Malaysian Grand Prix – Preview
Fresh from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, the F1
circus is now en route to the second part of a challenging
double-header. The Malaysian Grand Prix has been held at Kuala
Lumpur's Sepang circuit since 1999 and it usually provides
the year's hottest and most humid race. Ambient temperatures
can reach in excess of 35°C, providing a unique challenge
for drivers and engineers alike. Panasonic Toyota Racing's
drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli arrive in the Far
East hoping for an improvement on last weekend's performance
as the team bids to get its 2006 campaign on track. The team's
strong performances over the last 12 months show that the
potential is there to move back up the grid.
THE WHOLE SEPANG
Ralf Schumacher heads to Malaysia looking for signs of improvement
after the difficulties of Bahrain.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7): "After a disappointing
performance in Bahrain we are now heading directly to Malaysia.
Of course we will face completely different conditions in
Sepang, where both drivers and engineers face the extra challenge
of the heat and the humidity. I am going to use two to three
days in Malaysia to just get used to the climate there, to
work out and be in my best physical shape possible to go to
the race. The facilities at the circuit are great, they are
state-of-the-art and very beautiful. It's a very fast, wide,
swinging track with good overtaking opportunities. I have
had some great races there, so I'm looking forward to going
back. I hope we can use the data we collected in Bahrain to
improve our performance for the second race of the year."
ONE LUMPUR TWO
Jarno Trulli took second place last year in Malaysia but his
aims are more realistic for this weekend.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8): "The Sepang circuit
is one of the modern breed of F1 circuits, with facilities
that are state-of-the-art. Last year's race was my favourite
of the entire season, when we were able to take Toyota's first
podium. Of course our form in Bahrain suggests that this year's
race will be much harder. We were expecting a better start
but now we have to work to improve our performance. Of course
we cannot change much in time for Malaysia but hopefully we
can keep up the learning process with the aim of moving up
over the next few races. The new qualifying system has gone
down well but we saw in Bahrain how chaotic it can be with
all the traffic out at the same time."
LEARNING CURVE
Panasonic Toyota Racing heads to the Malaysian GP looking
to learn more about its new package.
Luca Marmorini – Technical Director Engine:
"Obviously the Bahrain Grand Prix was a major
disappointment to everyone in the team because we were not
where we hoped we would be. But the season is long and we
will be pushing to improve our performance. Sepang may come
a bit soon to have any major impact but we have at least collected
data from the Bahrain weekend that should help us. The new
qualifying system is an interesting new challenge which we
enjoyed, so we hope to learn more about that over the next
few races. These first two back-to-back races make for a tough
start to the year because of the heat of Malaysia, which will
be 20°C higher than anything we encountered during pre-season
testing. Overall we have to look to these first flyaway races
as a learning curve to understand our new package and the
new regulations so that we can be ready to have a full package
when we go back to Europe."
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