How To Watch F1 Races Live in 2023: Bahrain GP Start Time

The 2023 F1 season is almost upon us. Just 103 days after the chequered flag fell in Abu Dhabi, practice for the first race in Bahrain will get underway.

Champion Max Verstappen is the favourite to make it three titles in a row, having comfortably seen off the competition last year. But his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will want to provide a more sustained challenge this season.

Then there’s Mercedes, who won just one 2022 race in an otherwise underwhelming campaign. With Lewis Hamilton seeking a record eighth world title and George Russell attempting to win his first, there’s no shortage of motivation for the team.

We’ve also seen plenty of driver changes further down the grid, with rookies Logan Seargant, Oscar Piastri and Nyck de Vries all joining the sport. Nico Hulkenberg is also back in a permanent capacity with Haas.

Here’s everything you need to know about the first Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain, including start times and how to watch live – both from the UK and elsewhere.

When is the Bahrain Grand Prix start time?

F1’s pre-season testing is taking place in Bahrain on 23-25 February, then drivers will have three practice sessions before the usual three stages of qualifying on 4 March to determine grid position. Then there’s the race itself:

• Round 1: Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
• Date: Sunday 5 March 2023
• Race start time: 6pm local time (3pm GMT, 10am ET, 7am PT)
• Race highlights: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4 (times TBC)

When is qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix?

• Qualifying start time: 4 March at 6pm local time (3pm GMT, 10am ET, 7am PT)
• Qualifying highlights: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4 (times TBC)

If you’re unable to get to a TV or record broadcasts, you can watch them later on Sky Go / Now and on All 4 (soon to be known simply as ‘Channel 4’). You can also catch up later with much shorter highlights on the official Formula 1 and Sky Sports F1 YouTube channels.

How to watch every F1 race for free in the UK

• Sky showing every race live
• Extended qualifying, plus highlights on Channel 4 shown a few hours after the race
• Channel 4 only has British GP live

F1 is fast becoming a pay-to-watch sport. But there are ways to watch without paying, especially if you’re happy to watch highlights later in the day.

Sky still has the exclusive rights to show live races in the UK (as well as Italy and Germany), meaning the only coverage on free-to-air TV in the UK will be available on Channel 4.

However, you’ll have to use a traditional TV setup to watch as it’s being broadcast. Channel 4’s streaming service – All 4 – doesn’t let you watch live, and it can take a while for the highlights to appear there. The highlights show usually lasts more than two hours and is allowed to cover 70% of the action.

You can watch Channel 4 on your TV, of course, but you can also watch using the All 4 app on your phone or tablet (but not live), or in a web browser via the website. See the full range of options on the Channel 4 website.

The other way to watch for free – especially if you want to watch races live – is to use a VPN and stream them from broadcasters in other countries which show races on free-to-air channels (but not necessarily with English commentary). 

How to watch F1 races in 4K HDR

If you’re happy to pay a subscription fee so you can watch entire races live, then Sky is the only official option in the UK.

Races are now broadcast in 4K HDR and, as we understand it, you’ll need a Sky Glass TV, or a Sky Q box that’s capable of sending the 4K HDR signal to your compatible TV. That means one which supports the HLG type of HDR, because that’s what Sky uses. You’ll also need the appropriate Ultra HD add-on for your Sky TV package. 

Unfortunately, that means no 4K or HDR for Now customers, or those who receive Sky channels via BT TV. 

You can currently get Sky Sports F1 (and all the other sports channels) for £18 per month on top of your normal Sky package – meaning a minimum cost of £41 per month in reality.

F1 owners Liberty Media operate an online streaming service known as F1 TV Pro, but it isn’t available in the UK due to Sky’s exclusive. However, there is a workaround, as we’ll explain below.

Watch F1 on Now

If you don’t want to pay for Sky TV (maybe because you only want F1) then there is an alternative: you can subscribe via Sky’s streaming service, Now (formerly Now TV). That’s available on your phone, tablet, games consoles, via a web browser and also via an Amazon Fire TV Stick, Chromecast, Roku device and others.

It’ll now cost £34.99 per month for the Sky Sports Pass, plus an extra £6 per month for 1080p video (instead of 720p) and simultaneous streaming on up to 3 devices (rather than just one). But it’s still cheaper than buying Sky TV, and there are often discounts available.

BT broadband customers can also get Sky Sports channels as part of a Now bolt-on to their BT TV package – see more details in our BT VIP review.

Can you get F1 TV Pro in the UK?

Not officially, but it is possible. In case you didn’t know, F1 TV Pro is the official streaming service of Formula 1 but you can’t subscribe in the UK because of Sky’s exclusive deal for live races.

F1 TV Pro is only available in the likes of the Netherlands, Canada and the US. It costs $79.99 per year or $9.99 per month, which is significantly cheaper, and you can access any onboard camera or team radio whenever you’d like.

But in the UK, the exclusive deal with Sky means you can only get a live timing service for £2.29 per month. Liberty Media, which runs F1 has previously said that using a VPN to access it will result in your subscription being terminated with no refund.

However, we know from first-hand experience that you can successfully watch the service in the UK via Surfshark – it currently costs $59.76/£58.37 for 24 months (plus two months free), which works out as $2.30/£2.43 per month.

After you sign up, install the Surfshark app on the device you’d like to use for F1 TV Pro and connect to a server based in the US.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Once connected, head to the Formula 1 website on a browser where you have Apple Pay or Google Pay details saved (usually Safari or Chrome) and click ‘Subscribe Now’ under F1 TV Pro.

Create an account if you haven’t already, then click the ‘name on card’ field and let Apple or Google Pay autofill all the details for you. Click the box to agree to all the terms and conditions, then click ‘Complete Order’ to finish.

However, despite this method working in the past, there’s no guarantee it will now. The risk of losing your subscription with no refund will always be there, so only go ahead with this if you’re willing to accept the consequences.

Without a VPN, the only F1 content you can access from the UK is the live timing service, which costs £2.29 per month.

If you don’t want to pay for F1 TV Pro and you’re in the US, F1 races will be shown on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

Can I watch F1 online in 2023?

Indeed you can. Coverage is available using the following apps:

Note that you cannot watch live on the All 4 app.

Unlike BBC iPlayer or ITVX, you can’t join a live broadcast and you may have to wait hours for the race highlights to appear in the app.

Sky

To watch races online with the Sky Go app you first need to subscribe to its TV service. Sky will be broadcasting practice, qualifying and races in Ultra HDR, but as explained above, you’ll need the right equipment to get it, and this is not available via Sky Go. You can find out more on Sky’s website.

Now

As mentioned above, you can watch Sky Sports F1 without being a Sky TV customer as the channel is also available on Now (formerly Now TV) as you can also get Now as part of a BT TV package.

Now is Sky’s streaming service, which you can watch via the Now app on a laptop, PC, Mac, phone or tablet. It can also be found or installed on Amazon Fire TV Stick streaming devices, LG TVs, Samsung TV, YouView boxes (not early ones), Apple TV, Sony TVs, Google Chromecast, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X.

You’ll need the Now Sports membership which costs £34.99 per month or £11.98 per day. Adding Now Boost to the former costs an extra £6 per month.

How to watch F1 online with a VPN

If you’re not in the same country as the TV broadcaster, you won’t be able to watch F1 online without a VPN. For example, you can no longer watch abroad using the Sky Go app on your phone or tablet because of Brexit.

Similarly, you can’t watch highlights on the All 4 app unless you use a VPN with a UK server.

We recommend using NordVPN and Surfshark.

A VPN makes it appear that you’re located in the same country as the broadcaster when you connect to a server in the appropriate country.

Read our guide to the
best VPN services for more information.

Is there a way to watch F1 races live for free?

Officially, no. But there is a way. In 2022 and 2023, F1 will be shown on free-to-air channels ServusTV and ORF in Austria, plus on Match TV in Russia. Races are also broadcast live on Belgian TV channel
RTBF.

You’ll need a VPN (see above) to watch these channels outside of those countries, so connect to the appropriate country – Austria or Russia – and then head to their respective websites and figure out how to navigate to the right channel and you’ll be ale to watch the live stream.

Obviously unless you speak those languages the commentary won’t be at all useful, but the good news is that you can listen to English commentary by tuning into Radio 5 Live. You don’t need an actual radio of course: you can also listen via the BBC Sounds app, or on the
BBC website.

Here are the website links:

If you fancy watching on the big screen rather than your laptop, then here’s how to hook up your laptop to a TV. You could also cast from Android, if you’re using a VPN and web browser on your phone or tablet. Similarly, those with iPhones or iPads can mirror their screen to the TV using an Apple TV.

Other than this, the sport is all but behind a paywall now. You used to be able watch races live on RTL Germany but Sky Germany now has exclusive rights (as in the UK) to show live races in Germany as well.

We’ve also been informed by a Tech Advisor reader that F1 is shown free to air on an Arabic satellite channel service called MBC Action MBC Persia. They’re available on a number of satellites at varying frequencies, but they require a very good satellite installation and setup to pick up the signals. 

Full F1 calendar 2023

Sprint Qualifying races in 2023

The format will be run at six races this season:

• Round 4 – Azerbaijan
• Round 10 – Austria
• Round 13 – Belgium
• Round 18 – Qatar
• Round 19 – United States
• Round 21 – Sao Paulo

Instead of being run on the Saturday, normal qualifying (with Q1, Q2 and Q3 sessions) takes place on Friday afternoon. This determines the grid order for Sprint Qualifying, which is a short 100km race that is held on Saturday afternoon.

The driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying will be given the honour of pole position. They’ll start the sprint race in P1, but then the grid for Sunday will be determined by the finishing positions.

In the sprint race, the top eight drivers are awarded points, from 8 for the winner down to 1 point for coming P8.

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