McLaren rising star Oscar Piastri’s win and his teammate Lando Norris’ podium at the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday evening – a first for the team – was celebrated in style with Al Waard sparkling rosewater – another Bahraini first that had been developed when the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) became ‘Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’ in 2004.
Developing Al Waard was amongst the most significant of Bahrain’s many contributions to F1 as the kingdom worked to find an alternative that could be used in an Islamic country’s F1 race.
The BIC came up with a specially-brewed fruit drink made from locally-produced pomegranate mixed with rose water and carbonated water to give it the necessary fizz to ensure drivers could celebrate in style, without causing offence.
The drink, called Al Waard, is mixed in Bahrain and sent to South Africa for bottling and has proved a winner with the fastest men on the planet ever since.
Both Michael Schumacher, who won in Bahrain in 2004, and Fernando Alonso who won the following year, showered themselves with the delicacy and agreed that they ‘loved the smell’ and it reminded them of the ‘true essence’ of Bahrain and the desert.
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