Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"About whom is Lewis Hamilton most concerned - Sebastian Vettel or Nico Rosberg?

"'Your biggest rival is always the person who's closest to you,' Hamilton said, 'even more so with Sebastian because it appears they were quicker on their long runs than we were. So I know I am going to have my work cut out to try to stay ahead while looking after the tyres and make them go the distance and I don't know how much he is going to be on my tail. It might be cool to control it after the first corner.

"'In Malaysia we thought we would be ahead and we ended up behind. In the last race we thought they would be much stronger but they were no problem for me. in this race we think they will be strong and we don't know how it will go. but I hope it's the way I want it to go. I won't know until I get around the first corner.'"

Michael Schumacher won the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix for Ferrari on 4 April 2004.

The victory was the 73rd of Schumacher's career his third in as many races at the start of the year. He would go on to win 12 of the first 13 races of 2004 on his way to his seventh and final world title.

The first corner at the Sakhir track was named in honour of Schumacher in early 2014.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

BBC's pit lane reporter Tom Clarkson reports that another problem has been found with the McLaren of Jenson Button, which has suffered three failures already this weekend - the one in qualifying yesterday caused a fire in the car.

Clarkson says McLaren boss Ron Dennis "is very unhappy with the situation and it's very understandable".

We'll have more news for you when we have it, but Button's car, cordoned-off in the garage, doesn't look like it's going anywhere.

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"While last year's Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat struggles following his promotion to Red Bull, the two men who hope to follow in his footsteps continue to impress. This weekend, it was Carlos Sainz Jr's turn to make his mark. The Spaniard has been overlooked a little for his 17-year-old team-mate Max Verstappen so far, but Sainz has always been right there with the Dutchman - they are tied on six points and it is two-all in qualifying - and in Bahrain he was well ahead, in ninth on the grid with Verstappen down in 15th.

"'I feel very happy,' Sainz said. 'Probably it was the least expected Q3 of the year. I even thought this was going to be the toughest and most difficult to achieve after what we had seen in FP3... But we did a mega turnaround and we went for it. Everything worked out and I'm very satisfied with the result.' Verstappen had no excuses, simply complaining about excessive understeer on his car."

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton won a thrilling race-long battle with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to win last year's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Their fierce battle at the front became a 10-lap sprint after a late safety car period wiped out Hamilton's 10-second advantage following a crash for Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez.

You can relive their fight for victory here.

Stephen D'Albiac: Given the choice of Manor, a team of racers, or a manufacturer who will pull the plug when it suits them, I'll take Manor thanks.

Alex Davenport: To say you don't particularly want a team in F1 is terrible. He should be grateful teams want to compete!

Dave Highkinen: I agree that the engines are far too expensive. They're going to get even worse in 2017 if this 1000bhp change goes through.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was very uncomplimentary about Manor in his interview with Eddie Jordan, saying he didn't particularly want the back-of-the-grid team in the sport.

Image source, Getty Images

Ecclestone was annoyed by the team's failure to race at the first race of the season in Australia and has threatened to withhold prize money from the team as a result.

Manor team boss Graeme Lowdon had this to say in response: "With greatest respect to Bernie Ecclestone the message we get is the fans want us here.

"Bernie and our team have the same objectives to contribute to Formula 1, we want to contribute more and when we are at a stage to do that I think he will feel differently.

"We had a difficult end to last season and a difficult start to this season. People were right to be sceptical before Melbourne but we are here to stay and want to push forward."

Image source, Getty Images

Last year's race delivered one of the most spectacular moments of the season when Esteban Gutierrez's Sauber was flipped over following a collision with the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado.

Maldonado was coming out of the pits on lap 40 and heading into Schumacher corner when he smashed into the side of the Mexican, sending his car into a barrel-roll.

Gutierrez emerged unharmed from the incident while Maldonado was given a warning and handed a five-place grid penalty for the next race in China.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, second on the grid today, tells BBC Sport: "A win would be nice. We have a plan for the race but in the end we will race as hard as we can.

"Fairly soon in the race we will find out how quick we are compared to Mercedes. They are the favourites but if we can give them a hard time that would be nice."

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"McLaren have made no attempt to disguise the fact that they have been having a difficult start to their relationship with new engine partner Honda but there has been steady progress at every race and finally in Bahrain that led to a major breakthrough - Fernando Alonso got the car into second qualifying for the first time this year. And while Pastor Maldonado and Daniil Kvyat both had problems, this was no fluke - the Spaniard had the car a stunning ninth fastest in first qualifying.

"He could not sustain it in Q2, though. Despite improving his time by 0.2secs, the McLaren-Honda was at the mercy of the other teams turning up their engines. Nevertheless, 14th on the grid is still a major achievement at a track on which McLaren were expecting to be a struggle.

Image source, Getty Images

"Jenson Button has had a nightmare weekend so far, with problems stopping his car in first and third practice and again before he even managed a lap in qualifying. He starts last."

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg will start from a season-best eighth place on the grid.

And from that position there is every chance the German could be right at the sharp end into the first turn if recent history is any guide.

Hulkenberg has gained places in 11 of his last 12 standing starts, and on six of those occasions he's gained four or more places on the first lap.

Definitely a man to watch when the lights go out.

Image source, EPA

Eddie Jordan
BBC F1 chief analyst

"We have seen the emergence of Ferrari which everyone wanted to see, it was real in Malaysia and it is real here This is going to be a huge race.

"Nico Rosberg has dropped away, he is not the force he was last year. "

The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix was the first race to award points all the way down to 10th place, and the first to award 25 points to the winning driver.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was the first to benefit to the full from the change, trousering a quarter-century of points for his victory in the season opener.

At the other end of the scale, Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi and Williams driver Rubens Barrichello were the first to be rewarded for finishes outside the top eight, earning two points and one point for finishing ninth and 10th respectively.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"More on Bernie Ecclestone's interview with BBC Sport. On the German Grand Prix's absence from the calendar, Ecclestone says he gave the organisers every opportunity but could not get a deal together. And on a persistent whisper that Audi are keen to come into F1 but that chairman of the board Ferdinand Piech will not allow it while Ecclestone is in charge, Ecclestone says that he had not heard that, but if Audi did want to come in and would not do so while he was boss, he would step down straight away. Not many people in F1 would believe that, it has to be said."

Lotus on Twitter: And the sun begins to set on the Bahrain circuit...

Image source, Lotus

Tony Stewart: Hamilton, Vettel, Raikkonen. Ferrari gonna show what they can do today, Rosberg will crack under their pressure.

Fred Owen: Mercedes will run away with this one, its a night time race and 10 degrees cooler. Tyre wear won't play into Ferrari's hands.

Russell_Premier: Vettel, Raikkonen, Hamilton - tyres are going to be a big influence today!

1. Mercedes 119

2. Ferrari 79

3. Williams 48

4. Sauber 19

5. Red Bull 13

6. Toro Rosso 12

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"The state of F1 has been a key subject within the sport for several months, and this weekend F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone has given an interview on the subject to BBC F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan.

"It will be part of the build-up on BBC One from 15:00 BST but, in a nutshell, Ecclestone says F1 has lots of problems that need sorting out, the biggest of which is that it is too expensive. He adds that the governance is too democratic (obviously wishing to be its 'benevolent' dictator even more than he already is), and he continues to question the current V6 turbo hybrid engines, saying they were designed by engineers and they are not what the manufacturers want.

"This point is contradicted by the manufacturers themselves - Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff acknowledges the current discussion about increasing the power output to 1,000bhp and 'concepts being in place to make it a spectacular formula for 2017' but adds: 'All the engine manufactures are pretty clear that the current engine formula with hybrids needs to stay in place. This is the current status between Ferrari, Renault, Honda and Mercedes.'

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 68

2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 55

3. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 51

4. Felipe Massa (Williams) 30

5. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 24

6. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 18

Pastor Maldonado on Twitter: Hope we can get out of the problems we had in qualy & we have a great recovery in the race tonight…

The Lotus driver lines up 16th on the grid after a power issue in Q1 yesterday.