Malaysia, home to this weekend's Malaysian GP on the Sepang International Circuit, has had a long and fruitful association with Formula One.
It began in the late '90s, when the circuit was constructed on agricultural land near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, and it has been a regular fixture on the F1 calendar since '99.
The track was the first to be designed and built by architect Hermann Tilke, whose influence extends to 10 circuits on this year's calendar, and the undulating 5.543km/3.444-mile layout is recognised as one of the most exciting challenges in the world for drivers.
For Fernando Alonso, getting back on track after a disastrous Singapore GP, where, a brilliant start put him in the path of the colliding Ferrari's and eventually out of the race, is his main priority and with similar conditions to the Marina Bay Circuit, the Spaniard is hoping for another chance to have a competitive weekend.
“After Singapore, I'm already eager to get back into the car and hopefully make it further than the first corner in Malaysia! Of course, what happened was disappointing and it's difficult to hide your frustration when you're the victim of someone else's incident. I felt we had the potential to be really competitive – one of our only opportunities of the year – and it's a shame we couldn't bring home the points to prove it, but these things happen,” he said.
“The conditions in Malaysia will be very similar to Singapore – hot, humid and challenging for the drivers and the car. The configuration will work less in our favour, but of course we will still fight for everything. There are six races left and we are still putting all our energy in finishing every race in the best possible position we can.”
“Sepang will be more difficult for us in terms of set-up since the straights require good straight-line speed and power, but this track is a mixture of a lot of different characteristics, so we'll see how much we can make up on the slower-speed corners. The 2018 cars will definitely be faster through there, which will surely be fun to experience, and I hope we can avoid any drama and have a solid race.”
