Mark’s Malaysian GP Preview

on March 22, 2013 2013 Season with 9 comments

Mark has arrived in the heat and humidity of Kuala Lumpur ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Round two of the world championship is a completely different challenge to last weekend’s season-opener in Melbourne and it’s one that Mark relishes.

“Sepang is a fantastic track,” says Mark. “It’s very rewarding to drive, with a good mix of corners – from very fast to very slow. I’ve always enjoyed driving there and the penultimate corner is the one that I enjoy most. It’s quick and you have to get on the power as early as possible because a long straight follows, at the end of which is a good overtaking point. To be fast, you need your car to be working for you; you can’t carry it around this racetrack.”

After the relative disappointment of Melbourne, where Mark finished sixth after starting on the front row, a lot of work has gone into rectifying the problems that led to him dropping so many places away from the grid.

“It’s good to be back racing so soon after Melbourne,” he says. “We didn’t help ourselves during the first stint last weekend. There were a few issues, from the telemetry going down in the garage on the formation garage to some issues with the front jack at the first stop. There are areas where we know we can improve here and that’s what we’ll endeavour to do.”

Pirelli have brought their medium and hard compound tyres to this race. The need for more durable rubber than in Melbourne lies in the abrasive track surface and the long, fast corners that load up the tyres.

“Tyre wear in Melbourne was a factor for all of the teams, except Lotus,” says Mark. “We go one step harder with the compounds here and we also have much higher track temperatures to contend with, so it will be interesting to see how the weekend pans out. I hope we can translate our car’s one-lap pace into a good race pace; if we can do that, a good result should be possible.”

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9 Comments

  • Ayyub Masjuki
    on March 22, 2013 Reply

    Good luck Mark! I’ll be cheering for you from the first corner grandstand. See you tomorrow and on Sunday. All the best!

  • Petra
    on March 23, 2013 Reply

    Good luck for Qualifying Mark!

  • Rana
    on March 23, 2013 Reply

    I hope technical problems are over! Anyway I believe you will do again great job. Just trust yourself and keep doing your best.
    Good luck Mark.

  • Dina A.
    on March 24, 2013 Reply

    Heat, rain, tricky conditions, tyres, tyres,tyres, “miscommunications”… ok, you’ll do it the hard way.. see you on the podium!

    ALWAYS BELIEVE IN YOU MARK !!!

  • Dan
    on March 24, 2013 Reply

    No Words for what happened in the race. Hope you use it as fuel for the rest of the season. Was a great race up until about 12 laps to go. All the best for the rest of the season.

  • Peter
    on March 24, 2013 Reply

    Like I said, you are red bull racing. The team needs to teach Seb a lesson and drop him for the next GP. You had your race taken away from you…… Well done

  • Amateur Racer
    on March 24, 2013 Reply

    Aarrgghh. Insert swear words here. Apparently ‘hold station’ means ‘ignore me’ in german. Grrrr. Great race & great start mate, loving some Aussie Grit on show.

  • Pete
    on March 24, 2013 Reply

    You are the better bloke.

  • Antonia
    on March 25, 2013 Reply

    Vettel that disgusting team mate that needs to learn to respect team orders! disgusted in Vettel but over the moon with my favourite drivers result

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