F1 stars ready to shine in Bahrain

TDT | Manama                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

The stage is set for a record-breaking race weekend at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) with the highly anticipated and completely sold-out Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023 getting underway today and lighting up the Sakhir desert.

The global spotlight will be shining on the Kingdom of Bahrain as motorsport’s top stars hit BIC’s 5.412-kilometre track for the first time in the 2023 FIA F1 World Championship, kicking off a packed weekend of action at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”.

BIC will be opening its gates to fans from 9am, just in time for the first on-track sessions of the day. A pair of hour-long F1 practices will be headlining the programme. The first will be held under daylight conditions at 2.30pm.

That will be followed by the second at night under BIC’s state-of-the-art floodlights from 6pm onwards. All 10 F1 teams will be putting their contenders through their paces in order to get them ready for tomorrow’s all-important Qualifying session, which will determine the grid for Sunday’s main event: the 57-lap, floodlit Bahrain Grand Prix.

A third practice on Saturday will precede Qualifying. F1 is set to be joined on track this weekend by the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 Championship and the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East.

F2 and F3 are both holding their season-opening rounds in Bahrain, while the Porsche Sprint Challenge will be staging the penultimate meeting of its 2022/2023 campaign. All three support series will also take to the tarmac Friday for practices and qualifying.