Having decided to mark the Sakhir circuit’s tenth anniversary in Formula 1 by converting the April 6 race into the calendar’s second full night-time event, organisers erected a lighting system around the 5.4km track which was trialled during the World Endurance Championship race held there last November.
The session start times for the forthcoming 19-race F1 season have now duly been confirmed with Bahrain to stage both qualifying and the race under lights from 6pm local time, which is 4pm BST.
Friday’s Practice One session will begin at 2pm local, with Practice Two from 6pm, while Practice Three will start at 3pm on the Saturday.
Bahrain therefore joins Singapore, which made history by running an F1 race under floodlights for the first time in 2008, in staging a full night race this year. Both events will be broadcast live only on Sky Sports F1 this year.