This is a busy week! I left Bahrain on Sunday night, flew to Dubai and then on to Vienna and finally Copenhagen, where I arrived on Monday morning. I have less then two days at home, because on Wednesday morning it is back to Vienna and then on to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Just to make things a little bit more complicated, my bags 'disappeared' on their way to Bahrain; only arriving 12 hours after I did. On my way back, the airlines AGAIN managed to lose my bags, and as I write this on Tuesday morning, my bags are rumoured to be in Copenhagen Airport. "But we will have them delivered to your address before midnight," the nice lady from Scandinavian Airlines told me. Thanks for that - that gives me around six hours to unpack and pack again before heading back to the airport and the flight to Kuala Lumpur!

Most of the F1 circus flew from the Middle East to Malaysia and this was the easy solution: A six-hour flight to Malaysia and then a couple of days at a nice hotel with a swimming-pool before going out to Sepang for the first press conferences and preparations on Thursday.

I went back to Copenhagen because my latest book is launched this week. Denmark has become a 'superpower' in the 24 hour Le Mans race, and my book is about the Danish Le Mans winners (a Dane has been in the winning car for eight of the last 15 years). The book was a winter project and I am happy to tell you that it has turned out really nicely.

After celebrating the Le Mans book (and cursing the airlines and their luggage 'service'!) it is back to F1. Malaysia is one of the 'newest' countries in the F1 calendar. The first Grand Prix was held in October 1999, so this year's race is the eighth Malaysian Grand Prix.

The circuit, close to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport some 60 kilometres away from Kuala Lumpur downtown, is modern and safe with top-class facilities. The organisers quite literally moved mountains to attract F1 to Malaysia: Nine million cubic metres of earth were moved off the 115.000 square metre premises. Before becoming a F1 circuit, the area was a jungle, and we were reminded of that when practice before the first race back in 1999 was black-.flagged - because a tiger (OK - the locals said it was a 'wildcat' but it looked like a tiger to me!) suddenly arrived on the circuit.

The Bahrain Grand Prix did not bring Panasonic Toyota Racing the results we had hoped for, but things can change very quickly at this stage of the season. Last year in Malaysia Jarno Trulli finished second and it will be interesting to see how competitive Jarno and team-mate Ralf Schumacher will be in Malaysia. We all know a bit more about that after the first practice sessions on Friday, when I will upload my first diary from Sepang. Hopefully after a safe trip for both myself and my bags!

The final session on the first day of practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix here in Sepang saw ' third drivers' Anthony Davidson and Alexander Wurz top the time sheets with Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher 11th. and 17th. respectively.

Ralf was one of four drivers selected for the official FIA press conference, and he had some interesting things to say. First a few word about the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend.

"It was certainly a difficult race but nevertheless we used it as a race to learn a lot from - and that is why Jarno and myself ran two different strategies. I favoured my way even if you did not see it from the outside until the end - it was a way of finding out what we were able to do. I think it is pretty simple to see that we have a lot of work to do. But having said that, everything is possible: This is a different weekend, a different track, so let us see how it works out here. The basic problem is a general lack of grip. The car was a bit difficult to drive but that had to do with a combination of car and tyres. The tyres were capable of doing better things - that was easy to see. It is just down to us to find a way. We have a different tyre choice here in Malaysia and the track conditions should suit us more, so in general things should be a lot better here."

So there may be a quick fix to the problems?

"For this race there certainly is. At the same time we have to admit that we will still have to understand the reasons for what went wrong in Bahrain, and that has not happened yet."

This year, we have a new qualifying format, which proved popular with most people in Bahrain. What did Ralf think - after all, he was one of the to go out in the new 'knockout system'?

"But that was due to the red flag after Kimi Raikkonen's accident and the chaos we had - since we had the warm-up problems I couldn't really warm up my tyres and stuff like that, so it was just a disaster for me. Still, I think the new qualifying system is a good format. We still have to get used to it and get the most out of it. Let us hope we get a bit further this weekend."

As I explained in on of my Bahraini diaries, Panasonic Toyota Racing is not allowed to run a third car in the Friday sessions this year. What does Ralf think about that?

"It is clearly an advantage to have a third car running on Friday and it is also an opportunity to give young drivers a chance to step into F1 in a good way and to get some experience. There are a lot of good reasons to run a third car if is is possible!" he says.

And finally: The Malaysian Grand Prix is the hottest in the World Championship and today temperatures topped 35 degrees C. Just how hard are there temperatures for the drivers?

"I don't know - it really depends. There have been years when I had a difficult car here and then it was tough. But there have also been years when it was totally easy, so it really depends on the package you have. If you have a nice running car, then it is not really a problem. But if you have a lot of work to do in the car, then it is a problem."

Temperatures are likely to be just as high or higher tomorrow, and there is also some talk about thunderstorms. I will tell you about it in my Saturday diary!

Qualifying here in Sepang saw Giancarlo Fisichella post fastest time ahead of Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli were tenth and 13th. fastest respectively. It was a much more promising performance than what we saw in Bahrain last week.

Before qualifying began, I had the chance to listen to Toyota Motorsport president John Howett talk about the team's start to the 2006 season and the future.

Practice (and later qualifying) here in Malaysia have been more promising than in Bahrain last week and John admitted that this was a relief:

"Yes - I suppose you can say that is was a slight relief but it has obviously been a very disappointing start to the season: We are not really where we expected to be - or where we want to be! So we have a¨to work a lot harder. We are getting a bit more temperature into the tyres here and that is a help, but we still have to work hard. We still have to work hard - it is clear that we are not where we need to be - or how competitive as we should be," John said.

Getting temperatures into the tyres seems to be the biggest problem at the moment, but John was quick to point out it was also caused by the chassis.

"I think it is the way the chassis is utilising the tyre. We can't condemn the tyre because we clearly had very similar rubber to both Williams and McLaren in Bahrain so it must be the way we are actually utilising the rubber."

Another problem for Panasonic Toyota Racing at this stage of the 2006 season is the fact they are not allowed to run a third car in the Friday sessions (only teams outside the 2005 top-four can run third cars)

"We are clearly missing having Ricardo Zonta running on Friday - he did help a lot last year! But I think it is part of the route to the top and you just have to learn to cope without that. As you notice, we did a lot of laps today with both race drivers."

John also explained why technical director (chassis) Mike Gascoyne was missing on Thursday and Friday:

"He is arriving on Saturday but he stayed in the factory for an extra two days just to keep the pressure on and look for further improvements."

John also talked about the new 'knockout' qualifying system;

"I think we have to look at it from a consumer's point of view - from the public's point of view. From inside the team it is a pretty exciting format. I think the key point really is to see what the TV viewers think about the format and whether they can actually follow it. And I think there seems to be mixed reactions. So - for the end consumer we have perhaps top wait a bit longer but from within the teams and probably also for the track action, it is a very positive move."

And finally - at which circuit will Panasonic Toyota Racing stand it biggest chance of winning a race this year?

"We haven't designed the car for one circuit! And until we have resolved the problems we have got at the moment - using the tyres - we will have a similar challenge on a number of circuits!"

A very hot Malaysian Grand Prix is over. Temperatures during the race reached 36 degrees C and it was one of the toughest Formula One races ever for men and machines (not to mention photographers!).

Giancarlo Fisichella won the race ahead of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Ralf Schumacher took the first point of 2006 with eighth place just ahead of team-mate Jarno Trulli. The media centre here in Sepang is located above the pits, and while I write this, it is getting dark outside, but the mechanics are still busy packing up. While very few members of the F1 circus went back to Europe between the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend and the race here in Malaysia, I guess it is 50/50 this time: Half of us will return to Europe and the other half will have a nice little holiday on their way to Melbourne, which will host the Australian Grand Prix on April 2.

As soon as I have finished this piece I will also pack by bags and head for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which is only a 10 minutes drive from the circuit. Shortly after midnight I will board a flight to Vienna and then on to Copenhagen, and I will have a full week at home - that is pure luxury at this time of the year!

Talking about luxury - do you know that ultimate way to experience a Formula One Grand Prix? It is by visiting the exclusive Paddock Club, which is usually located on top of the pit building. This is where the teams and sponsors take important guests, and at each Grand Prix, thousands of or corporate and VIP guests enjoy what has been called the best hospitality at any sport event world-wide.

The Paddock Club is set up by Swiss-based Allsport Management, and while the teams have their own 'lounges', it is also possible to buy individual tickets to 'the Club' - but they are not cheap: A weekend visit to the Paddock Club will probably cost you around 4000 Dollars for three days.

But the success of the Paddock Club proves that it is worth every cent.
Guests get to meet the drivers of 'their' team and they are also only invited on an exclusive pit-lane walkabout shortly before the race. And on top of that, they will also experience a culinary tour de force.

Last week in Bahrain, I was told some amazing figures about the five-star restaurant in the Paddock Club. Such as: It took 12.000 cut flowers, 4000 flowering plants, 400 green plants, 42.000 glasses, 32.000 plates and 20 km of cables and much more to set up the facility.

And to prepare and serve the food, the Paddock Club had 250 chefs and kitchen staff plus 400 waiters. And the list of figures just go on: 2300 lobsters, 1,75 tonnes of beef, 1,4 tonnes of fish, 300 kg of chicken breast, 750 kg of prawns...

All a bit more luxury that awaits me in the 12 hour flight back to Europe tonight. But I am probably too tired to worry about the in-flight service anyway...