MARCH 18, 2003

Everyone confident as F1 heads to Sepang...

The usual avalanche of race previews has been inundating Formula 1 journalists in recent days and while these communiques help websites fill their never-ending empty pages they are all lacking somewhat in substance. Ferrari says it is confident that Melbourne was an fluke, McLaren says that it thinks it can keep up the momentum, Williams won at Sepang last year and so can do it again, Jaguar has fixed its drivershaft problems, BAR's drivers are not really enemies, Renault has a great chassis and so on.

The bottom line is that no-one is quite sure what is going to happen in the higher temperatures of Malaysia. Last year conditions suited Michelin tyres perfectly adn Bridgestone was left behind.

F1 observers are hoping to see whether or not the new system of qualifying will once again affect the race and to find out which teams are really competitive as things were not very clear in Melbourne. The only thing that may throw a spanner in the works is that the weather in Kuala Lumpur is going to be unsettled (as it ofetn is at this time of year). Weather forecasters are saying that there is a 60% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoons (usually late afternoon) with temperatures expected to peak at 33C during the day.

Malaysia may not answer the questions which were left unanswered in Melbourne...