Hamilton and Kovalainen ready to strike back at Bahrain

Race three of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship takes place in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team arrives at the Bahrain International Circuit leading the Constructors’ table with a total of 24 points. Lewis and Heikki are first and fourth in the Drivers’ standings with 14 and 10 points respectively.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is the first Formula 1 World Championship race to be held in Middle East, the track was officially opened on 17th March 2004 prior to the inaugural race, which took place on 4th April 2004. This race, which was won by Michael Schumacher, was given the award for the 'Best Organised Grand Prix' by the FIA.

"Bahrain is a really cool circuit; it is quite different to any other because you are literally driving round the desert. There are no trees or buildings as you are driving round, just desert. I really like the track, there are a lot of opportunities to overtake for example turns one, four, seven, and ten. With all the straights you can do a lot of slipstreaming and then make sure you get good exits. So in terms of racing it is a very good track. The layout is a great design, starting off with a very long straight, then down to a very tight first gear corner and then you accelerate through a slight kink before going up another long straight. It is a curvy circuit with lots of kinks and gradient changes that are quite large in some areas. Also the wind plays a big part bringing sand onto the track that means any part that is off line is very slippery. It is very hot in Bahrain, as with Australia and Malaysia, so it is ideal that these three are together at the beginning as they are all very physically demanding and you can prepare for them all at one time."

"I love the Bahrain race, it is one of the ones I really look forward too, like Monaco and Spa. I have a lot of good memories of the track, last year I had a fantastic race. It was great fun and I took my third podium in Formula 1 and took the joint lead of the World Championship, it was a bit unreal. The best memory is from 2004, I recovered from a disastrous qualifying in F3, and I ended up in 23rd. I worked my way back up the grid to win the race. That was one of the most emotional races I had been involved in up to that point."

"I spent some time in Thailand; my trainer came along as I had a pretty intensive programme of physical training for the time we were there."

"The most obvious thing is that the sand makes the grip level lower and the tyres do not bite to the tarmac quite as well and it can be slippery in places. The track evolution also is quite high at Bahrain because when we start driving round the track, the sand flies away. It also puts some more stress on the engines, as there can be some dust in the air that goes into the engine. The weather is also quite changeable, and I guess this can happen very quickly because we are in the desert."

"It is quite tough on the tyres. There are some hard braking areas and high speed chicanes where you are changing the direction at high speed, that always loads the tyres. We need to be aware of that and look after our tyres as much as we can over the weekend. It will be a key factor during the race."

"Turns six and seven, which are a fast right the fast left. They are a great feeling in a Formula 1 car. It is a high speed chicane that we take in fifth gear."

"I went back to Europe after the race in Sepang and spent some time at the McLaren Technology Centre with my engineers. I then went home and focused on training"