Session

Friday, March 1

  • 12:05-12:35: Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East – Qualifying Session
  • 13:15-14:00: Formula 3 – Sprint Race (19 laps or 40 mins + 1 lap)
  • 14:15-15:00: Formula 1 Paddock Club – Pit Lane Walk & Track Tour
  • 15:30-16:30: Formula 1 – Free Practice 3 (FP3)
  • 17:15-18:05: Formula 2 – Sprint Race (23 Laps or 45 Mins +1 Lap)
  • 18:10-18:40: Formula 1 Paddock Club – Pit Lane Walk & Track Tour
  • 19:00-20:00: Formula 1 – Qualifying
  • 20:45-21:15: Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East – First Race (11 Laps or 25 Mins)
  • 21:20-22:20: F1 Experiences – Champions Club Grid Walk & Trophy Photo

Saturday, March 2

  • 12:10-13:00: Formula 3 – Feature Race (22 Laps or 45 Mins +1 Lap)
  • 13:40-14:45: Formula 2 – Feature Race (32 Laps or 60 Mins +1 Lap)
  • 15:10-15:40: Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East – Second Race (11 Laps or 25 Mins)
  • 15:55-16:55: Formula 1 Paddock Club – Pit Lane Walk
  • 16:00-16:30: Formula 1 Drivers’ Parade
  • 17:46-17:48: National Anthem
  • 17:48-17:49: Gulf Air Fly Past
  • 18:00-20:00: Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024 (57 laps or 120 minutes)

Trackside Concerts at the 2024 Bahrain GP

  • The headline performers at the 2024 Bahrain GP will be both be DJs. Zedd performs on Friday, March 1 and Diplo on Saturday March 2.
  • Concerts are held on the big stage in the Fanzone, behind the Main Grandstand
  • The concerts start after the end of the on-track action, which means they normally begin at around 21:00 and finish by 23:00.
  • Recent headliners have included DJ Snake and Craig David (2023) and DJs Afrojack and Don Diablo (2022).

F1 Fanzone at the Bahrain International Circuit

When there’s nothing interesting happening on the track, the F1 Fanzone behind the Main grandstand is the place to go for food, drink, merchandise and entertainment. Taking a leaf out of Singapore, Bahrain have organized a big roster of roaming entertainment acts (for kids and adults), including circus performers and comedians. You can also take a free ride on a 42-metre tall Ferris Wheel offering expansive views of the circuit.

Been to Sakhir? Leave a comment with your Bahrain Grand Prix trackside tips!

58 thoughts on “Trackside – 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix”

  1. The Pit Lane Walk on Thursday, will it be from 13:30-15:30 or 18:00 ??! I thought the Baharain Int. Circuit tweeted that it will be from 18:00!!

        1. Sorry, only got this message now. I was in Bahrain too for the race! No entertainment at the circuit on Saturday night, as there was a big Eric Clapton concert close to the circuit.

  2. Graham Campbell

    Andrew, are we sure there is a Pit Lane walk on Thursday, we have 3 day pass with access to the Paddock on Friday but have not got any info from our ticket provider about Thursday. As far as i am aware all Thursday activities were cancelled and moved to the Friday. I have seen several sites claiming to have a pit lane walk on Thursday.

  3. Hello!

    Thanks for all the infos. Just curious, do they usually send the tickets via post to our address or do we need to collect the hard copy of the tickets directly at the counter in Sakir?

    TIA :)

    1. They are physical tickets and would normally be sent to your address. However, it is too late now so if you purchase, you will be given instructions to collect outside the circuit.

  4. How was the mobile coverage at the circuit? Was there any issues with using the internet and if it was good, can you tell me what network you used?

    1. From memory, I think it was fine. Remember that even though the attendance was high this year, it was still only about 35,000 fans on race day. (You are more likely to have a problem at bigger races where you have 100,000+ fans at the track on one day. As for network, I was working in the Paddock Club this year in Bahrain, so I used the wifi in there. Not sure if there is another wifi network at the track for fans, but you should be fine if you buy a local sim card and use mobile data at the track.

      1. Well I was there in 2019 and the 4G signal was dead in the turn 1 grandstand. But Main Grandstand had wi-fi and this was a good offload option.
        I hope that next year they will have more wi-fi coverage. I will keep an eye on this.

  5. For fans seated in the Victory or University grandstands – Is it possible to access the track following the race to watch the podium celebrations? This is common in Montreal, Monza, Austin, ect.

    1. Yes, it should be posslbe. It wasn’t this year due to COVID restrictions, but I hope it won’t be a problem. However, given that both of these grandstands are some distance from the podium, I’d recommend getting around to the Main Grandstand closer to the end of the race, and then going on the track from there.

  6. Hello, thanks for the valuable information. I purchased a Turn 1 Grandstand ticket from the official website valid for 3 days (3rd-5th). Is this ticket valid for all the other circuit events as well, such as, Formula 2, Pit Lane Walk, Concerts etc.?

  7. Hi, i have purchased champions club package f9r Bahrain GP 2023. Will i be able to do pit lane walk? And how to go to podium ceremomy from Batelco Grandsrand? What are xexact inclusions?

    TIA..!

    1. Yes, you can participate in the Thursday pit lane walk for all ticket holders. As for going to the podium ceremony, yes it should be possible. You need to walk from Batelco to the Main Straight. Not sure if the gate will be open on the inside of the track as well, or you can walk through the tunnel to the outside of the track and get on to it from there. Best to ask when you are there if this is not clear.

  8. Hi,
    Do you now if you can bring your own food/drinks? I read different information everywhere. And will alcohol be served?

    1. I think you should be ok with your own food and drink, provided you don’t have any glass. The full terms and conditions are here. As for alcohol, it’s only served within the hospitality spaces. You used to be able to buy access to a ‘hospitality tent’ which allowed you to purchase alcohol, but this is not in the ticket offer for 2023 that I can see.

  9. Last year they took food off you at the entry points and your bags went through xray machines hope that helps….food on site wasn’t too expensive and reasonably good.

  10. Anyone attending this year will have free access to testing on the 24th and 25th February provided you have a GP ticket….the circuit have just confirmed this
    If anyone is going to be there I am happy to meet up I arrive on the 22nd February 2023…
    I attended both gp and testing in 2022

    1. Thanks for the heads up Margaret, I’ve updated our tickets post for the Bahrain Grand Prix with this info. We will also publish a guide to attending pre-season testing soon.

  11. Will there be a pit lane walk for 2023?? Is there a seperate ticket for it or will it be covered by my 3 day ticket ??

      1. Hey Andrew,
        Thank you for the quick revert on that, since its my first time attending a GP will my ticket have a seat assigned to it? I got a ticket for the Victory Grandstand and how many days should prior the GP will I get my ticket emailed??

  12. Hi Andrew,

    What time and day will be the autograph session of drivers? This is my first time going for a gp. Very excited and can’t miss the session

  13. Hi Andrew,

    Thanks for the useful info here!
    Do you know by any chance if card payments are accepted in the Fanzone for food and drinks or if, like at the Monaco GP, cash is king?

    Cheers

  14. Hi Andrew,
    I just bought a tickets for the 2024 grand prix.
    I wish to arrive by car from Manama.
    Is there a website where I can buy parking ticket for the event?

    Thank you.

    1. Information about parking for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix won’t be released until much closer to the event. Don’t worry about missing out, there are lots of parking spaces next to the circuit!

  15. For 2024 since everything is shifted one day earlier, do you think the pit lane walk would be on Wednesday?

  16. Hi Andrew,
    Thanks for the helpful article, it’s highly appreciated.
    We have tickets for the Bahrain Grand Prix, but unfortunately will miss the track walk.
    Do you know if it’s possible to get onto the track for the Podium celebrations after the race? They do this at other races, but wasn’t sure about this one. We have Turn 1 tickets, so not too far. Do you know if Bahrain allows it?
    Thanks so much and enjoy the new season :)

    1. Hello, I’m not 100% sure my information is correct. My understanding is that only one gate is open for the track invasion and it’s at the front of the Main Grandstand. Only fans seated in the Main Grandstand can go on the track. You are welcome to try to speak to the security/ticket inspectors at the entry to the Main grandstand a few laps before the end of the race, but not sure they will let you in.

  17. Hi Andrew,
    I appreciate your helpful information. I will go to Bahrain GP next week.
    Do you know if I can bring a digital camera with 300mm+ telephoto lens and a stepladder to the truck?

    Thank you.

    1. I think stepladder is not a good idea. 300mm+ lens you also need to be careful, as it may not be allowed in. Make sure it’s all packed away in your backpack when you enter (lens disconnected from body), don’t have it out on display, you should be ok

  18. Hello! In 2023/2024 did they allow people from the main grandstand to get in the track during podium celebrations? Thanks.

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