The last Malaysian F1 at Sepang

I've just watched the last Malaysian F1 at Sepang from the comfort of my sofa. It is the final F1 at the Sepang circuit. The first Grand Prix in Malaysia took place in 1999 and was held at the end of the season. In 2001 it was moved to the beginning and was usually the 2nd race of the season, in March, after Australia.

In 2007 Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 president, stated that the environs around the circuit were getting shabby from lack of care, and mentioned the rubbish in the area. However the contract was extended. Malaysia then wanted a night race, after Singapore started theirs in 2008. The F1 organisers didn't agree to this but instead agreed a late afternoon start time, 5pm. However that didn't work out due to heavy rain and darkness. In 2016 it was changed back towards the end of the season, to early Oct.

From Wikipedia : In April 2017 it was announced that the 2017 race would be the last time the event would be held at Sepang. The race's contract was due to expire in 2018, but its future had been under threat due to rising hosting fees and declining ticket sales. Malaysia’s youth and sports minister at the time Khairy Jamaluddin said on Twitter: ”I think we should stop hosting the F1. At least for a while. Cost too high, returns limited. When we first hosted the F1 it was a big deal. First in Asia outside Japan. Now so many venues. No first mover advantage. Not a novelty.” The BBC reported that "Malaysia had struggled in recent years to attract a significant crowd, its appeal damaged by the more glamorous night-time event on a street track in Singapore."

I first went in 2003. Although by international standards, tickets for the Malaysian F1 are remarkably cheap, my group of friends chose to sit on the hill slope, which was the cheapest ticket. This meant we were exposed to the blazing sun, the heat and humidity, and perhaps rain. But it was good fun. Kimi Räikkönen driving for McLaren-Mercedes won.

2004 was almost a repeat of 2003 for us.

We had a good view as Ralf Schumacher's car was taken away with engine failure

Michael Schumacher won in his Ferrari.

I did a blog in 2013.

My last visit was March 2015. Temperatures on race day were very hot, with the track temperature at 61 °C .

2 British drivers -

 

Helicopters have a parking area by the circuits stands. The Weststar helicopter (I know the owner)

Fernando Alonso before the race

Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari, he went on to win the 2015 race -

Jenson Button waiting to get into his McLaren-Honda -

Kimi Räikkönen in his Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes -

As mentioned above, the last F1 race at Sepang was 1 Oct 2017. Taken from Yahoo sports : "Sepang was the first F1 circuit to spring from the pencil of controversial uber-designer Hermann Tilke and it may well have been his best effort.

The layout is instantly recogniseable, with two huge straights slicing into the infield area.

The track itself is a wide beast, encouraging drivers to experiment with different race lines – particularly useful if Sepang is hit by one of those traditional Malaysian downpours.

But all of this hasn’t been enough to encourage the Malaysian government to keep bankrolling F1 and it’s not really surprising.

Tickets are good value here… and that’s because the local demand simply isn’t there. Of course, F1 is all about attracting a global audience but, despite having 1.5 million Kuala Lumpur residents just down the road, Malaysia has never shown any signs of taking F1 to its heart."

The end of an era. I'm extremely glad I was able to go to several F1 races over the years.

F1 2013

It's F1 time again. March 22-24 2013.

 I've never been to a practice session on the Friday and I didn't intend to go this year, but when I read in the Star on Fri morning that there was free entry for Friday, I decided to go. Car parking was also free. However I decided to take the shuttle bus from KL Sentral, which was RM30.

The bus took quite a long route, using the N-S highway as far as the Nilai memorial park then turning off to KLIA. And as we approached Sepang the driver was phoning someone for directions. Even when we arrived he still took the wrong entrance to the car park!

I was surprised at how few people there were, although I know that Fri is  never that busy. I managed to avoid the bag search and having my water bottles confiscated. That saved me having to buy water at RM5. Food is expensive at the F1, set meals of "fast food" are RM25, in the restaurant its about RM70.

There seemed to be less entertainment this year. The Segway wasn't there, nor the zorb balls. There was a rock climbing wall and another something I don't know the name of where a person is strapped in and then catapulted to the top

I walked through the Tourism Malaysia pavilion which was advertising Visit Malaysia 2014. It was all rather pathetic with a tacky display of Mulu

and a Malacca trishaw, a racing car and a teddy bear sat on the floor!
The Petronas display celebrated their 15th anniversary of F1 cars -

As seating was free today, I was able to try out all the "posh" expensive seats. Could look across at the pit building and at the winners podium. I've only been here once before in 2004 when the area was opened to the public after a Sat session. I was surprised the pits didn't have the drivers names up, or maybe it was just too early in the weekend.

2004 view with the names -

Looking towards K stand

Force India team getting ready (above) and looking across the area -

 It's good to see the stands are no smoking areas

The famous red lights, and the podium before and after

Pushing the Mercedes car to the pit

Red Bull making final preparations and being photographed then coming out

The second practice session started dead on 2pm. I was surprised at the speed at which the cars came out of the bays. Here's the 2nd Red Bull -

The practice is underway.

In previous years when I've been to F1 we've sat on the open hill slopes and the noise is bearable with ear plugs. But this time in the stands (which are the expensive seats) the noise was horrendous as it was trapped by the building and also you are much closer to the track. Of course there are very expensive enclosed boxes which must be nice.

Ferrari going back in

Red Bull approaching the turn by the C hill slope

and the Caterham

McLaren (above)

Screen showing on board camera on Red Bull

I then went to the grandstand.

Looking back at the pits

I'm sure these photographers got far better results than I did with my little digital camera !!

Views from the grandstand -

After an hour the rain arrived so there was a break. A Sauber spun when going home and  managed to get going again in front of Red Bull

The rain didn't last long and the cars were out again in less than 15 minutes. There was quite a lot of spray from the cars.

By now my ears were hurting so I made a move. Lesson learnt - if ever I go again, either take the really cheap hillslope in the hot sun, or if I'm in the expensive seats take proper quality head phones.

There is a helipad by the pit building

Final shots of a group of 5 cars

Going back was a bit of an epic. Firstly the first bus of the afternoon was full but luckily they allowed the next bus to leave when that was full. But the driver didn't know the route and missed the KL Sentral exit, and stayed on the Mex highway along Jln Tun Razak all the way into KL and then on along all the way around KL. Came to the Sentral turn and he missed it and went on towards Cheras then went wrong again before finally  heading back to Sental. The journey took 1 hr 40 mins instead of 1 hour).

That evening my ears were sore, but thankfully were OK by the next morning.