WAN Zaharuddin Wan Ahmad, the Automobile Association of Malaysia AAM vice-chairman who has had some experience handling the J-circuit in Johor, answers a few pertinent Malaysian F1 questions.

Q: Should Malaysia continue with the evening race, hold it at night like Singapore or revert to 3pm?

A: The F1 race is about a total package. It's all about timing of the race, fan support, live telecast and race organisation.

The decision to start the race at 5pm was a compromise to render better TV viewership of the Ma-laysian F1 to Europe which would receive live telecast of the F1 race at 9am instead of 7am if it started at 3pm.

The 5pm decision meant that there was no need to install night lighting that would have cost millions of ringgit.

The problem last weekend was that when the race started at 5pm, there was little or no buffer at all should the race be stopped due to bad weather or accidents and the drivers would have had to contend with failing daylight and poor visibility.

Moving to night racing will be a different situation. It will be good for live telecast viewership to Europe but other situations will surface.

We still can't be sure that it won't rain at 8pm or 9pm. Visibility during a night race may be further impaired when it rains heavily.

The possibility of unwelcome reflection of the floodlight-lit circuit in drizzle may pose another problem to the drivers like in the Qatar Losail Raceway Circuit where the MotoGp riders did their winter testing last month.

The night testing had to be cancelled due to the reflection of the lights on the wet circuit.

Then we have to study how Malaysian fans would welcome a night race with regard to transport.

In Singapore, the F1 last year was hosted at night but the city state had no problems drawing the fans, especially since it has an efficient public transport.

Q: After last week's rain-shortened race, what would you do to convince the F1 people to extend Malaysia's contract beyond 2015.

A: We have to give credit to SIC for doing a fantastic job in organising the F1 all these years. They scored very well, with well-trained officials and marshals.

SIC is also the only circuit in the world where the F1 medical team received the ISO certification. This is a salute to the Armed Forces Medical Corp that provides the bulk of the medical personnel.

Sepang provides the very core of F1 race requirement -- high standard of safety and marshalling requirements.

We must remember that it was Sepang that set new standards which was followed by new F1 circuits like Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and Singapore.

Of course, after 11 years, Sepang needs upgrading to keep up with the rest of the world.

Given support by the government, I see no reason why F1 in Sepang cannot extend beyond 2015.

Q: Given Malaysia's wet weather, what safety aspects should be enhanced?

A: Sepang is at an excellent state of readiness to handle the extreme wet weather like what was experienced last week.

The drainage system, which had a major overhaul recently, is well prepared to handle any downpour.

Q: Could we have averted the rain, using cloud seeding or other means?

A: I doubt cloud seeding can totally prevent rain over Sepang during the F1 race.

Q: There were laments that not enough promotion was done for Sepang this year.

A: There were 80,000 fans (compared with 130,000 last year) but we cannot attribute it to lack of promotion. The drop reflected the current economic downturn.

There is a noticeable drop of tourist arrivals and F1 fans would have skipped Sepang this year.

Q: Coming back to the start of the Malaysian F1 -- what do you think will be the final decision?

A: What we need to understand is that the Formula One management decides on this.

But Malaysia can present its case. I think we stand a chance to move back to 3pm, or perhaps compromise and start the race at 4pm. -NST