Malaysian F1 GP

Lewis Hamilton said his preparations for the Malaysian F1 GP have been “heavily compromised” by reliability problems with his Mercedes.
The world champion, chasing an eighth win in nine races on Sunday,missed Friday’s first session and some of the second but still set the fastest time.

Andrew Benson’s Malaysian F1 GP view

Malaysia vies with nearby Singapore as the toughest grand prix on the calendar.Both take place in crippling tropical heat and humidity. Singapore is longer and bumpier, but takes place in the slightly cooler conditions of night and does not have the demanding high-speed corners of Sepang.

Hamilton goes into Sunday’s second race of the season (at 07:00 BST) seven points clear of likely title rival Rosberg, after the Mercedes drivers finished one-two in Australia two weeks ago.

The Briton said Ferrari looked like being Mercedes’s closest rivals after Kimi Raikkonen split him and Rosberg with the second fastest time and produced what appeared to be a strong race-simulation run.

“The Ferraris look great,” Hamilton said.

There’s more on this weekends Malaysian F1 GP at the BBC Sports news