Serious Formula 1 fans should sign-up for F1 TV, which provides all the races live and more for just $79.99/yr!
The Bahrain Grand Prix is the first race of the 2023 Formula 1 season. You can watch the practices, qualifying, and race — all without cable. Read on to learn how!
Max Verstappen won the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.
In a hurry? All parts of the Bahrain Grand Prix will be broadcast on ESPN channels. Get them all with these services:
- Fubo: The best streaming service for international sports also provides 150+ well-selected channels. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.
- DIRECTV STREAM: Get a great channel lineup with the best selection of RSNs in the industry. A 5-day free trial is now available for DIRECTV STREAM.
- Sling TV: This low-cost service allows you to select just the channel lineup you want. Save 50% on your first month of Sling TV.
If you can’t watch your favorite sports because of your location, get ExpressVPN to access the content you deserve.
Table Of Contents
Formula One is the most popular motorsport in the world. And the first event of the season is the Bahrain Grand Prix.
It comes from Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, at the southern tip of the Persian Gulf island country of Bahrain. It is also the home of the University of Bahrain.
At last year’s event, the Ferrari team (Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr) won the top two spots after both Red Bull Racing cars (current World Champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez) suffered mechanical issues. The 2021 winner, former World Champion Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes, came in third followed by teammate George Russell.
2023 Bahrain Grand Prix Schedule
The Bahrain Grand Prix runs from Friday, March 3rd through Sunday, March 5th. The events are listed below. The main event itself is on ESPN, the practice and qualifying are on ESPN2, and all the commentary and Formula 2 and Formula 3 events are on ESPN3.
Main Events
Here are the main events happening this weekend for Formula 1.
Friday, March 3rd
- : Practice 1 (ESPN2)
- : Practice 2 (ESPN2)
Saturday, March 4th
- : Practice 3 (ESPN2)
- : Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying (ESPN2)
Sunday, March 5th
- : Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix (ESPN)
Other Events
There’s a lot more happening in Bahrain this weekend. Here’s a complete list:
- Fri Mar 3 : Formula 3 Practice (ESPN3)
- Fri Mar 3 : Formula 2 Practice (ESPN3)
- Fri Mar 3 : Formula 3 Qualifying (ESPN3)
- Fri Mar 3 : Formula 2 Qualifying (ESPN3)
- Fri Mar 3 : F1 Show: Bahrain (ESPN3)
- Sat Mar 4 : Formula 3 Sprint Race (ESPN3)
- Sat Mar 4 : Formula 2 Sprint Race (ESPN3)
- Sat Mar 4 : F1: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook (ESPN3)
- Sun Mar 5 : Formula 3 Bahrain Feature Race (ESPN3)
- Sun Mar 5 : Formula 2 Bahrain Feature Race (ESPN3)
- Sun Mar 5 : Formula 1: Grand Prix Sunday (ESPN)
- Sun Mar 5 : Formula 1: Checkered Flag (ESPN3)
- Sun Mar 5 : F1: Ted’s Race Notebook (ESPN3)
- Sun Mar 5 : Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix — Rebroadcast (ESPNews)
How to Live Stream the Bahrain GP
Since the Bahrain Grand Prix and all the rest of the Formula One season are shown on ESPN, you have a lot of choices:
- Fubo (formerly FuboTV): Sign up for this sports-first streaming service if you love motorsports and beyond. It comes with 130+ channels including most RSNs in your area. Plans start at $74.99/mo. (Fubo review)
- Sling TV: The Sling Orange plan is the only live TV service that allows you to watch ESPN3 right in its app. At just $40.00/mo, it is the cheapest way to watch the whole F1 season. (Sling TV review) (Miami Grand Prix)
- DIRECTV STREAM: Get all the “cable” channels you want starting at $74.99/mo. (DIRECTV STREAM review)
- Hulu + Live TV: This is a great total-entertainment package with 85+ live TV channels, Disney+, and ESPN+ for $69.99/mo. (Hulu Live review)
- Vidgo: Get all the major ESPN channels for $69.99/mo. (Vidgo review)
- YouTube TV: Comes with 100+ channels for $72.99/mo.
All these streaming services provide a cloud DVR (Vidgo offers a 90-day trial after which you will need to upgrade to its Premium plan. Sling only allows you to stream on one device at a time — part of why it provides such a low price. But the others all allow you to stream on multiple devices simultaneously.
You can live stream with apps from all these services on the major devices: Amazon Fire TV, Android Mobile, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS (iPad/iPhone), Roku, and web browsers. Many also support different smart TVs (LG, Samsung, Vizio) and gaming consoles (PlayStation, Xbox). See our individual reviews for more.
F1 TV
If your sports viewing is laser-focused on Formula 1, you should sign up for F1 TV. It costs is $79.99 per year and provides complete racing coverage. You will receive:
- Every track session for every Grand Prix
- Driver cameras and radios
- Live stream other Formula races
- Replays of all races
- Historic race archives.
Watching Bahrain Outside the USA
Formula One is even more popular outside the United States. So you can watch it pretty much wherever you are.
- Australia: Fox Sports, Foxtel, Kayo
- Canada: TSN, RDS, Noovo
- Ireland: Sky Sports F1
- New Zealand: Sky NZ
- UK: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
2023 Bahrain Grand Prix Drivers and Teams
We won’t know until qualifying who gets pole position and what the starting grid looks like for the Bahrain Grand Prix. But all the best drivers are on hand:
| Team | Driver #1 | Driver #2 |
| Alfa Romeo | Zhou Guanyu | Valtteri Bottas |
| AlphaTauri | Nyck de Vries | Yuki Tsunoda |
| Alpine | Pierre Gasly | Esteban Ocon |
| Aston Martin | Fernando Alonso | Lance Stroll |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc | Carlos Sainz Jr |
| Haas | Kevin Magnussen | Nico Hülkenberg |
| McLaren | Lando Norris | Oscar Piastri |
| Mercedes | Lewis Hamilton | George Russell |
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen | Sergio Pérez |
| Williams | Logan Sargeant | Alex Albon |
Sergio Pérez came out on top in terms of pre-season testing races. Following him were Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, and Charles Leclerc.
2023 Bahrain race results
Max Verstappen enjoyed a comfortable lead throughout Sunday’s race at the Bahrain International Circuit, with only a brief interruption during the first round of pit stops. Sergio Pérez lost his position to Charles Leclerc, who had a fast start, while Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had a wheel-to-wheel battle, causing Alonso and his teammate Lance Stroll to lose positions.
Oscar Piastri, in his Formula One debut, retired after just 13 laps due to an electrical failure, while his teammate Lando Norris had engine issues requiring six pit stops to manage. Esteban Ocon received a five-second penalty for lining up incorrectly on the grid, but was then given a subsequent ten-second penalty and a further five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
After the second round of pit stops, Stroll overtook George Russell as the latter emerged on cold tyres with Stroll having pitted a lap earlier. Alonso overtook Hamilton for fifth place before a snap of oversteer on the corner exit allowed Hamilton to retake the position. Alonso took fifth place a lap later.
Leclerc suffered a mechanical failure and retired on lap 40, bringing out the virtual safety car. Alonso overtook Carlos Sainz Jr. using DRS on the run down to turn 11 on lap 45, while Pierre Gasly overtook Alexander Albon for ninth place. Zhou Guanyu, who started last, set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.
Verstappen won the race by almost twelve seconds from his teammate Pérez, with Alonso in third place. It was Alonso’s first podium finish since the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix and Aston Martin’s first since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
- (Netherlands) Max Verstappen — Red Bull
- (Mexico) Sergio Perez — Red Bull
- (Spain) Fernando Alonso– Aston Martin
- (Spain) Carlos Sainz — Ferrari
- (United Kingdom) Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes
- (Canada) Lance Stroll — Aston Martin
- (United Kingdom) George Russell — Mercedes
- (Finland) Valtteri Bottas — Alfa Romeo
- (France) Pierre Gasly — Alpine
- (Thailand) Alex Albon — Williams
- (Japan) Yuki Tsunoda — AlphaTauri
- (United States) Logan Sargeant — Williams
- (Denmark) Kevin Magnussen — Haas
- (Netherlands) Nyck de Vries — AlphaTauri
- (Germany) Nico Hulkenberg — Haas
- (China) Zhou Guanyu — Alfa Romeo
- (United Kingdom) Lando Norris — McLaren
dnf — (France) Esteban Ocon — Alpine
dnf — (Monaco) Charles Leclerc — Ferrari
dnf — (Australia) Oscar Piastri — McLaren
Wrapping Up
Formula One is an extremely popular sport worldwide and increasingly popular in the United States. As a result, it’s pretty easy to find it streaming. The Bahrain Grand Prix will be broadcast on ESPN.
Fubo is our top choice for streaming F1 races, qualifying, and practices Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial..
Guides for All Formula 1 Races
In addition to our general Formula 1 Viewer’s Guide, we have (or will have) guides for individual races:
- Mar 5: Bahrain Grand Prix
- Mar 19: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Apr 2: Australian Grand Prix
- Apr 30: Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- May 7: Miami Grand Prix
- May 21: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
- May 28: Monaco Grand Prix
- Jun 4: Spanish Grand Prix
- Jun 18: Canadian Grand Prix
- Jul 2: Austrian Grand Prix
- Jul 9: British Grand Prix
- Jul 23: Hungarian Grand Prix
- Jul 30: Belgian Grand Prix
- Aug 27: Dutch Grand Prix
- Sep 3: Italian Grand Prix
- Sep 17: Singapore Grand Prix
- Sep 24: Japanese Grand Prix
- Oct 8: Qatar Grand Prix
- Oct 22: United States Grand Prix
- Oct 29: Mexican Grand Prix
- Nov 5: Brazillian Grand Prix
- Nov 18: Las Vegas Grand Prix
- Nov 26: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
All time winners?
- 2022 — Charles Leclerc — Ferrari
- 2021 — Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes
- 2020 — Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes
- 2019 — Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes
- 2018 — Sebastian Vettel — Ferrari
- 2017 — Sebastian Vettel — Ferrari
- 2016 — Nico Rosberg — Mercedes
- 2015 — Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes
- 2014 — Lewis Hamilton — Mercedes
- 2013 — Sebastian Vettel — Red Bull Racing Renault
Page Updates ▼▲
-
Added sub-section. Updated some sub-sections. Updated some section headings. Put related links. Removed section.
-
Added FAQ section. Additional links.
-
Changed some content in main section.
-
States That Have Produced the Best Actors and Actresses - 09/06/2022 -
Exclusive Sports on Hulu + Live TV - 07/24/2022 -
Just How Good Is Hulu + Live TV’s Local TV Coverage? - 07/03/2022