Two races down, two different winners - each running with new employers - and two teams clearly out front in the
Formula One world. That is the story of 2007 so far, but will Bahrain provide any change to the script?
The desert circuit on the outskirts of Sakhir reverts to its original position on the calendar, having been handed the prestige of opening the 2006 campaign, and is becoming increasingly familiar to the teams. Not only is this the fourth running of the Bahrain Grand Prix, but nine of the eleven contenders took the opportunity to run for six days in the pre-season, helping to smooth out any surprises when they turn up with their new cars.
With settings already halfway to being determined, the one week gap between Malaysian and Bahrain won't come as too much of a hardship, even if developments could not be worked on in the brief gap. Instead, the focus would have been on freighting the precious cargo from Asia to the Gulf, ready to do it all over again.
FIA F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP NEWS:
With just a week between rounds, there has been little time for the teams to make too much news, save for the odd sponsorship announcement amid the dissection of events in Malaysia.
Bernie Ecclestone desire to increase the F1 calendar continued to rumble on through the Sepang weekend, the F1 tsar telling the local media that he expected to have 20 races lined up for 2010, with the likes of Abu Dhabi and Korea being joined by India, Russia or Mexico among new venues. He also re-emphasised the intention of adding night races in Asia to keep television coverage in Europe in primetime. The organisers behind the proposed Singapore race, however, admitted that trying to piece together an event was akin to 'a massive jigsaw', with each step leading to more uncovered obstacles.
It wasn't all good news for
F1's 'new breed' of venues, however, as Ecclestone also intimated that Sepang itself could do with a little makeover, describing the Kuala Lumpur venue as an 'old house in need of attention' - now where have we heard that before?
