Three races in Asia and the Middle East, producing three
different winners and a three-way tie at the top of the drivers'
championship, have lit the touch paper for a thrilling Formula One
season.
The return to the sport's heartland, with the first European
race in Spain on May 13, promises plenty of fireworks with
McLaren's double world champion Fernando Alonso, British rookie
team mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen all level on
22 points.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa, winner in Bahrain on Sunday, has 17 in a
four-way title battle.
The next few weeks will see all the teams hard at work, testing
and developing their cars and hoping to make big steps forward in
performance.
"For all the teams, you would imagine that from this race to the
next race is when you would expect the largest incremental
improvement during the season," said McLaren chief executive Martin
Whitmarsh at the weekend.
"The car is still young and very much at the start of its
development cycle. We've got a four-week break and the opportunity
to test in Barcelona.
"Everyone who is doing their job will improve their car between
now and then."
McLaren lead Ferrari by five points in the constructors'
standings and both teams can see substantial performance gains to
be made before their next appearance at the Circuit de
Catalunya.
HAMILTON PHENOMENON
Ferrari, who also won in Australia with Raikkonen, have major
aerodynamic updates in the pipeline, among other improvements.
McLaren will have work to do on their braking systems, with
Alonso ill at ease in his car all weekend and finishing fifth in
Bahrain after leading Hamilton in a one-two in Malaysia the
previous weekend, but they are confident.
"One of the races that I am looking forward to is Spain because
that will help demonstrate how hard our development programmes work
and how successful each team will be in trying to get ahead of the
other," said team boss Ron Dennis in Bahrain.
"I know that we flattered the performance of the Ferraris in
Australia," he added.
"In the period between Australia and Malaysia we definitely
improved the performance of our car. Even here, we brought a couple
of things which had a positive impact," continued Dennis.
"Going to Spain we have every intention of making it a two horse
race (between Alonso and Hamilton)."
Spain will be Alonso's home race and the flowing and familiar
Circuit de Catalunya is also far more to his liking than the hard
braking characteristics of Bahrain.
"This race (Bahrain) is so unique and it was complicated by wind
and sand contamination, so it had all sorts of things making it
difficult for the drivers," said Dennis.
"Don't read too much into this (result), one way or another. I
think the true level of competitiveness, team to team, will start
to unfold over the next three or four races."
As far as the drivers are concerned, several things are clear
already -- Alonso has a real fight on his hands to retain the title
he has held for the past two years, and not least from his team
mate.
Hamilton has been the revelation of the season, if not the
decade, in becoming the first driver in the history of Formula One
to stand on the podium in all his first three races.
Third in Australia, second in Malaysia and Bahrain, he will
surely join the winners before the year is out.
"He is a serious title challenger this year," said Whitmarsh.
"He will want of course to go one better soon and win a race and I
don't think any of us doubt that is going to be achieved some time
during this season."
(China Daily via Reuters April 17, 2007)