Spyker was also in the news with the announcement that it had taken on a new stakeholder after Dutch investor Marcel Boekhoorn bought into the team. The deal wouldn't necessarily have been headline news, except for the fact that the newcomer is test driver Giedo van der Garde's prospective father-in-law...
NEWS FROM THE TEAMS:
McLaren – Fernando Alonso (#1), Lewis Hamilton (#2):
McLaren heads to Bahrain on a high after taking its first 1-2 result since Brazil 2005 and dominating the Malaysian Grand Prix with
Fernando Alonso. That rookie Lewis Hamilton got ahead of the Ferraris at the start and fended off both
Felipe Massa and
Kimi Raikkonen was a bonus, allowing Alonso to move back to the head of the points and securing McLaren first place in both sets of standings. Despite that, however, no-one is underestimating
Ferrari - or anyone else for that matter.
"The results for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team over the first two races have been strong, and to be leading both championships is fantastic for everyone involved," CEO Martin Whitmarsh confirmed, "However, we are not, in any part of our racing organisation, having any thoughts of complacency. We have another 15 races to compete in and there is a lot of work to do to maintain - and, more importantly, push forward with - the current performance levels. All our competitors will be working equally as hard and it is going to be a tough season. We need to take the momentum from the races so far and take the battle to the rest of the grid."
Alonso is intent on capitalising on his Sepang success this weekend, as he returns to the circuit where he out-duelled
Michael Schumacher in 2006.
"After taking my first victory with McLaren on Sunday, I cannot wait to get back on track this weekend in Bahrain," he admitted, "There is a good feeling in the team at the moment, and we all want to be out there racing and fighting for wins and points. But we also know that we need to find more speed and everyone is working hard on this.
"I won the Bahrain Grand Prix last year, and would like to try and repeat that result this weekend. We had a positive test there before the start of the season, where we learned a lot about the MP4-22 and the
Bridgestone Potenzas, but the car has developed a lot since then, and it will be interesting to see how it performs at the Bahrain International Circuit with these upgrades."
After following his team leader across the line in Malaysia, Hamilton told the McLaren crew that he could not wait to experience victory for himself - and vowed that the feeling would be his before long. Having already got to grip with BIC in F3 and pre-season testing, and gone from third to second on the road in the opening two rounds, there is no reason why the rookie cannot open his account this weekend.
"To have started my debut season in
F1 with two podium positions is more than I could ever have expected but, with the team, I will keep pushing hard to develop and continue to fight for more results like these," he said, "I am aware that this is a dream start to the season in what is a difficult sport. Bahrain, like Malaysia, will be another demanding race, where I will have new experiences and challenges, but I am really looking forward to it."
Renault – Giancarlo Fisichella (#3), Heikki Kovalainen (#4):
Malaysia went from poor to good to bad and back to fair for the Renault team as Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen yo-yo'd up and down the timesheets in the various session. From being best of the rest on Friday afternoon, the world champions were subjected to the humiliation of not getting either car through to the final phase of qualifying, but then bounced back with a double points finish on Sunday.
"I think we achieved the best we could have hoped for in Sunday’s race, especially after our qualifying performance on Saturday," admitted director of engineering Pat Symonds after Sepang, "The car was a bit more consistent in the race, and performed reasonably. So we raced well, and that’s encouraging. But does that mean we are satisfied with our current situation? Absolutely not.
