Malaysian GP Preview: Alonso return takes focus off Mercedes

Wednesday, 25 March 2015 at 13:07

Formula 1 rolls into Malaysia this week for the second round of the championship at the Sepang International Circuit, where talk surrounding the utter dominance of Mercedes will for once take a back seat to the belated arrival of Fernando Alonso.

The season-opening Australian Grand Prix bordered on the farcical as defending world champion Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two ahead of Nico Rosberg in a race where only 13 of a possible 20 cars were racing by the end of the first lap.

Mechanical failure, under-prepared cars and injury accounted for most of the withdrawals but double world champion Alonso was unable to even make the trip to Melbourne following a pre-season crash at Barcelona last month on his return to McLaren.

Sitting out the race in order to minimise the chance of suffering sudden-impact syndrome, Alonso will be keen to get reacquainted with a team where he spent an unhappy season in 2007 but judging by McLaren's performance in Australia, any joy is expected to be short-lived.

Struggling for pace and reliability with the new Honda engine, McLaren team mate Jenson Button crawled around Albert Park to cross the line last of the 11 finishers, while Alonso's stand-in Kevin Magnussen failed to start the race due to engine issues.

The Spaniard will be hoping the team have been able to make significant improvements since Australia two weeks ago and can at least make the car competitive enough to keep pace with the back-markers, something that was out of reach in Melbourne.

"I watched the weekend in Australia very closely and I was in touch with the team from the moment they arrived," Alonso said of the season-opener.

"It's clear we have a lot of work ahead of us but Jenson's result in Melbourne was encouraging from the point of view of reliability and data collection, which are extremely important."

Turning to his recovery from the pre-season crash, Alonso will need to pass a fitness test on Thursday before he can race but is looking forward to marking his return at a circuit he has enjoyed a fair amount of success, including three victories.

"I've been working hard on my fitness and I feel good and ready to go this weekend. The weekend will be tough but I'm looking forward to getting into the MP4-30 for the first time in a Grand Prix and getting back to racing."

Up at the head of the field, Mercedes are once again expected to surge clear from the chasing pack with Hamilton and Rosberg continuing the battle for supremacy while the other teams scramble around for minor honours.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel's distant third place finish on his Ferrari debut was an encouraging start for a team seeking to reestablish itself among the elites but the Italian outfit can expect a tougher challenge from Williams in Malaysia.

The Mercedes-powered team lost Valtteri Bottas to injury following qualifying in Australia and the Finn and team mate Felipe Massa can expect a better performance from the Williams around the sweeping corners of the Hermann Tilke-designed track.

In a week when the sport suffered another blow with the dropping of the German Grand Prix from this season's calendar for financial reasons, anything other than a Mercedes victory would be a welcome lift for a series in which monotony has replaced drama.

The chances of that happening remain slim, however, but Malaysia's volatile weather could intervene as it did in 2012 when Alonso dodged the puddles in a modest Ferrari to win the race after qualifying ninth.

Malaysian Grand Prix facts & stats:

Lap distance: 5.543 kilometres. Total distance: 310.408km (56 laps)
Race lap record: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) Williams 1:34.223 (2004)
2014 pole: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes
2014 winner: Hamilton
Start time: 0800 GMT (1500 local)
Tyres: Medium (white), Hard (orange)
Lewis Hamilton's win in the Australian season-opener was the double world champion's 34th in Formula One, and second in a row after last year's Abu Dhabi season-ender. The Briton is fifth on the all-time list of winners.
The last time Hamilton won in Australia, in 2008, he also ended the year as champion.
Mercedes have now won the last eight races. They took a record 16 wins (from 19 races) last season. They have also chalked up 12 one-two finishes in 20 races.
Of other current drivers, four-times champion Sebastian Vettel has 39 career wins, Fernando Alonso 32, Kimi Raikkonen 20 and Jenson Button 15.
Ferrari have won 221 races, McLaren 182, Williams 114 and Red Bull 50. Mercedes have won 30.
McLaren have not won for 39 races, a run that dates back to Brazil 2012. They went 48 races without a win from 1993-97.
Ferrari have not won since Spain in May 2013, which was the last time a team other than Mercedes or Red Bull won. Last season was the first since 1993 without a Ferrari win.
Mercedes have now been on pole for the last 12 races. The record for successive poles is 24 (Williams 1992/93).
Mercedes and Williams were the only teams to start on pole last year.
Ferrari's last pole was in Germany with Alonso in 2012.
Three drivers scored points for the first time in Melbourne. Brazilian Felipe Nasr and Spain's Carlos Sainz became the 62nd and 63rd rookies to do so on their debuts.
Marcus Ericsson finally scored for Sauber after failing to do so in 16 races for now-defunct Caterham. They were the first points for a Swedish driver since Stefan Johansson in 1989, before Ericsson was born.
Nasr's fifth place was the best result by a Brazilian driver on his debut.
Sauber scored their first points in 20 races, ending the team's longest barren run since they first entered the championship in 1993. They were one of only three teams to get two cars to the finish in Australia.
Hamilton won from pole with the fastest lap last year.
Vettel (2010, 2011, 2013) and Alonso (2005, 2007, 2012) are both three-times winners at Sepang. Raikkonen has won twice, Button and Hamilton once.
Ferrari have won six of the 16 races held to date in Malaysia.
Nine of the 16 have been won from pole. The lowest grid placing ending in victory was Alonso's 2012 win from eighth place.
Button took his first F1 podium at Sepang in 2004 and has started 15 times there, more than any other driver.
Mercedes have Malaysian oil giant Petronas as title sponsor.
The track is one of the most abrasive on the calendar with fast corners. Drivers are expected to make at least two stops (Hamilton won with three last year). Rain can be expected, with standing water a problem.
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen, aged 17, became the youngest driver to start a Formula One race.
Vettel finished third on his Ferrari debut, becoming the 56th driver for the team to stand on the F1 podium and third German after Michael Schumacher and Wolfgang von Trips.