For its tenth anniversary the Bahrain Grand Prix has become a night race.
The start time has been moved back three hours to six o’clock in the evening, just minutes after the sun goes down in Sakhir. The race organisers have put up 495 lighting poles around the circuit to illuminate the circuit to the same standard drivers are used to from races in Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
This will have an obvious effect on the temperatures during the race, though not as severe as might be expected. Minimum night temperatures in the area at this time of year can be as high as 20C. In comparison daytime temperatures for the three days ahead are expected to be in the mid-twenties, reaching 27C by Sunday.
However once the sun goes down the temperature of the track surface – which of course is vital to tyre performance – will drop quite quickly. The track temperature was welcome above 42C during last year’s race but will likely be quite a bit lower this year.
Many who arrived at the circuit yesterday were surprised to see one of the region’s infrequent rain showers. However there’s no expectation of a repeat over the next three days.
For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on F1 Fanatic Live and the F1 Fanatic Twitter account.
Location of Bahrain International Circuit
See the location of every race on the 2014 F1 calendar here:
2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
- Hamilton wins Driver of the Weekend again
- Thrilling Bahrain GP gets best rating since 2012 finale
- 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Top ten pictures from the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix
- 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend in Tweets
Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
Daniel (@tamburello)
3rd April 2014, 16:02
The only race I know of that has to switch to night mode to hide the woeful spectator attendance. This track embodies the current state of f1 for me: clinical, boring to watch and just there because they pay a lot, not because the fans/teams/locals want it.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
3rd April 2014, 16:33
This Barhain track is in my opinion just as the Korean one: A great track in the wrong place.
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
3rd April 2014, 18:06
I felt the Korean track was dreadful. Produced generally awful racing and was more of a chore to drive on the games than anything. Whereas, I quite like Bahrain, it does have some quite unique sections that don’t appear on many other Tilkedromes.
George (@george)
3rd April 2014, 18:48
@craig-o
I thought Korea had some pretty good racing, the cars looked great going through the twisty section too. Bahrain is the only F1 circuit I cant picture in my mind, the only corners I remember are the double left hander and the sweepers following.
I think they both suffer somewhat from a lack of atmosphere, if the planned development worked had actually occurred at Korea it might have seemed a bit more lively rather than appearing to be held in a muddy field. Once again I can’t remember much about the Bahrain circuit’s surroundings other than lots of sand.
Chad (@chaddy)
3rd April 2014, 22:05
I’m assuming the energy required to light the track far and away exceeds the benefits from all the fuel regulation changes for the entire year.
Mackeine Loveine (@cocaine-mackeine)
3rd April 2014, 22:54
The race will be more critical in terms of temperature. But as this is not a big impact in F1 I expect another borefest. It´s shame for Bahrain as the last 2 GP´s were quite exciting after the 2011 cancellation. And knowing how F1 is at the moment, the “exciting” momentum will return to how it was before 2011, boring.
Andrew (@w1nter)
3rd April 2014, 23:13
Just a random thought, won’t all the lights get the track warmer or am I being stupid?
sato113 (@sato113)
3rd April 2014, 23:48
lights are too high up and far away to affect track temperature. not a stupid question though!
Andrew (@w1nter)
4th April 2014, 0:17
Aha, the same conclusion I came up with after deciding to try it with my desk lamp. Hah!