Bahrain: Spirits were high yesterday at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) as excitement continued to build with the 2016 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix just around the corner.
The highly anticipated race weekend is scheduled from Friday to Sunday at the world-class Sakhir race track, with an extra night of entertainment for the fans slated for Thursday.
Preparations continued circuit-wide as Formula 1 team personnel have begun unpacking their equipment and setting up their respective garages and home bases along BIC’s Formula 1 Paddock.
Things will continue to be busy over the next couple of days as work continues to get ready for the start of all the racing action.
Meanwhile, members of the Formula 1 community continued to arrive in Bahrain today ahead of the Grand Prix weekend.
Renault rookie Jolyon Palmer was among the top flight’s star drivers to touch down on the island. He and all the others who have arrived were welcomed upon reaching Bahrain International Airport by BIC’s Meet and Greet staff. They assisted the kingdom’s guests in the necessary formalities to enter the country, and also helped in arranging transportation for the visitors to their hotels.
The other Formula 1 drivers are scheduled to arrive in the coming days along with officials and staff from the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Formula 1, the teams and those participating in the two support races.
This year’s Bahrain Grand Prix marks the second of a record 21 rounds in the 2016 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. It is the 12th edition of Formula 1’s only desert event, and the third year since the kingdom’s race was switched to a night-time spectacle.
A 22-car grid representing 11 Formula 1 teams will be lining up on the start grid on Sunday, April 3.
Among them will be Haas, who are making their Bahrain debut this weekend. Their driver partnership of Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez have had mixed results at BIC in previous years, but they will be looking for a positive showing with their new team as they work to continue developing their VF-16 challenger.
Improve
Grosjean commented: “Bahrain is not a circuit that looks very technical from a paper point of view, but I love driving it every year.
“We need to get more running. We need to get more mileage and further our understanding of the car. We have a long list of things we want to try and do, and things to improve. It’s a lot of work but, on the other hand, it means we can improve the car by a big chunk. I always like to keep things positive. If we can do a lot of that in Bahrain, the car will improve and that means we can keep working on better results.”
Gutierrez added: “I think, in general, we can go to Bahrain making our next step forward as a team. It’s quite impressive that even though we have not been able to experiment a lot, we have a very good base line. So, I’m really looking forward to get to know more of the car to experiment more and really work on the best direction for our setup. Bahrain will help us a lot to get more consistent running, more laps in practice and hopefully a smooth weekend.”
Aside from all the racing, BIC has put together its best-ever line-up of world-class artistes who will be performing live over the weekend.
All those with tickets to the Grand Prix will be able to attend the concerts at no extra cost.
A Main Grandstand ticket costs BD150, while a Batelco Grandstand ticket is BD120. A ticket to the Turn One Grandstand is BD100, and tickets to the University and Victory Grandstands are BD60 apiece.
Children aged three to 12 can get tickets for half the price, while entry is free for those two years old and below. School students aged 13 to 17 can get a 25 per cent discount. University students can get 10 per cent off, while senior citizens aged 60 and above along with people with special needs can get 25 per cent discount.
All tickets are for three-day access to the Grand Prix weekend, including all the racing and off-track entertainment and concerts.
Tickets can be purchased at the BIC stands in Bahrain City Centre or Seef Mall in Seef District, online atwww.bahraingp.com or by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17-450000.