The first of the four final flyaway races takes place at the Sepang International Circuit, a regular on the calendar since 1999 aside from an absence in 2012 in favour of a second race in the United States. The circuit has witnessed three drivers take their maiden wins with Robert Kubica triumphing in a wet-dry race in 2007, Romain Grosjean mastering even wetter conditions in 2013, and Sam Bird leaving everyone gobsmacked in 2016 with the drive of his career. Of the current grid, only eight drivers are yet to stand on the top step of the podium, and that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon.

Tornado move closer to breaking more records
The last race at Portimao was another routine performance for the dominant Tornado team, who clinched their third consecutive Teams Championship and their ninth in total, an extension of that particular record. More importantly, they finally broke their Portuguese curse. Team boss Tobias Wolff has declared the TRB-16B as “the best car we’ve ever built” and has even encouraged his customer team Andrew Racing to push for 2nd in the Teams Championship in order for Climax to finish 1-2 in the standings. The Drivers Championship battle is now between Grosjean and his team mate and championship leader Vaino Kimminen, and all Kimminen needs to do is finish ahead of his teammate in order to win what would be a well-deserved championship and become the second Finn to do so after Kimi Raikkonen. More records on Tornado’s wish list include: the most wins in a season, the most podiums in a season, and the most points in a season, all of which belong to Shake ‘n’ Bake from the 2009 season. Furthermore, if Tornado set fastest laps in the remaining four races, they would break Pedersen’s record of 14 set in 2005.
As for the rest of the field, it was Daniel Ricciardo who completed the podium thanks to a well-executed two-stop strategy, but standout performances came from Cooper Lee and Max Verstappen as they finished 4th and 5th. Verstappen also managed an inventive overtake around the outside on Nico Hulkenberg at the creatively-named Portimao corner. Conversely, Lewis Hamilton had another awful race as pole position couldn’t be converted into points, and it’s becoming clear that Mitchell are gunning for pole positions for the rest of the season regardless of how well they do in the races, which may cost them 2nd in the championship.
Paddock News
While Hamilton looked subdued, Fernando Alonso was furious as he fell victim to a loose drain cover on the apex of turn 2 and suffered a slow puncture which ended his race. A mid-race directive from the AFIA was sent to teams to tell drivers to avoid the apex of turn 2 for the rest of the race, and shortly after the race, the Portuguese Grand Prix was officially dropped from the 2018 calendar and replaced by the European Grand Prix. The venue is yet to be confirmed, but it is likely to be the Nurburgring, Jerez, or Barcelona, although other circuits may still be considered. A suggestion from CBA Racing to run on the Indianapolis oval was quickly dismissed by the AFIA, while FJR team boss James Brickles is still hankering for a race at Oulton Park.
This weekend sees Mugen bringing upgraded components for the ICE, ERS and Ce. It will be their final free upgrade of the season.
Meanwhile, entries for the 2017-18 FFeM championship are currently open, and the rumour is that Pierre Gasly is the hottest ticket with many teams expressing a keen interest in the Frenchman’s services whilst FF1M refugees Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne are hoping to find a berth in the electric formula.
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The FF2M championship battle is approaching its conclusion with two meetings remaining. Chuck Bucknum looks to be the favourite as he holds a 20 point lead over Charles Leclerc, but Leclerc has a bit more momentum after two difficult meetings for the Detroit native. Meanwhile, Mason Taylor, Mario Da Silva, and Bram de Boer still have mathematical chances, albeit unrealistic ones. For Bucknum to win the championship in the feature race, he needs to extend his lead to 29 points. The Teams Championship battle is stacked very heavily in OLM Racing’s favour as they hold a 53 point lead over MedSign7 Racing. They can afford for the gap to fall to 48 points after the feature race and still win the championship, which would be the 5th of their career.
Coverage Details
Race Highlights will go live at 15:00 on Sunday 26th January with CBA Racing’s team boss making his co-commentating debut alongside James Brickles.
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