Nico Hulkenberg admits he is heading into this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix blind after failing to make the start in Australia. Hulkenberg qualified in eleventh place in Melbourne but an issue with the fuel tank forced him out prior to the start of the race. "Melbourne qualifying was pretty unique: Q1 on Saturday and then the rest of it on Sunday morning. The conditions were pretty difficult, with all the rain and then it drying up again," he told the Official F1 website. "Sure we […]

Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA Drivers - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Giedo Van Der Garde (Caterham), Jules Bianchi (Marussia), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Max Chilton (Marussia). Q: Kimi, great win for you and the team to start off with, in cold conditions. How do you and the team feel about being able to repeat that performance level in the heat of Malaysia? Kimi Raikkonen: We don’t know yet. Last year we were pretty good when it was hot and actually it was […]

Giedo van der Garde believes that high temperatures in Malaysia this weekend will help his team. Van der Garde finished in eighteenth place in Australia, the last of the classified runners. "On track Sepang gives us an interesting challenge", said the Dutchman. "We haven’t seen track temperatures in pre-season or in Australia close to what we’ll have this week and as the circuit evolves quite a bit over the weekend managing degradation levels from Friday through to Sunday will be critical, but we saw in […]

McLaren Group has apologised to Mark Webber after admitting that a software issue in the standard Engine Control Unit (ECU) compromised his start of the Australian Grand Prix. Webber started on the front row but dropped to seventh place after the first corner, before eventually recovering to sixth place at the finish. "There is a new standard ECU (Engine Control Unit) in 2013 that featured on all Formula 1 cars that took part in the recent Australian Grand Prix," read a McLaren statement. "Supplied by […]

Williams technical director Mike Coughlan says that his team can bounce back from a disappointing start to the season in Australia and aim for a double points finish in Malaysia. Valtteri Bottas qualified in sixteenth place in Melbourne and raced to fourteenth place, ahead of only the Marussia and Caterham drivers. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado failed to make Q2 and spun off during the race. "Following a difficult opening to the season in Australia, the team has regrouped and been working hard to solve the problems […]

Force India team principal Vijay Mallya is confident that his cars can score points in this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Adrian Sutil led in Australia before finishing in seventh place, narrowly ahead of the sister car of Paul di Resta. "We have scored points in Sepang the last three times we raced there, including a double-points finish last year, and I believe we can build on the early-season momentum to bring home a valuable result," he said. "Last weekend’s race in Melbourne was a great […]

McLaren believe that rain is their best prospect during this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Jenson Button and Sergio Perez finished only ninth and eleventh in Australia and don't expect further progress in Sepang. "Australia was obviously a tough weekend and, despite getting the maximum out of the car, it’s still clearly not where we want to be. There's a lot of work to be done but we all know that this team won’t stop working until they get it right," said Button. "“For this weekend, […]

Lotus's Romain Grosjean is hoping for a better performance as he heads to his favourite circuit for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Grosjean qualified eighth in Australia but slipped back to tenth in the race. "Sepang is probably my favourite track of the whole season," he said. "I first raced there in 2008 as part of the GP2 Asia Series and I really loved the circuit. It’s nice and wide, with fast flowing corners and a lot of undulation which makes it great fun to […]

After his success in Melbourne and now the dust has settled, the Iceman talks us through just how good that win felt, and how he will prepare and look forward to trying to achieve the same in Malaysia. What are your main memories of Sepang as a circuit? Malaysia has been good and bad for me in the past; I’ve had a few bad races there but I’ve also won three times at the circuit including my first Grand Prix victory so it’s nice to […]

Nico Hulkenberg will tackle this weekend's Malaysian grand prix with a new Sauber chassis. 90 minutes before his first race for the Swiss team in Melbourne, mechanics went to prepare the grey C32 for the race but "fuel suddenly splashed out of the car," according to well-connected Blick correspondent Roger Benoit. "(It was) a problem with the fuel tank, which is directly behind the driver." Team manager Beat Zehnder: "It must be a crack in the tank. It's something I've not experienced in twenty years." […]

After three hours of running in Melbourne, the fog of the winter pre-season has finally begun to clear. Lotus, like Mercedes and Ferrari, looks quite competitive, but "The front row will be all Red Bull," said Romain Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton agreed: "They (Red Bull) have obviously been sand-bagging the whole time in winter as expected. "But I don't feel we're miles away." With Mercedes confirming its pre-season promise, and McLaren definitely struggling in Australia, Hamilton's winter switch now seems inspired. "I'm not sure what's happening […]

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso says it is difficult to predict which of the sport's top five teams will have an advantage in 2013. When asked whether Ferrari can win this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, the Spaniard admitted that no-one knows what will happen. "I think difficult to know. No-one knows who can win this race at this moment. We have to wait and see for answers to some questions that winter testing doesn't answer," he said. "I think there are top teams with a little […]