Formula 1 racing arrives in Europe for the first time in 2008 as the 11 teams arrive at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The 2008 race is the 40th Formula 1 event to be staged in Spain, with 37 Spanish Grands Prix and two European events taking place to date. McLaren has won the Spanish round on eight occasions including four times with Mercedes-Benz.

The first motor sport event in Spain, the "Copa Catalunya" road race over 27,885kms, was staged in the Barcelona area in 1908. The Spanish Grand Prix appeared on the World Championship calendar for the first time in 1951. However, it was not until 1969 that a Grand Prix race was staged regularly in this country. Five circuits have hosted the race, Circuit de Catalunya, Jarama, Jerez, Montjuich and Pedrables.

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 has completed a total of 6,680kms of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya prior to the 2008 race.

You have been testing at the Circuit de Catalunya earlier this week, do its characteristics suit the MP4-23 and do you expect to be competitive there?
Lewis Hamilton: "It's always difficult to predict these things as all the teams are continuously progressing. Winter testing there was positive and this week we have covered a good amount of laps. I feel we have a competitive package at the track; the car seems to work quite well. We have a range of new components coming on board for this race which we tested this week and had some positive results, but we are not alone in doing this! The Circuit de Catalunya is a great track; we can't ever lose it from the calendar. It always sees competitive racing and there are so many enthusiastic fans there all the time which makes for a great atmosphere."

What are the key challenges at this race?
LH: "The Circuit de Catalunya is a challenging track for the engineers and drivers. It has changed a little bit in character prior to last year's Grand Prix. One of the key factors at this circuit is achieving a good balance through the variety of corners. Turn Two is a big corner and it provides a good challenge from both a driving and set-up perspective. With the end of the circuit now being tightened up a fair amount we have got to get that balance so we will get good high speed corner performance and traction coming out of the low speed corners. There are a range of different challenges and technically it is an interesting circuit."

How have you spent your time since the Bahrain Grand Prix?
LH: "I have been pretty busy since the last race, I have spent some time with the team at the McLaren Technology Centre, a couple of days of promotional work, I've done quite a bit of training and then I went to the Barcelona test. After that, I went home to do some more training. We have the opportunity in this gap to get some good work done in this area."

Can you describe the main characteristics of the Circuit de Catalunya and why is this circuit so popular with teams and drivers?
Heikki Kovalainen: "This circuit is one of probably the two most important test tracks we use, together with Jerez. It is a real performance tester; you need to have a really good aero performance in the car to go fast round here, which is why we always come here as it allows us to understand how well our aero package is performing. It also has some very heavy breaking areas, so it is good for evaluating this and some good corners to understand the balance of the car. Also, the slower chicanes mean we can test how the car changes direction. It has a good range of challenges so you can test everything. Also, usually the weather is good here."

This is characteristically a high speed circuit, where are the best places for overtaking opportunities?
HK: "I think turn 1 is best because you can drag the other car out of the new chicane that is quite slow, along the pit straight. Apart from that is it very difficult, you can probably think about overtaking into turn five, maybe into turn ten if you get a good run into turn nine, that is about it really."

How have you spent your time since the Bahrain Grand Prix?
HK: "It is really preparing physically for this race, because we have a bigger gap, we are actually trying to increase the fitness level. We do some power work, some speed work, a bit of cardio. That has been the priority. I have been to Woking for a couple of days and spent some time with the engineers. Apart from that, nothing special, just trying to make sure that when we arrive here for the race we know where we are and have a good starting point for the weekend."

Many people see the Barcelona race as a benchmark for the level of competitiveness for the rest of the season, why is this and how do you think the MP4-23 will fair?
Martin Whitmarsh: "The Spanish Grand Prix sees us entering the European season and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, along with all the other teams, will be in Barcelona with significant upgrade packages on the cars. The cars remain relatively consistent over the course of the fly away races and this race weekend is the first opportunity to understand how we have moved forward with performance and developed the MP4-23 in comparison with our primary competitors. We are confident that we have improved the performance of the car, but this week's test was not an accurate indicator of performance, so we will need to wait for the race to establish how the MP4-23 will fair.