The Athletic

Formula One's first visit to Sipang in 1999 was unforgettable.

Michael Schumacher made his glorious return after breaking his leg earlier in the year at Silverstone,

promptly smashed

everybody in qualifying, then set about becoming the best number two F1 has ever seen as he handed

the race to his title chasing teammate Eddie Irvine. The drama then continued after the race

as both Ferraris were thrown out. Mika Hakinaen was declared world champion with a race to spare,

and then a week later, Ferrari got that decision overturned,

once again setting up a final round showdown at Suzuki.

We're going to dig deep beneath the surface of all of that

and much more on this episode of bring back V10s,

and joining me, Glenn Freeman, to do that are Gary Anderson and Karun Chanduck.

Now, Gary, you were there, your Stuart team were there that weekend in Malaysia.

So when you think of F1's first visit to Sepang, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Yeah, well, obviously, it was a very, always nice to go to a new circuit, it was a fantastic circuit and we were coming from

the european grand prix the previous grand prix where or johnny had won in the in adverse conditions

i suppose you might call it and ribbons was third so we were we were going there with quite a high

momentum of motivation i think you might again and johnny had definitely found his feet so you know

as the weekend progressed Johnny was definitely back in contention to be the driver that

we always knew he was whereas it struggled a little bit in the middle of the year but

but the circuit was fantastic you know all air-conditioned offices and everything he ever

wanted and it was a you know it was a real challenge circuit as well, fast, slow, long straights, you know,

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