For the first time ever Formula 1 cars, as part of the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, will compete on the venue’s 3.914-mile, 23-turn “Endurance Circuit.” Hoping to win the curtain racing GP - although he is quite pragmatic about the situation - is Ross Brawn and his Mercedes GP outfit.

"Bahrain. Our objective is to start in Bahrain," he told the official Formula 1 website when asked when he expected to win races.

"Once we see where everybody is, we'll see what sort of task that we have to carry out and how we need to react. Our target is always to win the next race. And the next race is Bahrain."

Brawn went on to add that the off-season has very much been a “work in progress” effort for his team.

"We are not quite as well prepared as I would like to be, but we are getting there," he said. "It's been quite a difficult winter. I think as it was the first winter with 450 people, as opposed to 700, we've felt the loss in a few areas.

"But I'm reasonably happy with the car. It's showing good promise. We need to keep up our development speed, and then we should be okay."

Brawn conceded he was not overly concerned that his German cars were almost a second off the times of the Ferraris and McLarens.

"I don't think that it is a second," he said. "You have to look into the details of what has been done. I think that on our high fuel runs and our race runs, when we get the car right, we are competitive. It's just a little tricky to get the car right. That's the nature of our business. The team that is leading is always the target for everyone else, and there is only one team that can lead - all the rest have to play catch up.

"We go through phases of being the leader, and phases of being the ones trying to catch up. At the moment we've probably got more catching up to do, but I am not overly concerned."

Brawn also let it be known that each car will be graced with major upgrades for the opening Bahrain round.

"We have an update for Bahrain. We decided not to bring it to Barcelona but leave it until the last moment. We've learnt to assess and run pieces without testing them. It's crucial when you have seasons without testing, as you have to bring upgrades to races during the year.

"In Barcelona we had little bits and pieces, but the major upgrade will be introduced in Bahrain.