Preview: Malaysian Grand Prix
Where: Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Dates: 21, 22, 23 March 2008
Track: Sepang International Circuit
Laps: 56 required
Length: 5.543 km
Record: 1:34.223 Juan Pablo Montoya (2004)
The Malaysian Grand Prix should be extremely interesting due to the heat and humidity making it over 60 degrees in the cockpit – something very few of us could bear. It’s my prediction that it means we’ll see more incidents toward the end of the days’ racing. Sepang features fifteen turns altogether, several of which are pulling in excess of 3G’s of force – again, this is something that should keep the racing really interesting to watch.
A number of the turns allow for high gearing (a couple of which will allow the driver to stay in seventh gear), so expect some roaring performances into/out of these particular turns. Both Friday practices have now been completed (2-3.30am and 6-7.30am respectively) and the Saturday practice begins at 3am for one hour. Qualifying is at 6am and the race begins at 7am on Sunday.
So what’s happened so far? Well, the first practice saw a range of incidents. Not least was the apparently compromised Red Bull RB4 car that David Coulthard was driving. It looked to be a promising lap, but part way round, after running on a curb; Coulthard suffered what appears to be a track rod failure. This led to a request by the race stewards for the detailed technical report of the incident.
Of course, we want the sport to be as safe and fair as possible – but no one would predict mechanical problems of this nature, or they wouldn’t be happening in the first place. Either way, it would be a genuine upset if stewards decide that the car does not meet requirements, as they have the capacity to enforce a ‘no race’ exclusion on the Red Bull vehicle. The incident has left Coulthard missing second practice and placing him 16th on the grid.
Practice one held some interesting (and expected in the same instance) results. Ferrari set the pace for the whole morning, with both Massa and Raikkonen driving their cars particularly hard. Moving on to who I would like to personally see take the victory (I’m not biased at all!), the McLaren team started off well, not too far off the Ferrari team. Hamilton managed to steal pole in the second practice session with a blistering lap time of 1 minute 35.055 seconds – extremely quick and not a mile off the current record, even considering the to-the-wire F1 times.
Unfortunately for the other team I’m interested in – Super Aguri – things didn’t go half so well. Takuma Sato had overheating problems with his car, whilst Anthony Davidson just can’t seem to ring out exactly what he wants from his race machine. He couldn’t better his second practice time of 1 minute 39.021 seconds.
You can see the times here for the second practice session, which currently places Lewis Hamilton in pole position. Remember though, there’s another practice session and qualifying to go, though everything is looking good so far for the young English driver.
Based on the practice times table, it’s very clear that Ferrari is burning off to an excellent season start – something that is down to both driving skill and engineering. I’d never rule out Button in the Honda however – the amount of laps he is intent on driving shows is concentration and commitment. Overall, I think Malaysia could well be one of the highlights of this year’s F1 season. Mark my words; this is going to be a big one!
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