Ron Dennis Present in the McLaren Garage in Bahrain

Former McLaren Mercedes F1 Team boss Ron Dennis decided to keep his word and came to Bahrain to join his team at the start of a brand new campaign in Formula One. As revealed a few months ago, Dennis plans to visit his former F1 team a few more times this season, being that his “long-time friend” Max Mosley is no longer president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

Last year, following the multitude of scandals his team was involved in during recent seasons – culminating with the lie-gate during the 2009 Australian Grand Prix – Dennis left the team completely, handing all the Woking operations to former team CEO Martin Whitmarsh. Consequently, he started focusing on his road car business instead.

Following his exit from the sport, McLaren Mercedes failed to become a title contender last year, but managed to secure full independence from Mercedes-Benz after the German manufacturer decided to switch factory support to Brawn GP. While keeping the Mercedes engine supply until 2015, the British team would buy back the 40 percent shares previously owned by Merc gradually, within the next few years.

Another interesting piece of information from the F1 paddock on Friday was that Renault managed to secure a brand new sponsor for the upcoming 2 years of Formula One. As confirmed via a press release, the French manufacturer signed a deal with HP, whose logos are expected to make the Renault R30 later this weekend.

Following the first practice session on Friday morning, it was Force India Mercedes' Adrian Sutil who scored the fastest time of the day, followed by Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica. The McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton ended the P1 in 5th and 6th place respectively.