For the first time, the Bahrain Grand Prix will be contested under the lights. While this makes it easier on the viewers in Europe and the Americas because it won’t be competing with other sports in the middle of the afternoon or start at the break of dawn. The downside is that the cooler temperatures likely means that the cars aren’t going to overheat and expire. So we might actually get a normal-ish race this time out.

#1 Lewis Hamilton (Last Race #2)
Lewis didn’t have much to say before this weekend’s race. He’s probably still a bit awestruck after meeting Sherlock Holmes last week: “We know it’s going to be tough to maintain our current form, particularly at a circuit where every team has had so much running time over the winter, but I’ll be pushing hard to keep those results coming.”

#2 Nico Rosberg (LR #1)
Nico wants to remind you that he’s leading the championship: “The first two races have been a great start to my season and I’m already looking forward to being back in the car and carrying on that momentum in Bahrain… We may be leading both Championships at the moment but our rivals are breathing down our necks, so we need to stay focused and keep doing our job calmly and professionally.”

#3 Sebastian Vettel (LR #9)
Suddenly, Red Bull has stopped doing pre-race driver quotes. I’d imagine that they’re pissed off at everyone after the last two races. Vettel gets a warning over his language. Ricciardo gets disqualified in Australia and a 10-spot grid penalty after Malaysia. It’s not a fun time at RBR. Winning makes all the problems go away, you know.

#4 Fernando Alonso (LR #5)
Holy crap! Ferrari released pre-race quotes. What is going on? Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria! “We have seen different types of racing over the first two Grands Prix, with the first one highlighting fuel saving a bit and the other shifting the focus to tyre management because of degradation, due to the high temperature. I think Bahrain will feature a combination of both these factors. We will have to save fuel more than in Malaysia and the tyres will be affected by the temperature in the Bahraini desert.”

#5 Jenson Button (LR #7)
Generic PR quotage of the week goes to Jenson: “Things never stand still in Formula 1, and we go to Bahrain facing another new challenge: the circuit’s first night race. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of race we have under the floodlights – racing at night always adds to the atmosphere and sense of occasion, and I think this weekend will be no different.”

#6 Nico Hulkenberg (LR #8)
Nico believes being able to successfully pull off a two-stop strategy and stay up front shows the strength of the car. Let’s run with that for a bit, I guess: “I think the performance in Malaysia was very encouraging, especially because we managed it with a two-stop strategy and nobody else near the front managed that. We’ve had two good races and have scored a lot of points already. I think we have a strong foundation and we can now build on that.”

#7 Valtteri Bottas (LR #3)
#BO77AS talks about the team’s testing at Bahrain over the winter: ” We have had a lot of testing in Bahrain so we have more of an idea about our set-up which makes things easier. We didn’t look too bad in testing in Bahrain, so we are looking to the race as a potential for some good points.”

#8 Kevin Magnussen (LR #4)
Jan’s kid talks about how little actual track experience matters: “It’ll be a good experience to go racing at a circuit on which I’ve already driven a Formula 1 car – a first for me in fact because I already have four days’ running under my belt from the recent winter tests. While that doesn’t really make a massive difference, because you can learn a circuit relatively quickly, assisted by simulator experience, it does mean you can go straight into Friday’s practice sessions on the front foot. You don’t need to familiarise yourself with the track first.”

#9 Felipe Massa (LR #6)
Phil agrees with me about the impact temperature will play during this race: “Bahrain will be different from last season, normally it’s a very hot race but it’s not humid like Malaysia, it’s really dry which helps from a driver’s physical point of view. It will be a change this year as it’s a night race so we expect the temperatures to be cooler.”

#10 Kimi Raikkonen (LR #10)
The Iceman thinks he’ll be needing to save fuel while attempting to push the tyres hard: “Obviously, every circuit can be different in terms of its effect on fuel use and tyres: looking at Bahrain, fuel saving will play a more important role than in the last two races, but it might not turn out to be too bad, as it was less of an issue than we had expected in Melbourne. Also on the tyre front, I think Sakhir could be a bit easier to deal with than Sepang”

#11 Daniel Ricciardo (LR #11)

#12 Daniil Kvyat (LR #13)
Even Toro Rosso has pre-race quotes. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! “I am looking forward to racing there, as it will be the first track I will drive on this year where I have already tested. But really, that doesn’t make much difference to my approach, because whatever track we go to, I should learn it quickly enough.”

#13 Sergio Perez (LR #12)
Checo gives a little bit of insight into the circuit. Emphasis on a little: “In turn one there’s normally a lot of overtaking and a lot of action, and with the limited rear grip the cars have these days it will be interesting how we can cope with that.”

#14 Jean-Eric Vergne (LR #14)
JEV doesn’t think too much is different about racing this year. This is why he’s behind his teammate: “Regarding the new cars, from the cockpit, despite all the technical changes, they are not so different to drive, when compared to the 2013 models. You still have a steering wheel, a throttle and a brake! There are a few aspects of your driving that you have to adapt, but the real changes are on the Power Unit side, in terms of when and how you will work to save fuel during the race, compared to going flat out on a qualifying lap.”

#15 Romain Grosjean (LR #20)

#16  Adrian Sutil (LR #15)
Sutil actually has some practical implications of switching Bahrain to a night race: “This year Bahrain will host a night race, so it won’t be as hot, and the data collected during the pre-season tests will only be of limited significance, which makes it interesting. The tyres especially will behave differently, but we can go back to our data from the night race in Singapore.”

#17 Esteban Gutierrez (LR #16)
Nothing Steve says here makes any sense: “Bahrain is a track which we all know pretty well from testing. We have good references from there, and it will be very interesting to come back and to see what our improvements are in comparison to the first two races. The Bahrain International Circuit has a special track characteristic. Based on what we learnt from the first two races, I think we can make another step in terms of drivability.”

#18 Kamui Kobayashi (LR #19)
Kobayashi Maru sounds like he’s living through a no win scenario: “Reliability really is the main focus for Bahrain. We need to have three good practice sessions so we can go into qualifying and the race with an optimised setup giving us the chance to really find out what the real performance level of this car is… We performed well in Malaysia for much of the race, but that was with a car that had almost no meaningful setup work done on it and with more still to come from the power unit.”

#19 Marcus Ericsson (LR #21)
Even after taking 10th in the Constructors’ Championship, Marcus isn’t happy: “Even though we’d completed quite a few laps on Friday and Saturday, we still went into the race without an optimised setup due to the issues we had on Friday and the work we had to do overnight to rebuild the car on Saturday and Sunday, so the most important thing in Bahrain is to have a trouble free weekend.”

#20 Max Chilton (LR #17)

#21 Jules Bianchi (LR #18)
Jules says the car doesn’t have a big problem. If it’s not finishing, it’s a big problem: ” We are trying very hard to improve everything. For sure the car is running well at the moment. We had a small issue in Australia before the start but now it’s fine all that. Another issue on the first lap in Malaysia but actually we don’t have big problems on the car, so this is the positive thing and now we have to have everything going well for the next races.”

#22 Pastor Maldonado (LR #22)