With less than five hours to go until the first practise session of the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix, the necks of all teams and drivers will no doubt be craned skywards as weather reports are indicating that it could be a repeat of twelve months ago when the race in Kuala Lumpur was red flagged after 31 laps because of monsoon rain conditions. (Monsoon Mayhem in Malaysia)
World Champion Jenson Button was today caught by the regular evening downpour whilst on a track walk with his team “If it’s like last year it will be un-drivable, I hope it’s not but at least the race is starting an hour earlier this year and hopefully we will get to the end of the race before this kicks in”
Half points were awarded last year as the race had only gone past the halfway stage when it was stopped. Many F1 fans and teams will no doubt be hoping the same does not happen this weekend, come rain or shine.
McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton told BBC Sport “Hopefully the weather will stay good for us on the Sunday because we want to do a full race, we don’t want to have to have the race stopped like last time”
Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone came under fire last year for starting the race so late in the afternoon. This year the race starts an hour later in an effort to learn from the mistakes of last year and avoid the daily rainstorms, but the big question is, if it is yet another washout will there be calls for the Grand Prix in Malaysia to be scraped? Pressure is certainly sure to mount.
No matter what the outcome after the race, this weekend once again looks to deliver an exciting affair as drivers such as Hamilton, Vettel and Schumacher (all proven to favour wet race conditions)as all look to bounce back from disappointing outcomes in Australia last weekend.
One man hoping for a Monsoon double though will be that of current World Champion Jenson Button after his return to winning form down under. Let’s just hope that McLaren get the tyre choice right this weekend!
