With three races gone...

With three races gone, there are now three drivers at the head of the championship, and five within seven points of each other.

British hope Lewis Hamilton believes he can launch a genuine bid for the title. His second runner-up position in a row means the 22-year-old has become the first rookie to finish

on the podium in his opening three races, and is also the first to lead the championship.

He said: “I don’t see why I shouldn’t have the same chance as Fernando (Alonso) in the title race. I have the same car and I seem to be as competitive as him, so as long as I can keep up this consistency, I feel a lot more comfortable now that a win is going to be possible. We just have to make no mistakes, take advantage of the three weeks until the next race, and try to keep on beating the Ferraris.”

And pre-season favourite Kimi Raikkonen has admitted this season will be a real fight between F1’s top two teams. He said: “It’s going to be hard this year. Everybody is very close to one another in every race, so it will be tough.” The Finn, who left McLaren at the end of last season, added: “The whole weekend in Bahrain was quite difficult. I think we’re missing a bit on the handling, so hopefully we will find something. We have some new parts which might improve the situation for me, so we can start trying to get to the front again.”

After two difficult GPs, Felipe Massa also joined the hunt for the title. He admitted: “Unfortunately, the first two races were not as I expected in terms of the result at the end. The speed was there and everything was in place to do well, but something was missing. But hopefully we are now back to fight for the championship. It’s all very close, so it’s good to get these points. They are very important for us.” The teams now have three weeks to improve their cars, before battle resumes in Spain on 13 May.