Bahrain Grand Prix 2025 – The Best Bet Opportunities
Race four of the 2025 season comes from Bahrain, where easy overtaking opportunities should see qualifying form stand up.
2024’s Bahrain Grand Prix went to form and all 20 drivers that set out completed the race distance. © Getty Images
Key Facts:
- Lando Norris can extend his one-point lead in Formula 1’s World Drivers’ Championship in Bahrain on Sunday.
- The last three poll-setters have won this race. The overall record is 10-from-21.
- Drivers adopting contra strategies are predicted to take early pitstops.
- Sky has live coverage of all race weekend action.
2025’s Formula 1 season was supposed to be a cakewalk for Lando Norris. But, with Lewis Hamilton winning the Sprint race in China, Max Verstappen dominating last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, and Oscar Piastri taking China’s feature race, the 25-year-old Brit is just one point ahead in the World Drivers’ Championship.
This weekend, in Bahrain, leading motorsports betting sites believe Norris will bounce back to form and repeat his Australian Grand Prix heroics. The McLaren driver is 6/4 to score. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, is 2/1, and Max Verstappen can be backed on 7/2 odds. The remainder are priced 14/1 and greater.
The Japanese Grand Prix was a tragically boring race. Lewis Hamilton’s overtake of Isack Hadjar (for seventh place) represented the only change in grid starting positions amongst the top 10.
However, Bahrain International Circuit’s medium-downforce track offers easier overtaking opportunities. An abrasive surface and demanding corners will require drivers to take two tyre changes during the race. Combined, these factors will make the contest more exciting, but should see the best car/driver combination score.
Poll, Race Win, Fastest Lap Is a Simple Combo
The Bahrain Grand Prix – the season-opening race for the past four years – has been good for favourites. Similarly, the last three poll-setters have won the race and the record of front markers since the track opened in 2004 is 10-from-21.
Another interesting statistic is the number of race winners who have also claimed the race’s fastest lap. An 8-from-21 conversion rate equates to 38 percent – the highest of any circuit with a meaningful sample size of previous race results.
These two statistics strongly suggest the fastest cars will have little problem stamping their authority on the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix. Traditional spanners in the works – such as rain and mechanical issues – are considered impossible and highly improbable.
Bahrain’s Circuit was the venue for the 2025 pre-season testing. This means that every team will have plenty of data to work with when setting up the cars and choosing the best strategies for qualifying and racing.
Underdog Can Win the First Pitstop Race
With everything suggesting online gambling sites have their prices right, punters should deviate from traditional qualifying, race-winning and fastest-lap betting markets and look elsewhere for the best Bahrain Grand Prix betting opportunities.
There could be one such opportunity in the ‘first driver to take a pitstop’ market. Last weekend, at the Japanese Grand Prix, Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon, and Gabriel Bortoleto all started on a ‘contra-strategy’ (racing on a hard tyre at the start and delaying their sole pitstop until late in the race).
The decision to employ a strategy different from the primary race plan of front markers is relatively common for drivers starting outside the top 15. In Bahrain, while the leading teams and drivers can be expected to make their first pitstop between laps 12-15, the contra strategy might see some hopefuls replace their starting tyres even earlier.
At the prices and based on current performance, Gabriel Bortoleto (8/1), Oliver Bearman (9/1) and Lance Stroll (16/1) are our recommendations in this specialist market.
20 Completions Is a Tasty 3/1 Bet
A second Bahrain Grand Prix betting market where the odds offered might outweigh the probability is the ‘total finishers’. Unbeknown to many, a car needs only to complete 90 percent of a race distance to be classified as a race finisher.
Last year, despite the Bahrain Grand Prix acting as the season curtain raiser, all 20 drivers that set out completed the race. That was also the case in the Japanese Grand Prix just a week ago.
Even race two on the 2025 calendar – the Chinese Grand Prix at the end of March – saw all but one car greet the chequered flag. There may have been post-race disqualifications, but bookmakers settle bets on the outcome at the time of the winning driver standing on the podium.
3/1 odds about all 20 drivers completing 90 percent of the Bahrain Grand Prix’s 57 race laps represents a fair bet. It is the second bet recommendation for this contest that will be raced on warm conditions under floodlights.
Weekend Schedule – How to Watch the Bahrain Grand Prix
Sky Sports’ dedicated F1 channel will broadcast all the weekend’s Formula 1 action, starting with the Drivers Press Conference on Thursday. Sky Sports Main Event will also screen practice sessions, qualifying and the race live. The full Bahrain Grand Prix timetable (stated times being UK/GMT), is listed below.
Thursday April 10
2 pm: Drivers’ Press Conference
Friday April 11
12.30 pm: Bahrain GP Practice 1
4.00 pm: Bahrain GP Practice 2
Saturday April 12
1.30 pm: Bahrain GP Practice 3
5.00 pm: Bahrain GP Qualifying
Sunday April 13
4.00 pm: The Bahrain GP
Non Sky subscribers can tune into free-to-air Channel 4 for highlights of the Bahrain Grand Prix’s qualifying at 8.30 pm on Saturday 12 April, and race highlights from 10.05 pm on Sunday 13 April.
