Well, this is the third race of the Formula 1 season. The fast cars are at Malaysia, just outside Kuala Lumpur, in Sepang. I personally like this track a lot. The start finish line gives way to a quick right-left-downhill bit. A sweeping right-hander going back uphill leads into a a sharp right-hander. Too much speed going into this turn will definitely send you off.
This sharp right gives way to a gradual left-to-right S-curve that, if taken properly, can almost be run flat-out. Beyond this S-curve is a quick succession of right-handers that are nearly 90-degree turns, but are shallow enough to be taken with some speed. The second of these right-handers leads downhill to a very sharp, very slow left-hander that begins taking the cars back up-hill.
A semi-gradual run through turn 10 leads to a sharp turn 11. Another pseudo-S-curve (turns 12 and 13), bring the cars to a sharp sharp sharp right-hander, leading onto the long straight.
At the end of this straight is turn 15, the hairpin, that brings the cars back around to the start-finish line. Lewis Hamilton holds the lap record here, with a 1:34.175.
The nasty thing about Malaysia is the rain. Last year it rained. And rained. And rained. It was the first time in my year and a half of following F1 that a race was actually stopped because of rain. Jenson Button, now of McLaren, then of BrawnGP, took the win, but only got half points. This year the race will start 2 hours earlier than last years, which should avoid some rain, but it will still rain.
So we'll do our old normal thing and predict the podium.
1st - Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes
2nd - Jenson Button, McLaren Mercedes
3rd - Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP
That's right, we think that Schumi will return to podium form. Let's watch.
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