Mercedes have enjoyed a great start to this Formula 1 season, having Nico Rosberg (43 points) and Lewis Hamilton (25 points) in the lead after the first two races. The Germans have also been on the quicker end of things at Bahrain during testing.
Though Hamilton did not have the best of results in the season opener in Australia, he made up for it in Malaysia, and is now motivated to continue his good run in the Sakhir circuit.
"It was great to kick-start my season with a win in Malaysia," Hamilton said. "Taking a one-two was also a fantastic result for the team and I can't wait to see what we can do here. I've finished on the podium a couple of times here but, for one reason or another, I've never managed to get the win. Until last week it was the same story for me with Malaysia, so fingers crossed this can be the year of breaking those cycles."
While Mercedes is looking to carry on the momentum, Williams is keen on changing their poor from after putting up not-so-great shows both in Australia and Malaysia. They have had a good winter testing in Bahrain and would like to bank on that.
"Sakhir is well known to all of the teams as we spent eight days testing there in February and March with our new cars this year," Rod Nelson, Williams chief test and support engineer, said about the race weekend. "However for the first time in the race's history we are to have a night race. This can present its own problems, with temperatures dropping after the start which is almost the same time as the sun sets. We often have quite high winds from the Gulf and not only can this affect car balance it means that sand on the track can be an issue, particularly at the start of the day."
Formula One: Live Streaming Information
Bahrain GP FP1 (starts 2 pm local time, 4.30 pm IST, 6 am ET, 11 am GMT) and FP2 (starts 6 pm local time, 8 pm IST, 2.30 pm GMT)
Country | TV Broadcaster |
India | Star Sports 4 |
US | NBC |
Canada | TSN |
United Kingdom | BBC, Sky Sports |
Middle East and North Africa | Bein Sports Arabia |
Australia | Network Ten |
Germany, Italy | Sky Sport |
France | Canal+ |
Asia | Fox Sports |
Country | Online links |
India | HERE |
US | HERE |
UK | HERE or HERE |
Middle East | HERE |
Canada | HERE or HERE |
Australia | HERE |
Asia | HERE |
Germany and Italy | HERE or HERE |
(Edited by Vishnuprasad S Pillai)