These are busy days: Immediately after the Malaysian Grand Prix last Sunday it was off to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (conveniently located next to the Sepang Circuit) and a flight back to Copenhagen. Three short days later it is time to pack the bags again; this time for the Bahrain Grand Prix outside Manama. That means a short “hop” down to Frankfurt and then a five-hour flight to Manama. After flying twenty hours to Melbourne and 13 hours to Kuala Lumpur, the Bahrain Grand Prix will be much “easier” - not least because time difference and jet-lag will not be an issue this weekend.

The Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) is sited south-west of Manama and is one of the newest in the F1 calendar. The race this weekend will be the fourth Grand Prix at BIC and I remember going to Bahrain in October 2002 to attend the ground-breaking ceremony for the new circuit. We went by bus to the middle of the desert, where the organisers had parked a Jordan F1 car. We were told that the car was parked exactly where the start-line would be only 18 months later. Back then it was hard to believe that a F1 circuit would grow out of the sand in just 18 months. but when we returned in early April 2004, Bahrain had one of the best and most modern circuits in the calendar.

With the imposing desert backdrop, BIC is one of the most exotic locations we visit during the F1 season. The desert also produces unique problems: The blowing winds intermittently blast desert sands onto the circuit, which inevitably pose certain challenges for all but the leading driver as they pursue their counterparts and their cars are faced with air infused with damaging sand particles. The “sand storms” means the cars are fitted with heavy duty air filters and grip level are also affected. The sand makes all but the racing line slippery, which means overtaking is not easy at BIC.

The track is a complex mix of 15 slow and medium speed corners and three high speed straights. The fastest of these is the start/finish straight, where the cars will reach close to 320 km/h before they brake for Turn One. With heavy deceleration also required after the two other straights, brake preservation is paramount at BIC. The three straights mean that 62% of each lap is “full throttle”, and combined with the braking, the cooling and the sand, engine reliability is an important factor in Bahrain. Traction is also essential as it is important to gain speed for the long straights.

Panasonic Toyota Racing come to Bahrain after point-scoring finishes in both the season´s first two races. More points are on the agenda for BIC, and the first indication of just how competitive Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli will be comes after Friday practice. And that is when my next “diary” will be on-line!

Kimi Raikkonen was fastest in both today´s sessions for Sunday´s Bahrain Grand Prix while the Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher were 10th and 18th respectively in the afternoon session.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is only the third round of the 2007 World Championship, but after a long winter of testing and the two races in Australia and Malaysia, it is still a good time to look at the season so far. This is what Jarno had to say:

“Winter testing was a little bit difficult, as was last season, but nevertheless we are always positive and that’s a help. In Australia and Malaysia we did quite a good job. We managed to get the best of the car and qualified two cars in the top 10 for both races, which was good, and we also scored points. We can be happy about the general job we’ve done, but obviously we need to look forward over the whole season and we need to develop the car if we want to get better results.”

In 2006, Panasonic Toyota Racing improved the car dramatically during the season - is it capable of doing a similar job this year:

“Yes - I think it is capable,” Jarno says. “It has the potential and the resources are there. We need to see what we can do because the gap to the top teams is quite big and we need to close it. At the moment Ferrari and McLaren are at the top, then BMW is looking very strong, but Williams, Red Bull and ourselves are right behind and fighting hard. We are going to need to make a step if we want podium finishes.”

Jarno then turned to the future. First the immediate future - this weekend´s race in Bahrain:

“We didn’t have such good pace in testing but we have to stay positive and see what we can do. We have to get the best out of the circumstances, qualify in the top ten and try to score some points. We are waiting for a big step in Barcelona, so we have to try very hard.”

And then the long-term future - 2008, when traction control will be banned. Does Jarno think this is a good idea?

“Yes - I think it’s going to be interesting and definitely better. From my point of view, the more you give the car back to the driver, the better it is, or the better it is for me. I feel like I’m more in charge of doing things. At the moment, the cars are too easy. I’m really in favour of it.”

I will be back tomorrow, when I plan to listen Ralf Schumacher and John Howett.

Qualifying for tomorrow´s Bahrain Grand Prix here in Sakhir produced an interesting grid with Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton on the front row and Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher ninth and 14th. on the provisional grid.

Yesterday I listened to Jarno talking about the 2007 season so far and today it is Ralf´s and John Howett´s turn.

Let´s begin with Ralf:

“I think we have had a pretty decent start to the season,” he said. “In both races we have finished in the points. For me Malaysia was a bit difficult but apart from that we have not felt unhappy with what we have achieved so far. There’s still a lot to do, that’s clear, but in general I think it works quite well.”

As you know, preseason testing was not always very promising - sometimes gearbox problems and handling problems made life difficult for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team.

“We did have had some minor reliability issues,” Ralf admits. “But I guess at that stage of the season everyone has up and down the pit lane. Apart from that, we launched our car pretty early and we had some steps in between tests which helped the performance but nothing special apart from what normally happens during the winter.”

As I told you in one of my off-season diaries, Panasonic Toyota Racing seems to be the team with most “continuity” - all other teams have changes either drivers, engines or tyres during the winter. Ralf agrees this is an advantage: “It’s always good to have stability. A few changes were made last year in the beginning and now it’s time for the payoff in terms of stability. It will take some time but I’m sure we will soon see some steps on the car and some better results.”

Ralf is one of the directors of the Grand Prix Drivers´ Association (GPDA). Like everybody else in F1, he was worried about the shunt in Melbourne which saw David Coulthard´s car very close to the helmet of Alexander Wurz. Is the GPDA working on making the cockpits safer?

“We talked about it at our last meeting,” Ralf said. “And the FIA has been looking at the incident and they are looking at solutions for that, so we kind of asked the question but it was really not necessary for us to get involved because obviously what has happened has been seen and they are going to find a solution for it.”

And now - “a word from the President”: This is what Toyota Motorsport President John Howett says about the early part of 2007:

“Towards the end of last year we thought we were fighting for third quickest package in terms of raw speed. Reliability was not good enough and we worked hard and we intended to come out this season with a more competitive relative position and therefore we are not where we want to be. I think it’s better than a lot of people assumed, based on some of the winter testing. We had been written off. I think we are there, we are hanging in there and we are working hard to improve!”

Tomorrow we will know how the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix has gone for Panasonic Toyota Racing.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is over. Felipe Massa won the race in front of Lewis Hamilton with Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher seventh and 12th. respectively.

Once I have finished this diary and my other stories, I will head to Bahrain Airport and fly up to Frankfurt and on to Copenhagen. We now have a four-week break before the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, which will be nice after the many hours spent in aircrafts in the last few week.

Bahrain Airport will no doubt be very busy tonight as the “circus” leaves the Kingdom for another year. And the Bahraini people will probably be sorry to see us leave - the Grand Prix is a very important part of the local economy; contributing close to 3% of the country´s Gross Domestic Product!

Independent assessment of last year´s event revealed that the Bahrain Grand Prix generated a total gross income of 394 million US Dollars for the Kingdom´s businesses and traders. That means the Grand Prix is the single biggest source of income to the Bahraini travel and tourism sector, which employs some 38.000 people.

The 394 million US Dollars mentioned above comprises many different streams of revenues. The “circus” - the around 2000 people from the F1 teams, organisers and media - spent a total of 3,9 million US Dollars on accommodation, subsistence, logistics and transport , and the total expenditure (outside the circuit) by overseas Grand Prix visitors totalled 284 million US Dollars.

The hotels in Bahrain really know how to cash in on Formula 1: Some of them charge FIVE times normal rates during the Grand Prix weekend! According to the Gulf Daily News, the Sheraton normally charge 77 Bahrain Dinars for a single room - but this week it is 420!
But visitors - who don´t really have a choice - seem willing to accept the sky-high prices, as all hotels in the Kingdom are sold out.

It is not surprising that the Bahraini people are proud of their Grand Prix - the Bahrain International Circuit is one of the best in the world and the people and the organisation is great. And - as suggested by the price of the hotel rooms - they are good business people. When the Bahrain International Circuit was built (in just 16 months!), the cost was 150 million US Dollars. But the direct benefit to the national economy to date from the Formula 1 Grand Prix stands at over four times that cost - with the 2007 race likely to take the total to over one billion US Dollars!

But maybe even more important than the economic input: The Grand Prix has really put Bahrain on the international scene, and today the Kingdom is much more famous than before the “circus” came to town. And once visitors have been to Bahrain, they want to come back: According to polls, 56% of the overseas visitors attending the 2006 race would return this year. And 72% of the visitors would return to Bahrain as a tourism destination.

I would also like to come back for holiday here. By then, perhaps the price of hotel rooms may be more reasonable?