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His Majesty Attends Sepang Circuit
In Malaysia
Malaysia -
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei arrived in
Malaysia to witness the Sepang International Circuit for the Malaysian
Grand Prix yesterday.
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The Sultan was among many Formula 1
enthusiasts seeing Fernando Alonso win Sunday's race to give
Renault back-to-back F1 victories yesterday.
Jarno Trulli captured second
place and a maiden podium position for Toyota.
The Spanish Alonso posted the
fastest lap time ever at the Sepang Circuit as Renault opened for
business in the provisional qualifying session for the Petronas
Malaysian Grand Prix.
He bagged the third place finish
in the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago. But he was the 18th
driver out who clocked a blistering 1.32.582s seconds around the
5.543km circuit.
Though he started late as the R25 was down on power, he
was able to rip past Toyota's Jarno Trulli who posted a stunning
1:32.672s. Trulli was the
12th driver out in the one-shot session.
Renault's Australian Grand Prix
winner Giancarlo Fisichella was third fastest on 1:32.765s, in a
session which saw the two Ferraris of champion Michael Schumacher
and Rubens Barrichello clearly under the pace with all cars
running low fuel loads.
Schumacher was 12th fastest on
1:34.072s. |
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Barrichello, who finished
second in Australia, was in on 1:34.162s.
After his victory yesterday,
Alonso was quoted by New Straits Times to have said: "I feel very comfortable here at
Sepang, for me among the best circuits of the world for a driver,"
said Alonso, 23, who in 2003 became the youngest ever pole sitter
in F1 history at Sepang.
With Fisichella coming third,
Renault also showed some promise that the new engine regulations
extending the use of one engine for two race weekends had little
effect on their performance. |
In New Straits Times, Alonso was
reported to have commented: "I can't give you exactly the
numbers, but (referring to the lack of power) as drivers, we push the
throttle and we feel there is less".
"We were able to show again that both
our cars can be in the top three. In Australia, it was harder on the
tyres because I was pushing every lap, but the engine is more or less
the same."
It will be a busy day at Sepang
today, with second qualifying, in which all cars run heavy fuel loads,
taking place at 11.0am, before the seventh Malaysian Grand Prix flags
off at 3.0pm.
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