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The first Grand Prix for the V8 era kicked off in the heat and dust of Bahrain. This race is followed up by another heat-soaked event in Malaysia, and just seven days later.
With the teams still finding their feet with the different demands and reliability issues of the smaller engines, the approach all round at Sakhir has been cautious. From the lack of new aero parts, to the quiet opening practice, and through the new qualifying format - every team was careful not to risk their reliability.
With winter testing a pointless exercise for comparing teams' pace, the first race provided a better indication of teams' relative positions, but still mitigating circumstances need to be considered.
Equally, early reliability issues are compounded by the track's heat and the far-flung location of the race circuit. What has been clear, though, is that even solid testing of reliability and pace does not secure a team's fortunes in the heat of a race weekend.
