SEPANG FOUR SECONDS SLOWER THAN PIRELLI PREDICTIONS

Original: Why extremely rough Sepang was over four seconds slower than Pirelli's F1 simulations

The Sepang circuit's rough surface caused lap times to be over four seconds slower than Pirelli's pre-event simulations during Friday practice for Formula 1's return to Malaysia after a nine-year absence.

Friday practice for Formula 1's one-off return to Malaysia, following a nine-year hiatus, was always going to throw a few curveballs the paddock's way. But while Malaysia's daily monsoons missed the track, instead it was the Sepang circuit itself that proved tough to tame. Thursday's track walks had