Paul di Resta hopes an early arrival in Malaysia will place him in tip-top shape for this weekend's gruelling race.
Force India driver hopes early arrival will give him an edge
Paul di Resta hopes an early arrival in Malaysia will place him in tip-top shape for this weekend's gruelling race.
While some drivers, such as race winner Jenson Button, remained in Melbourne after the Australian Grand Prix, the Force India driver hot-footed it to Kuala Lumpur the day after battling his way to 10th place at Albert Park.
According to Di Resta, Sunday's race at Sepang is the toughest race on the calendar in terms of driver fatigue - although the Scot reckons he might not suffer in the conditions as much as some of his rivals.
"Each year you come back, you just can't imagine how people could live here all year. It's cruel. But you very quickly acclimatise yourself," said Di Resta ahead of race which has been forecast to take place in temperatures of 90 degrees-plus.
"It's probably about 15 or 16 degrees hotter in the cockpit than what it is outside - given that you've got your four layers of Nomex and your helmet.
"The biggest challenge here actually is practice and qualifying and you're sat in the garage. You come in and the brakes are stinking a lot, tyres, engine; when you're actually moving you've got airflow, that's not a problem. Even walking in the garage at the moment, when the cars are sitting and then they're fired up, you can feel the difference.
"It was only raining 20 minutes ago and it's dry now. It just threatens at any point - and that's the thing, you're always on edge. You're on edge the whole grand prix and I think the weather had not predicted this today.
"I don't sweat as much as normal people but I'd imagine here you'd be looking at about a kilo and a half - that I'd lose. But down the pitlane it could be anything up to three kilos probably."
Frantic
Di Resta arrived in Malaysia having earned a championship point following a frantic last-lap battle in Melbourne which saw him pass Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne at the very last corner.
Both were part of a squabble which broke out after Pastor Maldonado had crashed his Williams, allowing the following cars to close up.
"The team have said the people up in front had extreme tyre degradation. We were still going strong and they just said to me 'Don't give up, don't give up'. I could see that there was a bit of a commotion in front of me. Fortunately I was close enough to get to them at the last corner.
"I chose not to challenge them three or four corners from the end and saved it to the last corner for making sure I had some KERS left. It's always a long run to the finish line in Melbourne.
"Jean-Eric didn't run wide. He obviously was challenging, he was part of the whole commotion that let me get to them. He lost by a tenth, which is quite cruel, but then I'm going to take the point."
The point was welcome for Force India as Di Resta had earlier struggled with inconsistent race pace and also made a mistake in qualifying, which placed him 15th on the grid.
"It was a simple mistake in qualifying that cost me," he explained "There was traffic - traffic on the out lap, I had to let six cars through. It was unfortunate, I lost track position and unfortunately when you lose 10 to 12 seconds in the last sector, your tyres are not going to be ready to start the lap.
"Our race performance looks strong but looks strong at the end of a race and at the end of stints. We just need to get the beginning of the stints and shake that up a little."
Getting a move on
Force India have targeted fifth place in the Constructors' Championship ahead of Lotus but given the strong start the latter have made, Di Resta acknowledged the step already seems ambitious.
"I think to stay where we were would be the realistic thing. If we can maintain where we were as a constructor last year; it looks like we're going to have to be getting a move on quickly to beat the likes of Lotus," he added.
"But having said that, they were the same last year but they plateaued whereas we our progression continued. I think this year we're certainly looking forward to getting back to the European season."
