McLaren's sorry state

MANAMA // One significant stride forward was followed by a couple of steps back yesterday by Lewis Hamilton and his troubled McLaren team in advance of tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix. The world champion, who is a distant 10th behind the early championship pacesetter Jenson Button, took great satisfaction from leading the way in morning practice, but was disappointed that he could manage only 11th place in a highly competitive afternoon session in which Williams driver Nico Rosberg set the fastest pace.

As Hamilton was working overtime trying to keep up with this season's better-performing vehicles, his bosses were issuing a humble apology to the sport's ruling body in the wake of their shambolic behaviour in Australia last month - a sordid affair which has been dubbed "lie gate". McLaren's team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, confirmed from the trackside at Sakhir that a letter has been sent to Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, which is understood to have offered an unreserved apology for the affair which resulted in Hamilton being disqualified from third place in Melbourne after it was discovered that he had been told to lie to the stewards.

Hamilton was ordered not to speak about the incident in advance of an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday when his team face the possibility of a stiff punishment. Hamilton, 24, dismissed inquiries about his long term-future as a "silly question". He declared: "I'm here and I am enjoying myself. I don't abandon my team when times get tough. This is a time for the world champion to stand up and be counted, be a strong driver and work hard for his team."

The beleaguered English driver was more at ease discussing his encouraging improvement in form ahead of the fourth race of the new season - a campaign that he is by no means writing off, despite his meagre haul of four points from the opening three races and the threat of more sanctions. "I feel I am gradually getting better," he remarked after following up his morning pace with a decent effort in the 90-minute afternoon session to be one of 12 drivers within a second of Rosberg.

The German Rosberg, seeking his first grand prix victory - he has recorded two podium finishes - lapped the 5.412km Sakhir track in 1min 33.339sec to be two-tenths of a second quicker than his nearest pursuer, Renault's Fernando Alonso. "The team brought some new parts to Bahrain and they seem to be working well," said an elated Rosberg. "I am quite happy with everything and feel that we have made some real progress. I am really convinced that we will be able to do something positive at this race and get the points that the car is worth."

wjohnson@thenational.ae