If last years Malaysian Grand Prix is anything to go by, then we could be in for some real surprises this weekend.

Wet weather has been predicted yet again and the likes of Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams and Force India could benefit from this. Adrian Sutil has shown he can cut it in the wet and he finished last years race fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

“With potentially rain and humidity to contend with, tyres along with the DRS system will be a crucial factor.”

Vijay Mallya’s team were given an early present in the opening race in Australia after both Sauber drivers were disqualified from the race result. This meant Adrian finished ninth and debutant Paul di Resta came home in tenth to score his first ever Formula One point.

It was a well deserved point for Paul and the Scotsman certainly gave his team-mate a run for his money. Perhaps di Resta will challenge his team-mate on a regular basis compared to Vitantonio Liuzzi last year.

Overall it was a decent opening weekend for Force India and I’m sure both Sutil and di Resta were not expecting to finish in the points.

Challenges

All the teams along with Force India will be tested this weekend as the second round of the Formula One season heads to Malaysia. With potentially rain and humidity to contend with, tyres along with the DRS system will be a crucial factor at Sepang.

Qualifying last year in Malaysia was pretty eventful and the likes of McLaren and Ferrari went out in Q1. Could the same happen again? It may well do providing qualifying is indeed wet. If that is the case then Force India would need to make the most of this opportunity if it was to arise.

But Sutil cannot afford to repeat what he did in Q2 in qualifying at the season opener in Australia. Having activated both the KERS and the rear wing, the German ended up spinning on the pit straight although he did well to keep the car away from the walls.

He cannot make that same mistake again. Had Sutil not made that mistake he could have made it into Q3 and he was 0.005 up on the tenth quickest time after sector two.

“Force India could be in line to score more points at Sepang and with rain predicted, anything can happen.”

For Paul, he will have been delighted to have outqualified Sutil. Liuzzi’s qualifying performance in 2010 was too inconsistent and there were times where he was eliminated in Q1. I don’t see di Resta being one of the slowest seven cars in Q1 unless he has a major problem.

Adrian will not have it all his own way this year and I can see di Resta challenging him throughout the season. The Scotsman did a solid job in Free Practice last year and he thoroughly deserved his race seat for 2011. I just hope he can produce the goods this year and have a solid first season in Formula One.

Malaysia

Force India will head to Malaysia in confident mood after what they achieved in Australia. They need to be in and around the likes of Toro Rosso, Williams and Sauber or even finish in front of them. If they are able to get near Mercedes and Renault then that would be an added bonus.

Paul will again be looking to have another solid weekend and we cannot forget this is his first full season in Formula One. You cannot expect him to produce miracles overnight but from what we saw in Australia, he appears to have adapted to being a race driver very well.

He needs to be given a chance and I’m convinced di Resta will do well in his first full season with Force India. If it does turn out to be a wet weekend, it will be interesting to see how well di Resta performs in the wet.

Sutil is one driver who enjoys the wet and he could be someone to look out for if it does rain in both qualifying and on race day. He put in superb performances last year in the wet conditions at Spa as well as in qualifying at Malaysia. So he can do it.

Providing it is a mistakes free weekend for Sutil and di Resta, Force India could be in line to score more points at Sepang and with rain predicted, anything can happen. I would not be surprised if we do see some shock results in Malaysia and it could be that Force India provide one of those shocks.

The Malaysian Grand Prix takes place on the 8th, 9th and 10th April. For all of the build-up, latest news and reaction stay right here on Formula 1 FanCast.

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