Having, like Williams, opted to test in Spain, rather than joining the majority of the teams in Bahrain, Spyker wont know where it stands in relation to its rivals until this weekend, when the first race of the 2007 season gets underway.

Nonetheless, the Dutch owned team has revealed that it is to introduce a "significant" aero upgrade in time for the second race of the season, which takes place at Sepang in mid-April.

"For Malaysia we're expecting a significant aero update," reveals Mike Gascoyne, "so for Australia the goal is to get both cars to the finish and to be as close to the pack in front as possible.

"With the new developments, hopefully by Malaysia we'll be racing them," he added.

Though the Ferrari-powered F8-VII hasn't exactly blitzed the timesheets in pre-season testing, for the most part the drivers have demonstrated that the Dutch team can expect to resume its battle with Super Aguri and Toro Rosso this season. While, based on pre-season testing, the Silverstone-based outfit might feel that Red Bull and Toyota are within reach.

In pre-season testing the Dutch team completed almost 4000 miles, with Christijan Albers (1676 miles) being its busiest driver.