The crucial battle for pole position takes place at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday (October 3) and we have all the important schedule and TV details for you.
The Silver Arrows were surprisingly off the pace in Practice on Friday but we expect to see them much closer to the action at the front of the pack when engine modes get ramped up for Qualifying.
Ferrari also face an important weekend as they look to emerge from all the speculation about Fred Vasseur and Christian Horner with a positive result.
Meanwhile the signs are that Red Bull will be strong this weekend with four-time world champion Max Verstappen impressing so far.
Qualifying takes place at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on Saturday (remember this race was moved from Bahrain because of the conflict in the Middle East) and we have all the key information for you.
Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix takes place on Saturday (October 3) at Sepang with a start time of 9am UK (BST). That is 4pm local time, 10am CEST or 4am Eastern for US fans setting their alarm clocks.
We’ve converted it to your local timezone where you are, all available in the table below:
Qualifying – Saturday October 3, 2026
Location
Time
Local time (MYT)
16:00 Friday
Central European Time (CEST)
10:00 Friday
UK (BST)
09:00 Friday
US (ET)
04:00 Friday
US (CT)
03:00 Friday
US (PT)
01:00 Friday
Brazil (BRT)
05:00 Friday
Australia (AWST)
16:00 Friday
Australia (ACT)
17:30 Friday
Australia (AET)
18:00 Friday
Mexico (CST)
02:00 Friday
Japan (JST)
17:00 Friday
China (CST)
16:00 Friday
South Africa (SAST)
10:00 Friday
Egypt (EEST)
11:00 Friday
India (IST)
11:30 Friday
Singapore (SGT)
16:00 Friday
Turkey (TRT)
11:00 Friday
United Arab Emirates (GST)
12:00 Friday
Saudi Arabia (AST)
11:00 Friday
How to watch 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying live on TV today
As ever, the UK options are Sky F1 for live coverage or Channel 4 for free-to-air highlights.
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