F1 round-up: Paffett joins McLaren test…

Paffett, who will race in German F3 this season, stunned McLaren with his pace when he tested for the Woking-based team as his prize for winning the prestigious Autosport Award. He and Wurz completed a five-day test last week, the duo driving a pair of MP4/15K development chassis.

"We have been concentrating on tyre development in preparation for Malaysia, as well as engine durability runs and electronic systems development for the revised rules which come into effect in Spain," said McLaren MD Martin Whitmarsh.

Whitmarsh has also confirmed that Mika Hakkinen's retirement from the Australian Grand Prix was due to a front lower wishbone outer joint failure on his MP4/16, which caused him to crash out of second place.

Ferrari has flown its engines back to Maranello to be double checked after Rubens Barrichello suffered a failure during practice for the Australian Grand Prix. The Prancing Horse has admitted that some modifications have been made for this weekend's Malaysian GP: "This is going to be a very difficult race for us - a test of our competitiveness and reliability," said spokesman Claudio Berro.

As well as Ferrari's engines, about half the Minardi team returned to back to Italy to ensure that its third PS01 monocoque was ready to be air-freighted to Malaysia, where it will be assembled into a spare car. There have been no changes made to the Minardi spec for Sepang, apart from different pedals on Marques's car to make him feel more comfortable.

Williams test driver Marc Gene will drive the new FW23 chassis for first time in Barcelona later this month: "Marc is going to drive the new car for the first time in two weeks, on the first of a four-day test [from March 20-23]," said Williams chief operations officer Sam Michaels. "Ralf Schumacher will then be on duty on the second and third day whilst Juan Pablo Montoya will take over testing responsibilities on the fourth and last day."