Today's FIA press conference was a star-studded affair, with the returning Michael Schumacher, both McLaren drivers and both Scuderia Ferrari drivers sharing the podium. In a way, Felipe Massa was also "returning" since his Budapest accident last year. "It's great to be back after eight months, back to racing again," said the Brazilian. "And I think we are starting well after going in the right direction after winter testing. Driving has been my job for so many years that I am really happy to be back." With a history of sometimes making a slow start to the season, in terms of picking up points, Massa is determined to do things differently this year. "It will be vital to finish these early races and to get points which will be very important come the end of the year. Reliability is the key to achieving this and we have made a good start as we were able to complete a lot of kilometres in winter testing."

Asked about the lack of refuelling and the change to qualifying, Massa was optimistic about the effect of the rule changes. "As we have not had a race yet with the new rules, I can't say if I prefer this system or the one from last year. But it is good to have a new challenge, with different elements to focus on." The Ferrari man was also in favour of the new points system, which sees a bigger gap between winning and coming second. "I think it's a good thing," he said. "Because winning is the most important thing in any sport and so the winner should be rewarded more, which is just what this bigger points gap achieves."

Fernando Alonso took part in his first FIA media conference as a Scuderia Ferrari driver this afternoon, sitting alongside the man who took the Prancing Horse to so much success over the years - Michael Schumacher. "The racing, racing again," said the Spaniard enthusiastically when asked what he was most looking forward to this weekend. "I have driven the car all through winter testing, but that is just preparation and now we can finally go racing." As for his switch to Ferrari, Alonso was equally positive. "When you change team, you need to adapt to the people and their work philosophy and pre-season that has all gone great. I felt very comfortable right from day one to now and we are well prepared and I am ready for the fight."

As for the results of testing, Alonso did not consider them too important. "We are not in a position to compare times or to make predictions. We can say that four teams, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari can all be favourites to win here and then there are other teams like Force India and Sauber who could also have some good races. My goal is to win the championship, but I want to be World Champion in November, not in March. It will be a very hard job. I have spent all winter getting ready and I have also waited a long time to come to Ferrari, so it has all been about preparing for this moment and I think we are in a position to fight for the wins."

The Spaniard felt the rule changes in force for the first time this weekend are a good thing. "I am happy with them, as it represents a new challenge for all of us - the engineers, the teams and the drivers. Any change is welcome as it offers us the possibility of discovering new elements to our sport. But we need to give it time to see if it produces spectacular or boring races."