How to watch Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying live? F1 2021 live stream details

The F1 2021 season is back and the first race as per the F1 2021 schedule is the Bahrain Grand Prix. Two free practice sessions have taken place so far with the third practice session and the all-important qualifying set to take place today ahead of Saturday's race. Here is a look at how to watch Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying live in India, the F1 2021 schedule, and other details.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 free practice sessions 1 and 2 review

Following an encouraging pre-season testing, Max Verstappen continued to set the pace for Red Bull as he topped both free practice sessions 1 and 2 on the opening day of the Bahrain Grand Prix 2021. At the end of FP2, McLaren's Lando Norris was the Dutch's closest competition, with the pair split by just 0.095s. Meanwhile, defending Driver's Champion Lewis Hamilton set the third-fastest time.

As a result of Ferrari's drastic improvements from last season, they are much closer to the pace of the front-runners as new recruit Carlos Sainz Jr set the fourth-fastest time. Valtteri Bottas set the fifth-fastest time to round out the top 5. Meanwhile, former Driver's Champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso struggled as they could only manage 14th and 15th place respectively.

How to watch Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying live in India?

In India, the Star Sports Network has the rights for the Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 telecast. Fans can catch all the action from the Bahrain GP LIVE on Star Sports Select 2 and Star Sports Select 2 HD from Saturday, March 27, 2021, 8:25 PM onwards. The Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying round live stream will be available on Disney+ Hotstar VIP. Live updates of all the qualifying sessions can be found on the social media of F1 and the respected teams.

Bahrain GP qualifying schedule

As per the Bahrain GP qualifying schedule, like always, three qualifying sessions will take place. At the end of Q1, the bottom five drivers will be eliminated and will start Sunday's Grand Prix as per their fastest times in Q1. The other fifteen drivers will again attempt to set their fastest times in Q2 with the bottom five to be eliminated before Q3. The top 10 drivers will take place in a top-10 shootout for pole position ahead of Sunday's race. The qualifying is set to take place from 8:30 PM IST to 9:30 PM IST on Saturday, March 27.

F1 2021 schedule

The F1 2021 schedule has the most number of races (23) in an F1 season. After the Bahrain Grand Prix, the action moves to the Italian (16-18 April) and Portuguese Grand Prix (30 April-2 May). Fans can view the entire F1 2021 schedule on the official Formula 1 page.