Formula 1 Circuit, Sepang, Malaysia

I was in Malaysia last year for the race and it was unbelievably hot, the humidity is what gets to you. Luckily I was in an air-conditioned office for most of the time but most of my colleagues were not so lucky and had to stand the blistering heat. The Malaysian GP is the one race of the season that is more of a test of team personnel than anything else. Pit stops will show how well the teams can work under these conditions as will the reliability of the car, a long hot day followed by a long equally hot night will greatly increase the chances of a loose nut or bolt. Any cars with reliability problems will really suffer here, a nice cool track always keeps a car happy but as thing hot up problems will show. A gearbox with minor problems usually runs a little hotter but in winter testing wont cause a big problem. However in Malaysia its going to struggle to get rid of that little extra heat caused by that little extra friction and before you know it its gone into melt down!
Drivers are going to suffer too although at least they’re going to get everything the team can do to keep them cool, I don’t think we’ll see Michael Schumacher jumping out of the car with out a spot of sweat! Tyres will play an important part in the race, with the degradation of the Michelins in Australia I’d expect some real problems in Malaysia. The track is to hot after mid day to walk on without shoes so the tyres are going to get a real tough time.
As I left Malaysia last year the Barman in the hotel I stayed in said to me “are you coming next year, its going to be real hot then because it’ll be out summer time”.