Setting the scene for Malaysia

AUTOSPORT's F1 editor Edd Straw analyses the championship situation ahead of the third race of the season in Sepang

If the Bahrain Grand Prix was all about "nothing to see here", last Sunday's rain-skewed race-around-a-park in Melbourne was the perfect riposte. So much so that many of those who called for wholesale changes to the sport performed an abrupt U-turn (not using the handbrake, for that would fall foul of anti-hoon laws) and decried those who had been calling for just that two weeks earlier.

That position conveniently disregards the fact that pre-race downpours cannot be relied on and that temporary tracks have historically been incident magnets in F1. Located between the two extremes, there is a lot to admire about the moderate view, although there is reason to expect the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend to produce a spectacle closer to that we saw in Australia than in Sakhir. If the on-track action is so-so, things are heating up a treat off it.

To continue reading this feature...

You must have an AUTOSPORT subscription. Prices start from just $1.43 per week and give you full unrestriced access to all PLUS features. View package options? Magazine subscriber?