Raikkonen leads the way

Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen will lead the way when Formula One returns to Barcelona this weekend for the first race of the season in Europe.

The Finn is top of the standings after the first three long-haul races, a novel sensation for a driver who won his title by clawing back a 17-point deficit in the last two rounds of 2007.

Only once before, with McLaren in 2003, has he returned to Europe in such a position of strength.

"I have raced many times in Barcelona, it's always a very challenging circuit, but this time going there feels even more exciting than usual," he said on his personal website ( www.kimiraikkonen.com ).

"Obviously I prefer being the leader from the chaser I used to be (in) almost every season.

"Keeping all the others behind me in the race would mean keeping them behind me in the championship too."

The Spanish Grand Prix is considered by many to be the point where the real season starts, with teams back on familiar territory after far-flung races with quite distinct characteristics.

All test regularly at the Circuit de Catalunya, most were there only last week trying out their first significant developments of the season, and Sunday's race should offer a clearer picture of the true pecking order.

Raikkonen, winner in Malaysia and second in Bahrain behind Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa, has 19 points and leads BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld by three in the standings.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton, his McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica are all level on 14 while BMW Sauber lead the constructors' championship by a single point from Ferrari.

Raikkonen said champions Ferrari, chasing their third win in a row after Massa's success in Bahrain, were in good shape.

"My own part of last week's test was not that good but it doesn't matter," added the Finn, who won in Barcelona in 2005 with McLaren. "I think we should have speed enough for the weekend. All looks good.

"I expect Ferrari to be very competitive at Barcelona. But it's going to be close between the top teams."

Massa took the victory in Barcelona last year and nine of the last 10 Spanish Grands Prix have been won by Ferrari or McLaren, with local hero Fernando Alonso the exception when he triumphed for Renault in 2006.

The home crowd will be out in force again to cheer on their double world champion but, even with a heavily-revised aerodynamic package, Alonso may not be able to deliver what he has in the past.

"After the first three races, it was clear that we were not at the level of the leading teams," he said in a team preview. "The team has made big efforts with improvements to the aerodynamics and with the level of mechanical grip.

"We had the chance to work through these on the track at Barcelona last week, and the first results proved encouraging. But it remains to be seen how much our competitors will have improved by as well."

Hamilton, last year's championship runner-up, won the Australian season-opener and will be looking to redeem himself after a woeful weekend in Bahrain delivered the lowest finish of his career (13th).

Runner-up in last year's race, Hamilton will also be in the spotlight with the governing FIA rolling out an anti-racism campaign after the sport's first black driver was abused in a Barcelona test in February.

Formula One statistics

BMW Sauber

• BMW Sauber lead the constructors' world championship for the first time since Swiss-based Sauber came into Formula One in 1993.

This season they have notched up their first fastest lap (Nick Heidfeld, Malaysia), first pole position (Robert Kubica, Bahrain) and are the only team to have finished all three races with a driver on the podium.

Wins

• Felipe Massa's victory in Bahrain was the sixth of the Ferrari driver's Formula One career and brought him his first points of the year.

• Renault's Fernando Alonso has won more grands prix (19) than any other active Formula One driver. Red Bull's David Coulthard has 13 wins. Ferrari have now won 203 races, McLaren 157 and Williams 113.

Season start

• Ferrari and McLaren have between them won every race since Renault's Alonso triumphed at the Japanese Grand Prix of October 2006, a run of 21 in a row.

Spain

• Alonso is the only Spaniard to have won his home grand prix.

• Ferrari and McLaren have won nine of the last 10 Spanish Grands Prix: Ferrari in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007. McLaren in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2005.

• Sunday's race will be the 40th grand prix to be held in Spain (37 Spanish Grands Prix and two European Grands Prix) since 1951.

Milestones

• Williams need to complete 26 laps at the Circuit de Catalunya to have clocked up 50,000 race laps in Formula One since the debut of Williams Grand Prix Engineering in Argentina in 1978.

• Honda's Rubens Barrichello will, by his own reckoning, equal Italian Riccardo Patrese's Formula One record of 256 starts this weekend.