The Heat is On

The Malaysian GP kicks off with the practice sessions at the Sepang International Circuit on Friday as McLaren's Lewis Hamilton tops the timing sheets in both the sessions ending the day with the fastest lap of 1 minute 38.127 seconds in the second practice session, off by just 0.151s slower than his lap time in the first session.

7 time World Formula One Champion, Michael Schumacher emerged second fastest at the end of Practice 2, with a time of 1 minute 38.533 seconds with Jenson Button trailing behind closing the gap of 0.363 seconds from the leader; completing the top three on the time sheets.

Kimi Raikkonen making a come back to the Formula One Championship managed to get a good timing in the first practice session for the day, clocking it in at 1 minute 39.128 seconds, hence was off to a slower close to Practice 2 when he only managed to cling onto 15nth placing coming in slower at 1 minute 39.696 seconds.

The Red Bull Racing-Renault team did not perform well at the end of the day, managing with 7th and 10th placing by Webber and Vettel respectively. Fernando Alonso, of team Ferrari on the other hand, found the edge of a good setting to the car, managed to finish 6th fastest at the end of Practice 2.

Daniel Ricciardo from team STR-Ferrari is looking to repeat his good streak after a good race finishing 9th overall at the recent Australian Grand Prix, by improving his time in Practice 2 at Sepang International Circuit, finishing 5th fastest with a time of 1 minute 38.853 seconds, just 0.681 seconds off from the leader.

Practice 3 will start tomorrow, 24th March 2012 at 1300hrs Malaysian Local Time before the racers go head on for the Qualifying Sessions at 1600hrs Malaysian Local Time.

Can Red Bull Racing turn up the heat for McLaren? Sunday's race is expected to flag-off at 1600hrs Malaysian Local Time. The race will run over a gruelling 56-laps of the 5.543-kilometre Sepang International Circuit with an expected rainy weather conditions of a high 32 degrees Celsius.

For those who are still wanting to get their hands on those tickets to the hottest race happening this weekend, you can head on to the Dengkil R&R E6 highway (southbound) between 0900-1800hrs. For more info, log on to www.malaysiangp.com.my.