2003 Malaysian GP

Sepang circuit lies next to the city's main airport, about forty five minutes south of central Kuala Lumpur, and was purpose-built for Formula One as a state of the art racing circuit, the first of its kind in Malaysia. The first Grand Prix the track hosted was in 1999 and its excellent facilities provide a high quality working environment for teams and drivers. Sepang has an unusually wide track which allows for good overtaking opportunities, but is still a challenge for drivers with its variety of tight and flowing corners and two fast and long straights on either side of the spectacular canopied grandstands. The hot track temperature creates low grip level, with the heat also making this race hard on engines. A good car balance is required for the quick corners although the track's flowing nature makes it light on the brakes. The unusually hot and humid conditions mean that the race is physically very demanding for drivers.

The war in the Gulf and the spread of a new “killer” ‘flu bug from the East has had an effect on the Formula 1 paddock in Malaysia. Several European newspapers chose to keep their journalists at home and the huge Sepang press room is less than half full. Having failed to show up in Melbourne, FIA President Max Mosley was due to put in an appearance here, but as planned meetings have been cancelled, he too is staying in Europe.

Jordan Ford’s testing and official Free Practice ran mainly according to plan, with Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralph Firman completing a sufficient number of laps in both damp and dry track conditions as part of their set-up and tyre preparations. Firman went off the track 15 minutes before the end of Free Practice with a front suspension problem, which the team is currently investigating.

Gary Anderson said, “Testing went quite well and we’re happy that we got through our programme. It was looking at different fuel loads and electronic changes to cure some problems that we had in the last race. We got everything done quite effectively. During Free Practice something happened to Ralph’s car with the left front suspension. I haven’t seen it yet so I’m not sure what it was. Giancarlo got through everything in the plan, so we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralph Firman qualified their Jordan Ford EJ13s in 12th and 17th place respectively. The drivers experienced understeer and tyre graining problems which the team is working to resolve in preparation for tomorrow’s final qualifying session. Both drivers are optimistic about improving their grid positions.

Fisichella said at the end of the session, “Not too bad. The target was to be in the top ten and I’m just two positions lower. I was in good shape for most of the lap but unfortunately in the last three corners I had quite a lot of graining and lost three or four tenths of a second. So we have to solve that problem and then I think it’s going to be reasonably good.”

Michael Schumacher set the fastest time in Friday qualifying in Mayalsia, and with team mate Rubens Barrichello second it seems that Formula One is set for another dominant performance by Ferrari. Juan Pablo Montoya took third in his Williams with Kimi Raikkonen a promising fourth in front of team mate David Coulthard.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralph Firman will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from 14th and 20th on the grid following today’s (Saturday) qualifying. Free practice in the morning and the afternoon's warm-up session ran smoothly and the qualifying session ran without incident for Jordan Ford, however the EJ13s suffered with balance and grip problems due to increasing track temperatures.

Fernando Alonso claimed a dramatic pole position for Renault for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix, the highly rated Spanish driver giving the former Benetton team their first pole since 1997 and Jarno Trulli completing a perfect day by setting the second fastest time. Michael Schumacher was third quickest for Ferrari, with David Coulthard a solid fourth for McLaren ahead of the second Ferrari driven by Rubens Barrichello.

Finland's Kimi Raikkonen took his first F1 career victory in today's Malaysian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver producing a strong performance and running a good two stop strategy to finish ahead of Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello and the Renault of pole-sitter Fernando Alonso. The second round of the World Championship was no less thrilling than the first, Ferrari once again tripping up when Michael Schumacher made an untypical error and the rise of new talent being illustrated not only by the podium finishers but also by Ralph Firman's good drive into 10th place for Jordan Ford during which he battled hard with several highly experienced drivers.

Ralph Firman delivered a strong drive to finish his first full Grand Prix in tenth place. In his single pit stop, which was delayed by a pit launch problem, the planned volume of fuel was not completely delivered, so his second stint, which offered a ninth place finish, was restrained by a low fuel level and he lost a place on the last lap. Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to start due to a launch control problem following a mistake when forming on the grid.

Ralph Firman said, “It was a good race with the car showing reliability. It was very very hard work but I had some good battles and it’s great to finish. In the pit stop the car wouldn’t pull away with the normal system, I don’t know why, but we did a manual start and that was okay, but I lost a bit of time and it is a shame I ran out of fuel on the last lap. The team has done an excellent job this weekend and I’m looking forward to Brazil.