As the Formula One season heads to Bahrain for Sunday's race, all the talk has been dominated by reports of a disagreement between Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Reigning champion Hamilton took the win in last weekend's meeting in China, while Rosberg had to settle for second, ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
Rosberg felt Hamilton had deliberately slowed down in order to give Vettel a chance to challenge his compatriot for second, a claim that the world champion denied.
With Vettel providing an early-season threat to the Mercedes duopoly, Sunday's meeting in Sakhir promises to be another intriguing watch after the Silver Arrows' thrilling battle there a year ago.
AROUND THE PADDOCK
Much of the focus will be on Mercedes and how Rosberg and Hamilton compete against each other. Last week's events in Shanghai perhaps marred what has been a stunning start to the season, with both drivers recording podium finishes in all three races thus far.
Four-time champion Vettel will be pleased with his start to the campaign, sandwiched between the Mercedes duo in the drivers' standings. Can he maintain his challenge in Bahrain?
McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who missed the first race due to a pre-season crash, is yet to register his first point after retirement in Malaysia was followed by a 12th-place finish last time out.
PRE-RACE SOUNDBITES
"We saw tensions between Nico and Lewis in the race and we tackled them directly on Sunday night to stop anything carrying over to this weekend." - Mercedes chief Toto Wolff.
"It's been a great start - but for me last season showed that you can never feel too comfortable and that's even more the case this time around with Ferrari right there with us." - Reigning champion and standings leader Lewis Hamilton.
"For me, China was a significant step forward for us and particularly for me as it’s the longest race distance I have done so far!" - Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
THE CIRCUIT
Designed by Hermann Tilke, who also planned the Malaysia's Sepang circuit. The DRS zone on the pit straight means turn one is prime overtaking territory. After that, turns two and three are flat out and can set up a chance of an overtake at turn four.
The race is run on a 5.4-kilometre circuit. In 2010 it was held over 6.2km, but that idea was scrapped after proving less popular with drivers and constructors.
WEATHER FORECAST
Early forecasts suggest the race weekend will take place with temperatures peaking around the late 20s to early 30s degrees centigrade.
A start of 18.00 local time under floodlights means the mercury may have dropped slightly by the time the lights go green, with windy conditions but almost certainly no precipitation expected.
The manageable temperatures will assist Mercedes' attempts to preserve their tyres - a rare field where Ferrari are thought to hold an advantage.
GRAND PRIX GOLD
Last year's meeting saw a race-long battle for supremacy between Hamilton and Rosberg. Hamilton began second, but overtook his team-mate at the start and held off Rosberg's challenge to win by 1.085 seconds - the narrowest winning margin in Bahrain Grand Prix history.