It has been known that Malaysia is a hot country to visit, but it can also be a very wet and cold place if you visit it at this time of year. It was expected that rain will come at Sepang, but no one, I say again, NO ONE expected it to be a pretty bad thunderstorm.
The race will always be remembered for its excitement at a very different level. Not just the rain, but also the drivers/teams that dominated the race.
A week ago, Brawn GP proved to the world that they didn’t bluff when they set the fastest time during the practice sessions. They won (1st and 2nd) the Melbourne Grand Prix with a pretty comfortable margin.
Back to Sepang. I arrived at the location about three hours prior to the race. It was a pretty daunting task to wait that long, but luckily there were a few stalls to check out to kill off some time (well, it was MORE than just ‘some’ really).
A little bit disappointed with the lack of models/race-girls, but that didn’t stop me from getting pumped up for the race!
We got through gate 1 at 2pm, and went straight to our seats at Turquoise to check out the view since it was the first time we got the Turquoise’s. And boy was it far away from the starting grid, but at least we could see most of the action on the long-straight.
The race started at 1700 as scheduled, but I was surprised with the lack of spectators at K1 Platinum and Gold grand stands. I guess our economy meltdown got something to do with it.
As the race went on, it got pretty dull at the front ‘cause there wasn’t enough action at the front between Rosberg, Trulli, and Button. We were mostly concentrating on the race between Ferrari, BMW, and McLaren in the middle-pack. It wasn’t often I said that back in 2008, but I guess we’ll get used to it as the season goes on.
I’m not going to tell you what happened to the race ‘cause I assume that you all already know, but it was pretty washed up from what I can tell at the circuit. I guess we got carried away when we were hoping for it to rain, but thunderstorm was the one that came down.
The drivers stopped right between the Turquoise and Jade grand stands after the red flag, and most of the spectators went to the front to take photos of their beloved drivers up-close, but not THAT close though.
Overall, it was a pretty decent race. It would have been better if the race restarted right after the rain cooled down. It was a pretty odd way to finish the race because they didn’t even have to cross the finish-line!
Congratulations to Jenson Button for winning the race, and Nick Heidfeld for making Malaysia proud by finishing second (hey, BMW is still somewhat connected to Malaysia what?).