F1 Bahrain GP Qualifying 2026: Start time, TV channel and how to watch

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.

This is a massively important 60 minutes in the context of the 2026 title race, with Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli holding a 66-point lead over team-mate and nearest rival George Russell.

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.

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What time is F1 qualifying today?

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

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.

There is terrific news for US fans with Apple TV making this race completely FREE for Stateside fans.

Where to watch: F1 2026 broadcasters by region

F1TV Pro also carries coverage of the sport, depending on which territory you are in.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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