By Phil Huff
April 20 2010

Devised by Hermann Tilke, the Sepang circuit is a visually dramatic, beautifully equipped facility, and has been lavished with much praise by teams and drivers since joining the World Championship in 1999. Sepang also provides wonderful spectator facilities, including a unique "double-sided" 30,000-seat grandstand with an unusual roof in the shape of an hibiscus - the national flower of Malaysia.

The demanding 15-turn, 5.543km track features a pair of parallel straights plus a combination of low and medium-speed corners that really test drivers. Indeed, Sepang is regarded as one of the most physically demanding tracks in the world, with the extremely high levels of humidity making the race particularly difficult. The surface is wide and smooth with overtaking most likely to occur under braking for the tight corners at the end of each straight.

As the years have passed, the circuit has got more bumpy. Combined with a predominatnly oversteer led handling characteristic and the predicted high temperatures, the circuit can be very hard on tyres. As such, Bridgestone will be bringing the medium and hard compounds to Sepang.

For driver confidence, it’s important to get a good balance through the quick left-right at Turns 5 and 6, but there are other more important corners in terms of lap time. The penultimate corner onto the long back straight is a double apex and it’s technically difficult to find a good balance through there.

Last years race saw Jenson Button take a lights to flag victory in a dramatic rain affected race that ended after just 31 laps as the circuit became water logged and light started fading. Team mate Rubens Barrichell started second, right behind Button, but circumstances left him in fifth when the race was stopped.