The Malaysian GP boosted by the arrivals of Lotus and Petronas
The return of Lotus to Formula 1 and Petronas’ decision to sponsor the Mercedes GP team are two huge boosts for the Malaysian Grand Prix, claims the circuit director. Razlane Razali, the CEO of the Sepang track, believes that the interest generated by Lotus and the national oil company’s affiliation with Michael Schumacher have really […]
The return of Lotus to Formula 1 and Petronas’ decision to sponsor the Mercedes GP team are two huge boosts for the Malaysian Grand Prix, claims the circuit director. Razlane Razali, the CEO of the Sepang track, believes that the interest generated by Lotus and the national oil company’s affiliation with Michael Schumacher have really aided the organization.
« The last six months have seen considerable development in motorsport in Malaysia, » said Razali from the ‘Autosport International Show’. « We have seen the return of Lotus in F1, backed by Tony Fernandes. And Petronas was looking for a new partner. There was a lot of speculation and suddenly, unexpectedly, the answer came with Mercedes. It’s a very good development, a world champion team, with the return of Schumacher. »
« So, for us, like the Malaysians, it couldn’t be better. It’s good for us and especially for the country. »
Razali is hopeful that moving the event to a 4 p.m. local start, which is one hour earlier than last year, will prevent another forced abandonment of the Grand Prix due to bad weather and low light.
« We have never seen rain like that! The 2009 race was my first F1 event, which didn’t help. But we’re moving to 4 PM this year and I hope the weather will be favorable, but who can control that? »
« You couldn’t do anything and there was no margin for error. We lacked brightness and couldn’t continue the race. It was sad especially for TVs worldwide, » concluded Razali.
