Martin Whitmarsh has made some interesting statements regarding McLaren's performance in Malaysia - Pitpass has the whole interview. Significantly, much of what he says has to do with the relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen, something that interests all of us in view of what happened in 2007.
Heikki Kovalainen and McLaren MP4/23
It is true that, at this stage last season, Hamilton and Alonso seemed to be getting along pretty well together, but we should remember that, at the time, Lewis had still to beat Fernando in a race. At Sepang, Heikki beat Lewis fair and square, yet there seems no sign of discontent in the camp so far. And the likelihood is that this will continue, with each driver spurring the other on to greater efforts but without animosity.
I do not think that Ferrari's dominance of the race indicates that their car is superior to the McLaren; this was just one of those occasions when Ferrari got everything right (through necessity) and McLaren fouled up. The cars seem fairly evenly matched and we will probably have a season like the last, with first one team then the other getting the upper hand. Which would be good for the championships and more fun for the fans.
As Domenicali has pointed out, it is quite possible that BMW will upset things by joining the tussle, however. I have no doubt that he is hoping that this will damage McLaren more than Ferrari since the Italian team appear to have a lead at the moment - but that can change from race to race. BMW's surge towards the front must inevitably undermine the Ferrari/McLaren duopoly and both teams will be muttering in annoyance by the end of the season, I think.
Apart from the performance of the car, McLaren have an excellent reliability record so far, in contrast to Ferrari's. This must make them favorites for the Constructors' title, especially as Felipe Massa has taken to squandering opportunities for points in his quest to beat Kimi Raikkonen. Ferrari was quite smug over the superiority of their driving team last year but I think it will be McLaren that has the last laugh this time around.
What both Melbourne and Sepang have proved is that grid position remains massively influential in deciding who wins each race. The front row cars still enjoy the advantage of driving in clean air and avoiding the first corner traffic jam. In Sepang, McLaren experienced what life is like for the midfield teams and they had no special answers to the problem of getting past cars that were marginally slower than theirs. Even the man who wowed us with some amazing overtaking moves last season, Lewis Hamilton, found it impossible to close sufficiently with Mark Webber to make a realistic passing move.
So the battle for pole will continue and McLaren may have an advantage in this - they are said to be better over one lap than a full race distance, at least. With the mantle of Top Pit Stop Strategist leaving Ferrari and settling on the unlikely shoulders of Gerhard Berger (if we are to believe his claim that Bourdais' stop in Melbourne was timed to coincide exactly with the emergence of the safety car), there is less chance that races will be decided in the pits. Once again, that increases the emphasis on qualifying and we can expect some intense battles in those hectic ten minutes of Q3.
It all amounts to a situation where Raikkonen looks good for another championship and McLaren are the better bet for the team trophy. It's no wonder that I hope for a complete upset and for BMW to sneak in and steal both at the last...