Toro Rosso, Sainz and Kvyat remember the first battle in Sepang: “Beautiful memories in Formula BMW”

In a double interview given to the official microphones of the Toro Rosso website, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat talked about their first approach to the Malaysian Sepang track. The year was 2010 and at the tender age of fifteen both drivers faced their first ever race in Formula BMW. The peculiarity of that race was a great fight between the standard bearers of the Scuderia Faenza and both, surprisingly, achieved all the victories available in a race weekend the following month (two successes for Carlos and two successes for Daniil). Here is the complete interview released on the Toro Rosso website.

DK: So many memories! The first time we raced there was our first ever Formula BMW race!
CS: Yes, that's true! It was a really special moment for us…
DK: We also had the chance to battle it out on the track, driving side by side through Turns 1 and 2! In fact I have a lot of good memories of the two of us running together, as teammates.
CS: You're right... It was 2010, the year of our debut in Formula BMW. It was also a race weekend for Formula 1…
DK: Yes, I was a little nervous!
CS: Yes, especially because we were in front of the large F1 public…
DK: So much pressure!
CS: We were 15, I was nervous too.
DK: We returned to racing in Malaysia a month later and I have to say we were already quite fast… I won two races that weekend, and, Carlos, you won two more!
CS: Yes, our first win ever in Formula BMW… Boom!
DK: Sepang is an interesting track. As we already had the opportunity to prove in 2010, the first two corners offer good opportunities to attempt some overtaking…
CS: The start is always exciting: you can choose different trajectories and widen out particularly during the braking phase…
DK: …Or squeeze yourself to the limit!
CS: Furthermore, we must remember that this year they resurfaced the track, so the grip level could change a little compared to previous editions: we'll see how the Softs will behave.
DK: Also it will be very hot, just like in Singapore.
CS: Wow, that's right: I remember that last year the asphalt temperature during the race reached 64 degrees!
DK: Really! You could cook a fried egg in it! [Both laugh]
CS: But in any case it is less tiring than the weekend in Singapore…
DK: It's true, I agree: in Sepang the straights are longer and we have the chance to take a breather, it's not like in Singapore, with that almost infinite series of corners.
CS: We can say that Malaysia is the toughest race right after the Singapore GP.
DK: It will be a challenging race, so we'll see what we can do. Perhaps the only negative aspect for us this year could be the overly long straights at Sepang...
CS: Yes, that's true. We are more comfortable in the guided sectors such as Turns 1 and 2, 7 and 8, or in the sector that includes Turns 9 to 14... But certainly not along the straights!
DK: We should add a nice chicane halfway down each straight!

Roberto Valenti