The event was held across the weekend of 3–5 March. Pirelli supplied C1, C2, and C3 compounds — the three hardest in their range — as designated hard, medium, and soft respectively. The Bahrain International Circuit's third DRS activation point was moved 80 metres further along the circuit, repositioned 250 metres after turn 15.
Oscar Piastri, Nyck de Vries, and Logan Sargeant made their Formula One Grand Prix season debuts with McLaren, AlphaTauri, and Williams respectively, although de Vries had previously started a single race — the 2022 Italian Grand Prix — for Williams. Nico Hülkenberg returned to the grid with Haas, having last raced at the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Qualifying was held on 4 March at 18:00 local time. A red flag in Q1 was caused when a piece of the front wheel brow from Charles Leclerc's Ferrari fell off during a lock-up at turn 1. At the end of Q1, Lando Norris and Logan Sargeant set identical lap times; Norris advanced to Q2 because he had set his time first. In Q2, Alexander Albon went off at the turn 5/6/7 esses and failed to set a time. After the first runs of Q3, Leclerc was seen climbing out of his car, prompting reliability concerns; he later explained the team had opted to save a set of tyres for the race. Verstappen ultimately took pole by nearly two tenths of a second, posting a 1:29.708.
The race started at 18:00 local time. Verstappen led from the start, briefly losing the lead only during the first round of pit stops before reclaiming it. Pérez was slow away from the grid and lost second place to a fast-starting Charles Leclerc. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton battled approaching turn 4, where Alonso was struck by his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll — who was racing despite two broken wrists and a broken toe — costing both Aston Martins positions.
Oscar Piastri retired on lap 13 of his Formula One debut with an electrical failure. Teammate Lando Norris encountered hydraulic problems, requiring six pit stops to manage the issue across the race distance. Esteban Ocon received a five-second penalty for lining up incorrectly in his grid box; failing to serve the full penalty during his pit stop, he was then given a ten-second penalty for that infringement, followed by a further five seconds for speeding in the pit lane while serving the second penalty.
Pérez passed Leclerc on lap 26, with Red Bull the only front-running team to use soft tyres for both of their first two stints. After the second round of pit stops, Lance Stroll overtook George Russell as the Mercedes driver emerged from the pit lane on cold tyres. Alonso and Hamilton contested fifth place across several laps: Alonso passed Hamilton at turn 4 on lap 37, Hamilton recovered when Alonso had a snap of oversteer on the exit, then Alonso retook the position at turn 10 one lap later.
Leclerc's race ended on lap 41 when his Ferrari suffered a mechanical failure while running in third, triggering a virtual safety car. Alonso subsequently passed Carlos Sainz Jr. using DRS into turn 11 on lap 45 to secure his podium position. Pierre Gasly, having started from last place, worked his way up to overtake Alexander Albon for ninth. On the final lap, Zhou Guanyu pitted for soft tyres and set the race's fastest lap.
Verstappen won by almost twelve seconds from Pérez, giving Red Bull their first victory at Bahrain since Sebastian Vettel won there in 2013. Alonso's third place was Aston Martin's first podium since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The result opened the 2023 season with a commanding statement from Red Bull, whose pace advantage and reliability set the tone for a dominant championship campaign.