What do you enjoy, and what are the unique challenges, of the Sepang International Circuit?

As the home race of our title partner, PETRONAS, the Malaysian Grand Prix is a very important and prestigious race for our team. The whole team enjoys our annual visit to both Kuala Lumpur and the Sepang International Circuit, and the unparalleled hospitality of our friends from PETRONAS and the Malaysian fans.

We endured a difficult weekend at the first race of the season, despite having reasonable expectations after completing a successful testing programme in Barcelona. We suffered a number of problems which resulted in a far from optimum car for qualifying and the race, and then were unlucky to suffer a disappointing double retirement for Michael and Nico.

Our priority since Melbourne has been to regroup back at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth, to review the weekend in detail, and to establish the best way to achieve the full potential of the car from Malaysia onwards. How we respond to the disappointment of Melbourne, and the challenges we faced, will be a true measure of our team.

The Sepang circuit presents many challenges. It has a wide variety of corners with varying radii which demand good aerodynamic stability and efficiency from a Formula 1 car. There are four major braking events during the lap, and extreme climatic conditions are the norm in Sepang, with high temperatures and humidity - which create a high likelihood of rain in the late afternoon during both qualifying and the race.

The Malaysian Grand Prix is one of our home races, with our title partner PETRONAS headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, and Nico scored the first podium for our team last year at this circuit with a third-place finish.

Since the first race in Australia, we have worked hard in Brackley and Brixworth to analyse the reasons behind, and to solve, the reliability and performance problems which hampered our first race weekend of the season. Our target is to be in better shape in Malaysia.