Sakhir and the Table of a Trading Port

Bahrain brought the World Championship to the Middle East in 2004, and its kitchen carries centuries of trade, where Arabic, Iranian and Indian cooking meet.

In 2004 the Bahrain Grand Prix became the first round in our records to be held in the Middle East. Every edition since has run at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, and our records count 21 Bahrain Grands Prix from 2004 to 2025, with the 2011 race cancelled.

The circuit hosted twice in 2020, when the Sakhir Grand Prix joined the regular event, bringing the country's total to 22 championship rounds. On the 2026 calendar the Bahrain Grand Prix appears as round 16, set for October 4. With no Bahraini driver or team in our records, the country's place in the sport rests on the circuit itself.

Since ancient times this small island nation in the Persian Gulf has been a port where trade routes met, and its food tells that story. Arabic cooking mingles with Iranian, Indian, African, East Asian and European influences, carried in by the communities who settled there. Rice anchors the household table, cooked with chicken, lamb, fish or shrimp, perfumed with spices and sometimes sweetened with dates. Fish, the local net fish among them, is a constant companion.

Hospitality has rituals of its own. Qahwah, the Arabic coffee, is the national drink, and karak tea is poured for guests, often with cardamom cookies or sweet fried dumplings in syrup. The islands have so little farmland that much of the food is imported, yet the dishes remain distinctly local, proof that a kitchen's character travels with the cook rather than the cargo. A Bahrain weekend is the moment for a pot of machboos, with luqaimat to finish.

A taste of Bahrain

• Machboos laham, Spiced lamb and rice with dried lime
• Muhammar, Sweet date rice with spiced fried fish
• Nakhi, Warm spiced chickpeas with lemon
• Samboosa, Crisp triangle pastries with spiced beef
• Balaleet, Sweet saffron vermicelli with a thin omelet
• Jireesh, Cracked wheat porridge with chicken and tomato
• Chai haleeb, Sweet milk tea with cardamom and saffron
• Sharbat al ward, Chilled rose and cardamom milk
• Halwa Bahraini, Saffron and rose water starch sweet

Circuits

• Bahrain International Circuit

Drivers