Fernando will be ‘the man’ this weekend and, as it is his home event, he will have a bit of extra determination. You always tend to see that. It’s not that they are not at 100 per cent everywhere, it is just that there is something special about your home grand prix.
The
Ferrari guys should also figure very strongly based on the testing times last week. What was interesting and, in my view a little strange, is the fact Lewis didn’t run, especially as he is co-leading the championship. I would have thought it would have been advantageous for him to have the time in the car, but
McLaren preferred, instead, to run test driver Pedro de la Rosa. Far be it from me to question that, but I think it will put him a little bit on the back-foot.
So far, Lewis has been incredible - things have just got better and better. We already kind of think of him as someone who has been around a while and already proven a lot. In some ways, though, he hasn’t proven what we all expect and that is to win a grand prix. He is not, however, far off doing that and it is remarkable what he has achieved in such a short space of time. There is a lot more to come from Lewis and I guess we need to remember this is only his fourth grand prix!
For Massa, winning in Bahrain was crucial. He took a bit of punishment in Australia and Malaysia before that result, so it will have given him a boost. It just underlines what he can do, both within Ferrari and down the pit-lane, and puts his credentials back in place.
It was especially important considering what Kimi has done. We all felt Raikkonen would come in and whitewash whoever was next door to him in terms of pure speed but that hasn’t exactly been the case. I think it will be worth watching to see who does come out top as the season goes on.
You can be assured of one thing though - the battle between McLaren and Ferrari will be close, and I believe it will be like that throughout the season.
