2007 Malaysian GP Preview at the Sepang Circuit

Teams head for testing at Sepang, Malaysia for the race on April 8, 2007. Drivers and teams look ahead with trepidation.

BY OUR AUTOMOBILES CORRESPONDENT

March 20, 2007: As the dust settles down on last weekend's Australian GP - the season's first Formula One race - teams are already packing up and heading straight to Sepang, Malaysia. No one wants to take a break and go home!

And seems they have reason enough. Ferrari, which had a good time at Melbourne 2007, wants to see if it can extend the lead in the hot climes of Malaysia, while most the field wants to move a few steps forward. And the top contenders, McLaren F1 (Malaysian GP 2007 Preview: McLaren F1 team - Alonso and Hamilton) and BMW want to try and catch catch Ferrari. Some, like Jenson Button of Honda, want to forget his horrible drive and want to use 'every second' to fix the car.

The break between Melbourne GP and the Sepang GP, however, is an unusually long one. There is an extra week between races, but even with 18 days to go, the teams feel that instead of rushing back home to their families, this year, it is better to go right at the next race with everything in their arsenal.

Datuk Azmi Murad, event director of the Malaysian F1 race, said that "with three weeks to prepare and a full official testing for the F1 teams in Sepang next week before the Malaysian Grand Prix, you can expect the teams to be better prepared for the race." And testing is critical - the weather in Malaysia is the exact opposite of the nice and cold climate of Australia, and the heat would put extra strain on the cars and tyres, not to mention the drivers.

F1 teams have are carting everything by freight to Malaysia, and the top teams are the last ones to pack - as they spend more time understanding and analysing every aspect of the first race of the season. The last ones to pack up are Renault, McLaren and Ferrari. Even damaged and crashed cars will be airlifted to Malaysia now for further study. Discuss F1 stories here.

There is some disappointing news from Sepang, though. Ticket sales for the race weekend are low - only 11,000 tickets seem to be sold so far. The race marketing officials though are putting an optimistic spin on it, and said that Malaysian F1 race fans tend to buy their tickets at the last minute. They said their target for attendance this year is 125,000 spectators, and they hope to meet that target. Last year, the ratio of domestic Formula One fans to foreign fans was 60:40, and in 2007, the organisers hope that it will be 50:50. After all, a large part of f1 marketing is about attracting more international tourists, and they sure would like to see some improvement.

Now coming to the teams and their expectations for the 2007 Malaysian GP at the Sepang Circuit on 8th April...

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa - Scuderia Ferrari

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen fit right into the glove at Ferrari in 2007, and had a superb race, leading from the beginning to end at Melbourne, putting to rest doubts about his abilities to fit into Michael Schumacher's shoes at Ferrari. His teammate, and widely thought to be his biggest competitor, Felipe Massa was not so lucky. He had to start from the back of the race grid but drove superbly to finish at 6th. Jean Todt has been adamant that there are no team orders are Ferrari, and his first victory does not make Kimi the No. 1 at Ferrari. So Massa will definitely be looking forward to the 2007 Sepang race. Scuderia Ferrari will target putting both their drivers on the podium there, and there is no saying who will be the victor. The team also needs to iron out the performance glitch that messed up Massa's gearbox at Melbourne, and have to handle the heat of the Malaysian race.

Malaysian GP 2007 Preview: Renault F1 team

Kimi Raikkonen has already said that he would try to keep it up at Malaysia. "It is a completely different circuit, different weather that usually makes it much more difficult to get the car right because the tyres are not working as well in the hot conditions. We will just see how we do in the testing next week and then we will work from there." Kimi said that the long hot stretches will test Ferrari’s ability to maintain their early-season Formula One dominance. “We will see how we do in testing next week and then we will work from there,” he said.

Preview continues...Malaysian GP 2007 Preview: McLaren F1 team - Alonso and Hamilton