McLaren chiefs offered a surprise to the travelling race team on Sunday.
Following Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton’s dominance of the Sepang placings, the Mercedes-powered team handed out personalised ‘race victory’ t-shirts to every member of the squad as they returned to the garage from the podium ceremony.
It is understood that the bright orange apparel, worn even by team boss Ron Dennis after the race in Malaysia, will be handed out as a memento only after race wins in 2007.
McLaren team members, however, did not have long to enjoy their triumph. Within half an hour of the champagne-flowing podium celebrations in Malaysia, the team joined its pitlane rivals in setting to work to pack up equipment so that it can be flown directly to Bahrain on Monday.
Round three of the world championship, to be held at the desert location of Sakhir in the Persian Gulf, takes place this weekend, in the first of five back-to-back races this season.