Sidepodcast

The weather is good in Malaysia, but we want some rain! The opportunity to see TC free cars sliding around in the wet stuff has been on the cards all week, but thus far the weather’s held. All the signs suggest the track is due a downpour, but will it happen before the race is run?

On the flip-side to this, the mixed up grid is set to provide a great race regardless of what mother nature throws in the direction of the Kuala Lumpur circuit. Hamilton is sitting directly behind Alonso in 9th, while sat beside him is his current teammate Kovalainen. If ever Lewis needed a good first corner, today would be it.

Near the front we also have the prospect of an out-of-position Trulli. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a potential road block so close to the front of the pack, what part will the Toyota driver play in today’s result, and can he deliver on his pre-season promises?

UK television coverage kicks off in less than five minutes. It feels like we’re up at a vaguely normal time compared to some of the sessions we’ve sat through, but let us know if you’ve set your alarm early for this one!

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• Length: 8:26 
• Size: 7.8 MB 
• File: digest7.mp3 
• Transcript: digest7.pdf 
• Torrent: digest7.torrent 

Catching up with all the action from Free Practice 3 and Qualifying in Malaysia. No rain as promised, but plenty of other incidents to keep us entertained.

Free Practice 3

A lot of out of place times with the humidity playing tricks on the tarmac. Heidfeld placed a really good lap at the time of the timesheets, whilst Alonso and Hamilton appeared to be struggling.

Qualifying

Most of qualifying was taken up with playing the will it/won’t it game with regards to rain. For the record, it didn’t. Also notably, the incident with both McLarens impeding Heidfeld and Alonso and their subsequent penalty.

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Saturday, and the third and final free practice session. After the excitement yesterday of a somewhat fragile Red Bull and yet more evidence that Ferrari are losing the proverbial plot, there doesn’t appear to be a whole heap of news today.

At some point presumably the stewards will decide if ‘le bull rouge’ is safe to drive (even though it has already passed all mandatory FIA crash tests), and I’m sure we’ll be informed at their leisure.

As for the track, it’s still dry, and the weather map suggests it’ll stay that way for the remainder of the upcoming one hour practice session. This is bound to annoy the teams who seem keen to get some wet testing in before a potential wet race start.

ITV aren’t providing viewers (I’ll stop staying ‘UK’ viewers, given most of the world appears to be able to tune in using a simple proxy trick), with live video this session, so we’ll be tuned into TVlizer. It’s not great quality broadcasting, so if you hear of anything better please shout.

Also, we have the obligatory live timing link.

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• Length: 7:05 
• Size: 6.6 MB 
• File: digest6.mp3 
• Transcript: digest6.pdf 
• Torrent: digest6.torrent 

Unreliability problems are brought to the fore in the heat and humidity of Malaysia. After our preview yesterday, it’s time to catch up with Free Practice 1 and 2.

Free Practice 1

A major smash for Coulthard causes a red flag and some concern about the car, as Webber also suffers reliability problems. Vettel, Sutil and Raikkonen also faced issues throughout the session.

Free Practice 2

Coulthard sat the session out, whilst everyone else experimented with their tyres. Bourdais didn’t even manage to complete his outlap, facing Ferrari engine problems.

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• Length: 6:21 
• Size: 5.9 MB 
• File: digest5.mp3 
• Transcript: digest5.pdf 
• Torrent: digest5.torrent 

With barely enough time to take a breath between the first and second round of the season, it’s time to preview the Malaysian GP.

Vital Statistics

• Date: 23rd March
• Circuit: Sepang International Circuit
• Length: 5.5km
• Laps: 56
• 2007 Winner: Fernando Alonso

Preview

Today we look at the weather, either hot or stormy (maybe both?), and how the tyres and the drivers will react to it. Also, how things are looking up for Honda with their improved pace, and things aren’t great for Nakajima with his grid penalty.