Malaysian GP

Patel 2

Malaysia! The land of the worlds hottest Formula One race. Not only was i there to watch this spectacle for the third time in three years but was also a part of it for the second consecutive year. Hot is an understatement! It's a frying pan! Right through the week the rain would set in at six in the evening. This was disaster waiting to happen.

Friday was the first day on the track for all cars including Formula BMW, GP2 Asia and Formula One. The heat was evident as all drivers came back from their practice session sweating buckets! Being a Formula BMW driver, I witnessed everything behind the scenes. One of the highlights of my weekend was Dr Vijay Mallya's visit to my team's pit.

He seemed pretty impressed by the way the junior formulas were run. It was without doubt a big event because it was a part of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Most of the young drivers in their first year of single seater racing had a chance to know what it feels like to be at a Formula one weekend and race on the same track only minutes before the Formula one weekend. This was something I was lucky to experience a few times last year but the rush at every Formula one event is a very unique one!

The much awaited qualifying for Formula one was on saturday evening and it saw Brawn GP's Jenson Button on top once again. This was one of the closest qualifying sessions the sport has seen in a very long time! The rule changes have made Formula one far more exciting and unpredictable. The tables have turned on top teams but it's only a matter of time before teams like Mclaren and Ferrari bounce back again. However Ferrari did manage to get Kimi Raikkonen in the top 10 in qualifying soon after which it began to rain. This was a sign that sunday would be wet again.

Race day. It began to rain soon after noon! The pitlane saw many worried faces but the rain didn't last for more than a hour. My Race was held a while after the rain on a drying track. The choice between slicks and wets was critical. Slicks it was! The race saw plenty of action with crashes galore due to the semi wet conditions but that's racing! My job was to stay out of trouble and managed to finish 6th after started 11th. By the time the Formula one race started the track was dry.

I was on turn four watching the race up close and personal until it happened. THE RAIN! The race was stopped in what was a first for Formula one with Jenson Button winning again and awarded half the points in a rain shortened race. I'm pretty sure this weekend's race at Shangai will spring a few surprises!