Nico Rosberg, winner of the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix, had retired from racing after securing the 2016 championship and did not compete. The 2017 edition marked the thirteenth time the Bahrain Grand Prix had counted as a World Championship round. Vettel entered the race as championship leader, tied on points with Lewis Hamilton but ranked ahead on a count-back. Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship by a single point over Ferrari.
Pascal Wehrlein returned to the Sauber seat for this round after missing the opening two races through injury. Antonio Giovinazzi, who had replaced Wehrlein in Australia and China, reverted to his testing and reserve driver role with Ferrari.
In Q1, Carlos Sainz Jr. lost power in his Toro Rosso and stopped on track in 16th position; flags shown for his car disrupted several other drivers and caused early eliminations from the session. In Q2, Fernando Alonso could not set a time after a broken power unit left his McLaren-Honda stationary, placing him 15th. Lance Stroll could not leave the Williams garage until late in Q2 and was pushed back to 12th. In Q3, Hamilton broke his previous best lap at the circuit while chasing a 55th career pole, but Valtteri Bottas improved further, beating his teammate by two-hundredths of a second with 1:28.769 to claim his maiden Formula One pole position.
The full Q3 order had Bottas first, Hamilton second, Vettel third, Ricciardo fourth, Räikkönen fifth, and Verstappen sixth.
Bottas led away from pole but Vettel, starting third, beat Hamilton off the line to take second at the first corner. Vettel pitted early on lap 12 to undercut Bottas — a gamble that succeeded — and emerged in the lead after the pit stop sequence resolved. Verstappen had run fourth in the opening laps but suffered a brake failure on lap 11 and retired. A collision between Stroll's Williams and Kvyat's Toro Rosso on lap 12 brought out the safety car to allow the stricken Williams to be cleared; both Sainz and Stroll retired as a result of the incident.
Hamilton worked up through the field to challenge Vettel but carried a five-second penalty for impeding Ricciardo in the pit lane during his first stop. He served the penalty at his second stop, ending any realistic prospect of the race win. Bottas, running third, moved aside to let Hamilton through with ten laps remaining. Vettel took the chequered flag in 1:33:53.374, 6.660 seconds ahead of Hamilton, with Bottas third at 20.397 seconds. Räikkönen was fourth for Ferrari and Ricciardo fifth for Red Bull. Sergio Pérez scored seventh for Force India from 18th on the grid.
Alonso retired on lap 54 with a power unit failure; a radio message in which he stated he had never experienced so little power drew widespread attention. Stoffel Vandoorne did not start due to water pressure problems with his McLaren-Honda. Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race, 1:32.798 on lap 46.
The race result gave Vettel his 44th Formula One victory overall.
After three rounds Vettel led the Drivers' Championship with 68 points, ahead of Hamilton on 61, Bottas on 38, and Räikkönen on 34. Ferrari topped the Constructors' standings with 102 points to Mercedes' 99, the closest gap between the two constructors at that stage of a season since the beginning of the hybrid era. The result reinforced an early-season narrative of a genuine title fight between Ferrari and Mercedes following several years of Mercedes dominance.
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