2016 Bahrain Grand Prix

2016 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race 2 of 21 in the 2016 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	3 April 2016 (2016-04-03)
Official name	2016 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix[1][2][3]
Location	Bahrain International Circuit Sakhir, Bahrain
Course	Permanent Racing Facility
Course length	5.412 km (3.363 miles)
Distance	57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 miles)
Weather	Dry 21–22 °C (70–72 °F) air temperature 26–29 °C (79–84 °F) track temperature 2 m/s (6.6 ft/s) wind from the southwest[4]
Attendance	92,000 (Weekend) [5]
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:29.493
Fastest lap
Driver	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Time	1:34.482 on lap 41
Podium
First	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Third	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix (formally known as the 2016 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 3 April 2016 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. The race was the second round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship and marked the twelfth time that the Bahrain Grand Prix had been run as a round of the Formula One World Championship. Lewis Hamilton was the defending race winner, while his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg was the Drivers' Championship leader coming into the round.

During qualifying, which saw the second iteration of the heavily criticised "elimination format", Hamilton achieved pole position ahead of Rosberg and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Rosberg won the race from Kimi Räikkönen, with Hamilton completing the podium. The elimination format of qualifying was dropped after this race with it eventually decided that sport would revert to previous iteration of the three segment qualifying used between 2006 and 2015 from the Chinese Grand Prix onwards.