Bahrain Grand Prix preview: F1 race time, live stream, starting grid

he marathon 2021 Formula 1 season begins today with the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton has won this race in each of the last two seasons and is tied with long-time rival Sebastian Vettel – now of Aston Martin – for the most victories in Bahrain.

Red Bull’s Verstappen delivered a supreme final lap to see off seven-time world champion Hamilton by almost four tenths of a second with his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas third.

There is cautious hope that the title battle may prove to be a little closer ahead of those seismic changes coming to the sport in 2022.

There is plenty to watch further down the field this season, with Vettel’s hopes for a renaissance at Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso’s return, Sergio Perez at Red Bull and the F1 debut of Schumacher’s son Mick at Haas among the most notable storylines.

1 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1min 28.997secs

2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:29.385

3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:29.586

4 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:29.678

5 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:29.809

6 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) McLaren 1:29.927

7 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:29.974

8 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Ferrari 1:30.215

9 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Alpine 1:30.249

10 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:30.601

11 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:30.659

12 Antonio Giovinazzi (Ita) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:30.708

13 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:31.203

14 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:31.238

15 George Russell (Gbr) Williams 1:33.430

16 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:31.724

17 Nicholas Latifi (Can) Williams 1:31.936

18 Mick Schumacher (Swi) Haas F1 1:32.449

19 Nikita Mazepin (Raf) Haas F1 1:33.273

The race will consist of 57 laps, totalling 308.238 kilometres (191.530 miles) in length.