Analysis: Formula One Sweats it Out in Malaysia

When Formula One drivers come to Malaysia, they know the heat is really on.

Excluding camel races, the odd desert derby and the Sahara stages of the Paris-Dakar rally, local promoters may be just about right in billing Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix as the world's hottest race.

When even Brazilians confess to hallucinating in the humidity, have no doubt that steamy Sepang can muddle people's minds as well as placing huge demands on a driver's body.

This is one race where everybody sweats it out.

"It's the hardest race of the whole year," said Ferrari's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello as he prepared for his fifth Malaysian appearance. "My first race here in Malaysia was with the Stewart team and I'd been drinking water for the first half of the race.

"Unfortunately the water finished with 20 laps to go and that was a nightmare. I could see the desert, I could see quite strange things in front of me. You have to be drinking the whole time, you have to concentrate even more on the body by drinking water all day."

Water Treatment

Everyone, from the mechanics bathed in sweat to visitors seeking refuge in the hospitality areas, must take measures to avoid the ever-present danger of dehydration.

The Williams team said they and their guests alone consumed 3,200 litres of water and soft drinks at last year's race weekend. Ambient temperatures in 2002 were around 33 degrees centigrade while the track temperature soared to 50 degrees on Friday during first qualifying.

"Being a Brazilian I'm lucky on that side," said Barrichello. "Brazil was 36 degrees on average this past week when I was there so I've been able to train in the hot weather. I enjoy the situation because when you feel you can prepare you can make a difference over some other drivers."

For those used to the rush of cold air as they accelerate away at European races, Malaysia could not be more different.

"Malaysia's probably the only race where you can feel the heat when you're driving down the straight," says BAR's Jenson Button. "Normally you get cool air in your helmet on the straight but it's actually hot air here, which is pretty horrible.

"It's really hard, especially when you are sat in the garage, that's the worst thing, and walking back from the weighbridge. In this bloody suit and in the car, its just horrendously hot, you're sweating buckets."

Wettest Race

In Hungary last August, the hottest European Grand Prix, Button shed 2.5 kilos of fluid during the race and he expected Malaysia to be worse than that. With sudden tropical downpours an ever present threat, which caused mayhem at the start of the 2001 race, Sepang could equally be billed as the wettest on the calendar.

Sometimes it can be dry on one part of the circuit as another section is flooded with rainwater, making tyre choices something of a lottery.

"I have been coming to Malaysia for 15 years and don't think I have ever seen a day when it hasn't rained," said Michelin's Pierre Dupasquier on Friday. "We are confident that we have a good rain tyre, if we should need it, but you can never predict how wet 'wet' might be. If we have a tropical storm during the race, I'm sure the FIA will launch the safety car.

"Even if tyres worked effectively in the conditions, visibility would be zero."