It’s hot. You can acclimatise to the heat a bit if you go there early, but you’ve got to get there a long, long time in advance. Otherwise, you want to arrive as late as you can and that’s what I generally do. Last year I arrived on the Thursday before the race and that worked well.

Sepang is an interesting track. It’s got a mix of corners and it’s a good challenge for the driver. It’s also very wide and there are several heavy braking areas, so overtaking is possible.

Aerodynamically, the circuit is a good test for the cars because there are several high-speed corners. You can’t carry the car through these; you need it to be well-balanced.

After this year’s race, I’m going to do some hiking in the hills about an hour from the track. I’ve done it before and it’s fantastic. You get to see some beautiful places and you have to be aware of tigers while you’re out there. They smell like wet carpet and the guides give you little bombs, which you can light if you stumble across one.
There’s also a waterski park not far from the track and I might visit that this year as well. I won’t do any skiing, but I’ll rip it up behind the controls of the boat.