The winner of the previous Bahrain Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg, did not compete as he had retired after the 2016 season.

After missing the opening two rounds of the season due to injury, Pascal Wehrlein returned to competition with Sauber.

[5] Antonio Giovinazzi, who replaced Wehrlein in the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix, resumed testing and reserve driver duties for Ferrari.

[citation needed] At the start, Bottas led away with Vettel in hot pursuit after he beat Hamilton into 2nd off the line, Vettel pitted early as did Verstappen, however Verstappen had a brake failure soon after and had to retire from the race.

Alonso's frustration boiled over in a radio message saying he has never had so little power in his life before later retiring with engine problems.