Many of the F1 teams have significant car upgrades planned for the next round of the season in Spain and this week’s Mugello test – the first proper in-season test since 2008 – will be their first chance to try them out. The Italian circuit, owned by Ferrari, is likely to be pretty green when the session commences on Tuesday and establishing baseline data will be among the first tasks

As one of the most famous current Formula One drivers, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is very used to being in the public eye. But there are some areas of Hamilton’s life which have remained hidden – until now. We find out about the Briton’s obsession with a certain brand of sweet treats, his love of a roast dinner, why he would happily retire to Grenada and why he finds it ‘weird’ to be considered a hero…

Red Bull may have bounced back to their winning ways in Bahrain but there was another success story from Sakhir, courtesy of Force India’s Paul di Resta. Despite high tyre wear at the circuit, Di Resta excelled after brilliantly exploiting his brave two-stop strategy to record the team’s highest finish so far this year with sixth place. The young Scot was the only driver to resist the call of a third pit stop and, although he started to struggle on his final set of rubber with over 10 laps to go before the finish line, he managed to stay ahead of the chasing Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, with some shrewd KERS usage.

Being the youngest guy on the grid has one huge benefit – you should have many more years of racing ahead of you. But that hasn’t stopped Toro Rosso newcomer Jean-Eric Vergne mixing it with the big boys.

Caterham have confirmed that Rodolfo Gonzalez will join Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen at next week’s three-day test at Mugello. Gonzalez, currently competing with Caterham Racing in the 2012 GP2 series, will take to the Italian track on the opening day, before Petrov and then Kovalainen test.

After consecutive points-scoring finishes in Malaysia and China, Williams endured a frustrating Bahrain event. And with both Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna retiring from the race, the British team find themselves down in seventh in the constructors’ standings.

Ahead of Sunday’s Bahrain event, many had predicted an unexpected result. And as far as second and third positions were concerned, the pundits were proved right, with Lotus drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean racing their way on to the podium. Sebastian Vettel’s victory from pole position, however, was less of a surprise even though the defending world champion had to fight hard to stay ahead

Ten-time Grand Prix winner Gerhard Berger made a welcome return to the F1 paddock in Bahrain, together with fellow former F1 racer Jonathan Palmer, while at McLaren Ron Dennis was joined by former employees Jo Ramirez, Tyler Alexander and Neil Trundle.

Last weekend in China, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton qualified in second but then a gearbox penalty dropped him down to seventh. In Bahrain on Saturday he once again claimed P2 and, with no penalty this weekend, he’ll start the race from the front row.

Sauber’s Sergio Perez is making serious waves in the paddock at the moment.