The Grand Prix was contested by 22 drivers, in 11 teams of two. The teams, also known as "constructors", were Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, Honda, Force India, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Williams, Toro Rosso, and Super Aguri. Tyre supplier Bridgestone brought two different tyre compounds to the race, with the softer compound marked by a single white stripe down one of the grooves.
A week before the Grand Prix weekend, the News of the World alleged that Max Mosley, the president of Formula One's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), had engaged in sexual acts with five prostitutes. Mosley denied the allegations and cancelled his scheduled appearance at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Several teams condemned Mosley's alleged actions and asked for his resignation. Mosley eventually retained his position and successfully sued the News of the World for the report.
Prior to the race, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship with 14 points, followed by Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen and BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, both with 11 points. Hamilton's McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen was fourth with 10 points, and Robert Kubica was fifth with eight points. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren–Mercedes led with 24 points, ahead of BMW Sauber with 19 points and Ferrari with 11 points.
Ferrari had dominated the previous round in Malaysia, where Felipe Massa claimed pole position and led his teammate Räikkönen before spinning off and retiring. Räikkönen went on to win that race and expressed optimism about Bahrain, stating, "I have finished third in three successive Grands Prix in Bahrain. Time and again something has gone wrong. Sakhir is one of those circuits where I really want to win. Finally." Massa had faced criticism for errors in the opening two races, including a collision in Australia and his spin in Malaysia, but promised that the early results would not be indicative of the rest of the season. Hamilton had won the opening race in Australia but finished fifth in Malaysia after a qualifying penalty and a botched pit stop. Kubica had a strong start to the season, qualifying second in Australia and finishing second in Malaysia, and predicted his team could maintain their momentum.
Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race. The two Friday sessions each lasted 90 minutes, and the third session on Saturday morning lasted an hour. Ferraris outpaced other teams in the first session on a dusty track. Massa's time of 1:32.233 was quicker than Räikkönen's, who was slowed by an early excursion across the sand. Nico Rosberg, Hamilton, Heikki Kovalainen, Kazuki Nakajima, and Kubica completed the top seven. In the second session, Hamilton lost control of his car and slid into a wall, damaging his McLaren. Massa again led Räikkönen for a Ferrari 1–2, ahead of Kovalainen, Hamilton, and Kubica. The third session was also held on a dusty track, with Rosberg quickest at 1:32.521, followed by Massa, Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard, Nakajima, and Kubica. Räikkönen was ninth quickest, and Hamilton 18th.
The qualifying session on Saturday afternoon was split into three parts. The first part ran for 20 minutes, eliminating cars from 17th position downwards. The second part lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars from 11th to 16th. The final part determined positions first to tenth and decided pole position. Cars that failed to make the final session could refuel before the race and ran lighter, while cars in the final session could not refuel and carried more fuel.
Kubica clinched the first pole position of his career with a time of 1:33.096. Massa qualified less than 0.03 seconds behind and joined Kubica on the front row. Hamilton took third place using his team's spare chassis, ahead of Räikkönen, who was critical of his car's setup but confident in its racing ability. Kovalainen lined up fifth alongside Heidfeld, who had trouble maximizing tyre performance. Trulli took seventh, ahead of Rosberg and Jenson Button. Fernando Alonso was the last driver to make the third session. Mark Webber missed the top ten by 0.009 seconds and started 11th. Rubens Barrichello took 12th after a gearbox problem, ahead of Timo Glock, Nelson Piquet, and Sébastien Bourdais. Nakajima was 16th. Coulthard qualified 17th, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella. Sebastian Vettel took 19th, blaming his setup. Adrian Sutil qualified 20th, ahead of Anthony Davidson. Takuma Sato spun and crashed into the barriers, damaging his rear wing and suspension, preventing him from continuing.
The race began in dry conditions with an air temperature of 29 °C (84 °F) and a breeze that could blow sand onto the track. Massa got the best start, passing Kubica into the first corner to take the lead. Hamilton's poor start caused his anti-stall system to activate, dropping him to ninth. Räikkönen moved up to third, ahead of Kovalainen, Trulli, and Heidfeld. As Massa extended his lead, Hamilton collided with the back of Fernando Alonso's Renault, breaking off the McLaren's front wing. Hamilton pitted for a new nose section and rejoined in 18th place. Räikkönen took second by passing Kubica on lap three. Heidfeld moved to fourth by passing Trulli and Kovalainen. Further back, Vettel retired on the first lap after two collisions, while Button, Sutil, and Coulthard pitted for early damage repairs.
By lap 10, Massa led Räikkönen by 4.4 seconds, followed by Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, and Trulli. Kubica was the first frontrunner to pit on lap 17, followed by Räikkönen and Trulli on lap 20. Massa pitted from the lead one lap later. After the first round of pit stops, the gap between the Ferraris was 5.4 seconds, but Räikkönen closed to within four seconds by lap 31. Massa held a 3.6-second lead over Räikkönen when they pitted for the final time on laps 39 and 38, respectively, with Massa retaining his lead. Kubica pitted on lap 41, Heidfeld on lap 45, and Kovalainen on lap 47.
Coulthard and Button collided on lap 18 when Button attempted to pass at turn eight, resulting in Button's Honda losing its front wing and retiring a lap later after two pit stops. Hamilton climbed back through the field, passing Piquet, Davidson, Sutil, and Bourdais to reach 14th by his pit stop on lap 31. Piquet retired on lap 42 with transmission failure.
Massa took his first win of the season, crossing the line at the end of the 57th lap, 3.3 seconds ahead of Räikkönen. Kubica finished third, ahead of his teammate Heidfeld. Heidfeld finished fourth. Kovalainen finished fifth and set the fastest lap of the race on lap 49 with a time of 1:33.193. Trulli, Webber, Glock, and Alonso rounded out the top ten, with Glock holding off Alonso late in the race. Barrichello and Fisichella finished ahead of Hamilton, who managed 13th. Nakajima, Bourdais, Davidson, and Sato took the next four places. Coulthard and Sutil finished last on track after their crashes. Vettel, Button, and Piquet were the three retirements.
The top three finishers appeared on the podium and in the subsequent press conference. Massa expressed relief, stating, "For sure the race was pretty difficult because I didn't want to make any mistakes. I didn't push as much either, just tried to bring the car home and just controlling the pace as well." He also mentioned struggling with grip early due to oil in the middle sector of the course. Räikkönen's second place promoted him to the lead in the Drivers' Championship, and he expressed optimism about future races, saying, "The whole weekend has been pretty difficult, one of those things when we cannot really get the car right ... We are leading the Championship which is the main thing and we know that we have the speed once we get everything right. The race was quite difficult but anyhow I am happy with second."
Kubica attributed his poor start to wheelspin and the presence of oil on the track, which also impeded his car's performance and allowed Räikkönen to pass. He concluded, "But anyway I think it was a good result: third and fourth for the team and leading the Constructors' Championship, so it was good weekend."
Hamilton accepted responsibility for his near stall on the grid, explaining, "I hadn't hit the switch early enough and therefore we were not in the launch map and went straight into anti-stall, and when everyone else was in their launch mode, I wasn't." Renault dismissed suggestions that Alonso had brake tested Hamilton in their collision. Pat Symonds, Renault's head of engineering, stated that telemetry indicated Alonso was on full throttle and had not touched the brakes, adding, "I think all I can say from our side is that there is no blame attributable to Fernando, which is what some of the speculation might be." McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh suggested Hamilton's front wing broke seconds before impact, and the resulting downforce reduction pulled Hamilton into Alonso's slipstream faster than expected. However, photos suggested the front wing might have broken earlier when Hamilton nudged a car, believed to be Alonso, on the opening lap. The later incident left Alonso with damage to the back of his car, impairing his attempts to pass Glock late in the race.
Räikkönen's second-place finish gave him a three-point lead over Heidfeld in the Drivers' Championship, with 19 points to Heidfeld's 16. Hamilton, Kubica, and Kovalainen each had 14 points. BMW Sauber's strong performance gave them the lead in the Constructors' Championship with 30 points, ahead of Ferrari with 29 points and McLaren with 28 points.
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