2008 Malaysian Grand Prix, Preview
The ING Renault F1 Team moves on to Sepang in Malaysia for
the second round of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship.
Fernando Alonso: "I always tend to
attack a little bit more in Malaysia"
Fernando, you had a remarkable race in Australia,
fighting your way to fourth place. You must be happy with
the start to your season?
Yes, the result is very important for the team and it gives
us confidence and extra motivation to continue working hard.
We know that we made the most of unusual circumstances, but
we still had to be in a position to do that. However, this
is only the first race and we must still make progress to
get on terms with the pace of the other teams. There is work
to do, but the result in Melbourne gives us all the belief
that we can get there.
You are now ready for the Malaysian Grand Prix, a
race where you have always been successful. You must be looking
forward to it?
I certainly am. Sepang really is my favourite track. I took
my first pole position there in 2003 with Renault, and I have
won this race twice. It's a circuit that I enjoy and I always
tend to attack a little bit more. I hope that this year I
will be able to do well and I'm really looking forward to
the race.
Malaysia is renowned for being a difficult Grand
Prix for man and machine. Is that a concern for you?
No, not really. We have already experienced amazing temperatures
last week in Australia and so we should not have any particular
problems with the heat. In terms of the physical demands,
I trained a lot over the winter and so I feel fit and ready,
so there should not be a problem.
After Australia, what areas do you think you need
to concentrate on during preparation for the next race?
I think that we must certainly improve our performance level
on a single lap in qualifying so that we can be in a better
position on the grid to make things easier in the race. Then
it is important to have good consistency so that we don't
lose ground and can start to move forward. This is what we
must keep in mind during the practice sessions on Friday in
Sepang.
Nelson Piquet: "Each race will be the
opportunity for me to learn and progress"
Nelson, your F1 debut did not unfold as you would
have liked. What have you learnt from the first race?
Yes, that is not how I had imagined my first Grand Prix would
unfold, but I knew that it would not be easy and I was prepared
for it. I did little running during Friday practice and that
complicated things for the rest of the weekend. However, I
learned a lot and I now know what a Grand Prix weekend is
like – it passes very quickly and you need to be able
to get comfortable straight away. I am now looking forward
to the next race in Malaysia, so that I can put into practice
all that I have learnt from my first race.
The second race takes place at the Sepang circuit
in Malaysia, a circuit that you already know…
Yes, I drove at Sepang in 2005 in A1GP so I therefore know
the circuit and I have experienced the extremely high temperatures
which we expect in this part of the world. So I think that
things will be a little easier this weekend. I will be able
to find my feet more quickly and to concentrate on the set-up
of my car with the engineers. I hope to be able to push hard
and avoid reliving a Grand Prix like I had in Melbourne.
After Australia, what are your expectations for this
next race?
I hope that I can make more progress. In Melbourne I did little
running in practice, my qualifying was disappointing and at
the start of the race my car was damaged and I had to retire
– it was therefore difficult to make much progress at
all. I hope to be in a position in Malaysia to have a strong
qualifying session so that I can have a good race and continue
my apprenticeship. Each race will be the opportunity for me
to learn and progress.
Do you think that the R28 will suit the layout of
the Sepang circuit?
We will work hard to make that the case! This is an exciting
circuit for F1 cars and interesting for the drivers. There
are two long straights, some big braking areas into some slow
corners, and some fast exciting turns. I will work with my
engineers to try and have a well balanced car as early as
the first practice session so that we can try different solutions
and hopefully make good progress throughout the weekend.
Pat Symonds: "Another two races until
we will know our true position"
Pat, the team had a mixed weekend in Melbourne with
a disappointing performance in qualifying and points in the
race. What is the feeling in the team as we approach the Malaysian
Grand Prix?
It's always nice to get the first one under your belt and
to see how things stand. So often after the first race in
Melbourne we are still asking ourselves questions, and I think
that's the case again this year. There have been teams that
have not been able to show their full potential, such as Ferrari,
and we also had a slightly frustrating weekend but a good
result at the end of it. Luck comes and goes and Fernando
was quite unlucky with the safety car, but obviously towards
the end of the race we picked up some luck. I think fourth
place is a result that the whole team is quite happy with,
but we're looking forward to getting onto a more classic type
of circuit in Malaysia next weekend.
Nelson endured a difficult debut. Do you expect his
situation to improve in Malaysia?
I'm sure it will. Melbourne is a very difficult track for
the drivers and it's not a great place to start your career
because it is such a tough race, just as we saw with Heikki
last year. Nelson had a difficult job to do and I'm sorry
that the team let him down because we wanted to give him maximum
mileage on Friday and Saturday which we did not do, and then
the car failed in the race. We are all very sorry about that,
but we don't look back, we look forward, and we go to Malaysia
where Nelson did a day of testing last year, so he knows the
track. It's a question of starting again, regrouping and seeing
how it goes.
We saw a chaotic race in Melbourne with lots of retirements.
Why do you think this was the case and was it a result of
the new electronic regulations?
I think it was a result of various factors. Melbourne does
tend to generate a lot of incidents and accidents, partly
because it is a difficult, slippery track with bumpy braking
areas. I also think the fact that it was the first day of
term played its part as this was the first time the drivers
were really pushing to the limit. It's interesting to think
about what the new electronics have done because we said it
would not really make a great deal of difference, although
it may produce a few more mistakes. I think that is certainly
what we have seen, but certainly the new electronics have
not aided overtaking, and I think the difficulty of underbraking
without having the sophisticated engine braking systems has
perhaps made it a little bit more difficult to overtake, which
is a shame.
So, is it still too early to gauge Renault's position
relative to the competition?
Absolutely, I don't think we can do that at the moment as
we haven't had a clean race. We've had a race that has been
interrupted by safety car periods and with people having abnormal
problems. I never like to make predictions based on a sample
of one and I think that it is the wrong thing to do. We usually
find that after three races you start to get a picture of
where you stand. I think that after Malaysia we will know
a great deal more and after Bahrain we will have an even clearer
picture
Sepang is a circuit where Renault has enjoyed great
success in the past. Can you tell us about the challenges
of the circuit?
It's an interesting technical challenge with fast sweeping
turns, especially through Turns 4 to 8, where you need good
balance. Good traction is also important, especially on the
exit of Turn 9, a tight left hander. The opening complex of
Turns 1 and 2 is also a difficult challenge for the drivers,
but I think my favourite part of the track is Turn 14 –
a real drivers' corner with a tightening entry where you approach
on the brakes. We will also have the high temperatures, which
we have already seen in Melbourne, but Sepang will be much
harder on the tyres, so we will be using the hardest tyres
available. Our soft tyre in Sepang will be the hard tyre we
used in Melbourne. It's a fairly old track surface now so
it tends to put a lot of energy through the tyres, so we will
need to pay attention to rear degradation.
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