Bahrain confirmed as venue for 2025 F1 preseason testing

After several years of banking on the Kingdom of Bahrain to get the new season up and running, all that was left to know was the dates on which Formula 1 will be seen for the first time in 2025, and today, the organizers made it official.

Bahrain for the fifth consecutive year

Bahrain has been selected as the venue for F1 pre-season testing for the fifth year running. Tests were first held in Sakhir in 2009, then in 2014, and have subsequently been hosted by the Kingdom each year since 2021.

The pre-season tests will take place in the last week of February and will be spread over the usual three days of action on the 26th, 27th and 28th, with the start of the championship scheduled in Australia for the weekend of March 14th to 16th. As a novelty, the paddock will leave part of its load in Bahrain, where they will return in April after having also passed through China and Japan.

The full announcement statement

Formula 1 and governing body the FIA have announced that the Bahrain International Circuit will host three days of pre-season testing in 2025 on February 26, 27 and 28.

The track has hosted pre-season testing on six separate occasions since 2009, with its consistent weather conditions, mixture of high and low-speed corners, and two long straights enabling F1 teams to gather maximum data for the campaign ahead.

Arriving on the calendar back in 2004, Bahrain was the first Middle Eastern venue to host an F1 race and celebrated its 20th anniversary with the 2024 edition of the event.

In the 20 years since the first Grand Prix the 5.41km circuit has delivered nine winners from five different teams, with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc all claiming victory from the current grid.

The 24-round 2025 F1 season – which will mark the sport’s 75th year – is set to kick off with the Australian Grand Prix from March 14-16 and conclude with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the weekend of December 5-7, taking in trips to five of the world’s seven continents.

As part of the continued drive in sustainability, with the sport on track to become Net Zero by 2030, a significant percentage of freight will remain in Sakhir for F1′s return ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix from April 11-13.