Ferrari out to extend reign in Malaysian GP; Honda resumes bid

SEPANG, Malaysia — The Malaysian Grand Prix, less than four years old, has been a Ferrari baby.

Michael Schumacher has won twice, and the other time paved the way for a teammate’s victory. In 2000, the Italian team clinched its first double driver and constructor titles in two decades - here.

Ferrari drivers have finished first and second twice, and first and third.

It could be more of the same in Sunday’s 56-lap race.

The 33-year-old Schumacher is currently in a class by himself. After losing his pace following titles in 1994 and 1995, the German won the last two driver’s championships, last year by 58 points over David Coulthard of McLaren.

Meanwhile, following an eventful and incident-filled season opener in Australia, Honda and its partner teams, DHL Jordan Honda and Lucky Strike B.A.R. Honda, arrive in Malaysia for the second round of the 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship. The disappointments of Melbourne endorsed the importance of overall reliability and for Honda and its partner teams, both capable of scoring points in Australia, Malaysia represents an opportunity to improve.

As always, the notorious heat and humidity of Kuala Lumpur’s equatorial climate will be a significant factor over the weekend. Combined with the characteristics of the Sepang circuit, which include two long straights, the climatic conditions require the Honda’s engineers to focus on the software programs and mapping of the RA002E to adapt.

Much of the preparation is carried out in Honda R&D’s ambient dynamometers which simulate various meteorological conditions although, until this year, the annual visit to Kyalami in South Africa provided an invaluable opportunity for hot-weather testing ‘on the ground’. Honda arrives in Malaysia fresh from two constructive days of testing at Silverstone where B.A.R. Honda test driver Anthony Davidson carried out extensive aerodynamic work, mainly as single-lap runs, with large amounts of data being collected not only on the chassis but also from the powerplant, as part of Honda’s current software program.

Malaysia forms an important element of Honda’s global network as part of its Asia/Oceania region. Malaysia was chosen by Honda as the base for its first regional automobile production facility which opened in 1969. The company has expanded its operations to include production in Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, China and India – across all three of its divisions: automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment products. Honda’s growth in Malaysia continued last August when construction of a new car plant in the Malacca region began, scheduled for completion in January 2003. The facility’s initial production capacity of 20,000 units per year is designed to meet local demand, manufacturing the Honda City, Civic, Accord and CR-V models.