Champagne won't be sprayed this weekend in Bahrain at the country's Formula One Grand Prix, a hotly anticipated race that kicks off the season.In a nod to the Islamic country, the winners spray Waard instead, a traditional, non-alcoholic drink made from rosewater and pomegranates.

But even without the real bubbly, celebration is in the air. Auto racing is booming in the Middle East. For the 60th anniversary of Formula One, the kingdom of Bahrain, one of the most prosperous states in the Persian Gulf, is kicking off the series with new extensions to their award-winning track.

And the opening of the series in Bahrain follows on the heels of last year's closing race at the new Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi -- the second Formula 1 track to be built in the Middle East. "It's going to be fantastic," Sheikh Salman Bin Is Al Khalifa, acting CEO of the Bahrain International Circuit, told CNN's Richard Quest as he took him on an exclusive tour of the new track ahead of the race this weekend.

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BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi may look like he’s just stepped out of Tokyo’s trend-setting Shibuya district, but he’s also a determined racer, keen to make an excellent impression as he embarks on his first complete season. After muscling his way onto everyone’s radar with two sparkling performances last year as a stand-in for an injured Timo Glock at Toyota, watching Kobayashi in Bahrain will be a treat indeed…

Q: Kamui, you are about to embark on your first full Formula One season as a fully-fledged race driver. The outfit you are wearing seems to suggest you’re going to become a real trendsetter in the paddock…Kobayashi: I started karting when I was nine years-old and ever since then I have wanted to be in Formula One. It was always my dream.

As for my outfit, I never like to follow anybody. I am always looking to create my own style. If you want to reach the top in anything, you have to be true to yourself. Q: Testing is over. How have your pre-season preparations progressed?

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USF1 won't race in Formula One this season, but the concept of an American team in the series might not be dead. The team has lobbied the FIA to defer its entry into the series until 2011, but the sanctioning body for F1 hasn't decided on its lineup for next year. Bob Varsha, the play-by-play announcer for F1 on TV's Speed channel, said the Charlotte-based team has the infrastructure to succeed if granted a spot in 2011.

USF1 was started by Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, a former F1 pit reporter for Speed, and its chief investor was Chad Hurley, a YouTube founder. In a Wednesday e-mail to USA TODAY, Windsor said USF1 hadn't shut down. "There's a lot going on behind the scenes about which we have been asked not to comment" by the FIA, he said.

"They've built a tremendous manufacturing capability. They've just run out of time," said Varsha, who added the team likely underestimated the F1 approval process and the logistics of a start-up team. "If they get another chance, they would run their business differently. They need organizational expertise. That might be missing at USF1."

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Ross Brawn has told someone - frankly, it's not important who - that MercedesGP are targeting a win in Bahrain when the Formula One season starts in just over a week. He says that there will be "a big upgrade" in the few days between arriving back at the factory from Barcelona and loading the aircraft to go to Bahrain - where, incidentally, the Australian V8 series ran last weekend in a cloud of dust that turned the TV pictures into the equivalent of watching the race through muslin, a remarkable contrast to the Abu Dhabi race the previous weekend where, under the lights, the cars positively sparkled.

Massa - the man everyone wanted to see on the grid even more than Schumacher's fans wanted him to return - says that Ferrari is not the strongest. His boss, Stefano Domenicali, agrees according to Formula1.Com. He said "Before the tests we thought that there might be four teams able to fight for the title, but from what we’ve seen so far, there might be even more."

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The only Formula One team based outside of Europe, USF1's ability to make it to the season-opener in Bahrain - let alone put in a competitive performance - has long been the point of continued speculation. But situated in the heart of North Carolina, an area shrouded in motorsport history and know-how, the team could prove one of the surprise packages of the season.

Technical chief Scott Bennett has promised that the team's 2010 model will not be a carbon copy of other cars on the grid but - at least in terms of engine supplier - USF1 fall into place with the other new entries, boasting a Cosworth engine. Backed by YouTube founder Chad Hurley, the team will have 35-years of motorsport experience at the helm in the form of team principal Peter Windsor.

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There are numerous stories about how much money people have made off of iPhone apps but have you ever wondering just how many of those apps you don’t have to pay for? I don’t know about you guys, but I have a hard time purchasing any apps over 1 dollar.

Well, analytical firm Distimo has recently done a study to see how many of the applications in the various app stores are free and how many you have to pay for. Their findings state that the Android marketplace has 57% free applications while Apple’s store only has 25% free. Of course this is most likely due to the fact that the iPhone’s App Store has a much larger number of apps but it’s nice to see some cold hard facts regardless.

Virgin Racing confirmed on Tuesday that Andy Soucek is to join the team as their reserve and test driver for the 2010 Formula One season. Soucek, who won the 2009 Formula Two championship, will work alongside race drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi.

“I am thrilled to be joining Virgin Racing,” said the 24 year-old Spaniard. “This role offers me a great opportunity to prepare myself for the Formula One environment, which is naturally where my longer-term ambitions lie. I look forward to learning from Timo and Lucas as well as soaking up as much information as possible from engineering meetings and time on the simulator.

“I would like to thank (team principal) John Booth and (technical director) Nick Wirth in particular for the faith they have shown in me at this stage in my career. It is exciting and very motivating to be part of a new structure in such a challenging sport and I hope that my experience can contribute a great deal to the development of the car and team in order to help us progress as quickly as possible.”

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McLaren's Jenson Button topped the charts on Friday morning, setting the fastest time for this week's Jerez test.

However, it was still eight-tenths of a second slower than the best lap set by Lewis Hamilton, his McLaren team-mate, at the circuit last week.

With blue skies and just the occasional cloud overhead, Friday's running got under way on an ever-drying track with Michael Schumacher setting the pace in the opening hour while Heikki Kovalainen was responsible for what seems to have become the traditional early morning red flag.

The Finn came to halt at Turn 9 with tech boss Mike Gascoyne reporting that the "car stopped with a clutch sensor failure. Replacing sensor and updating front wing while waiting for circuit to dry."

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Top drivers are not expecting another Brawn-like phenomenon of the kind which stunned Formula One last year. Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren will be the forces to be reckoned with in 2010, they forecast on Tuesday.

Last year Brawn, which has become Mercedes, rose from the ashes of the departed Honda to conquer the constructors' championship and help Jenson Button to the drivers' title.

However, this year the new "big four" look to be ahead of the rest. "I think McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull are the teams which we have to pay the most attention to," new Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso told Italy's Sky TV ahead of the third official pre-season testing session starting in Jerez on Wednesday.

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Just 30 days more to go for the first race of the 2010 Formula One season and we have already been introduced to majority of the competing cars and their teams. From amongst the few still under covers, here is Lotus Racing bringing their 2010 Formula One racecar, the Lotus Cosworth T127.

Marking the comeback of Lotus to Formula 1 racing after 15 years, the Malaysian-government-backed team unveiled the Lotus Cosworth T127 in London. At the event Team Principal Tony Fernandes was joined on stage by Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne and drivers Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen and Fairuz Fauzy.

“I’m delighted that we’ve reached this point, and now we have a beautiful car that gives us a great base to work from for the season ahead and a fighting chance of going racing in the right way, with a winning mentality,” said Mike Gascoyne.

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