The total net worth on that grid right in front of us is possibly larger than that of some African nations. The number of mouths that that kind of money could feed is a sobering thought, especially when you realize that, ultimately, these are just men playing with very fast, shiny toys.
My Nietzsche moment passes and I'm brought back to reality. Hey, Honda looks pretty good for this race. Jenson is second on the grid, just behind Giancarlo Fisichella. With Alonso, Kimi and Schumacher behind him, our boy Jens looks to have a real shot.
It's not to be. Button holds onto second for most of the race but it becomes clear that it's only a matter of time before Alonso overtakes him. Alonso does just that in the closing laps as everyone comes in for their final pit stops. Renault gets Alonso out ahead of Button, which puts our boy third on the grid. Not a bad result, but we're tired of hearing Button pin the blame on everyone else. After this race, he'll blame Scott Speed for holding him up and Honda for not giving him a car quick enough to catch the Renault drivers.
After the race, we file out in the steamy Malaysian late afternoon. They tell us its always steamy here, not surprising, given the country's proximity to the equator. We're still tripping out on the local Malay girls rocking the Finnish flag on their tight tops, or the Chinese groups adorned in Ferrari red. It's like soccer, only with more horsepower. As we head back into Kuala Lumpur, we're already planning our next F1 outing in our heads.
If you can't find Malaysia on a map, we won't hold it against ya. But go find a map now and look it up, and we'll pretend that you knew where it was all along. Malaysia is that country that lies on that tail of a peninsula that starts in southern Thailand. Malaysia is bordered by Thailand in the north and Singapore to the south.
If you've never been to southeast Asia, there's no better excuse to visit than to take in the Malaysia GP. We suggest you start in Kuala Lumpur for the race weekend, then head north to the islands of either Langkawi or Penang. KL is a pretty new city by Asian standards, and has all the welcome trappings of a new big city: good public transport (including a train from the airport into downtown), great food and nightlife, modern hotels and plenty of places to buy crap. After a few days in KL and the islands, you could take the train up into Thailand and depart via Bangkok.
STAY: Impiana HotelThe Impiana is nice, hip, clean, modernist, and has a great infinity pool on the fourth floor. Go for a night swim for an incredible view of the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest twin-tower structure, aglow. Two nice bars downstairs and a surprisingly good breakfast buffet (www.impiana.com/klcc.html)
EAT: anywhere. Just drop into any small Indian place or Chinese joint in Chinatown, or order up a plate of pan-fried glass noodles with meat and vegetables from a local Malay spot.
GET AROUND: Cabs. They're cheap and everywhere. A one-hour ride from downtown to Sepang Circuit runs $25.
BE MERRY: The Rum Monkey. A big open-air bar on a corner near the Impiana. Three bars, a good Filipino cover band, and they serve magnums of Chivas Regal, which the Chinese gangsters sitting next to us refused to share. Bastards!
SEE: You can only go to the 44th level of a sky bridge in the Petronas Towers, so you can't see much from there. Instead, go to the KL Telecommunications Tower, the third-highest telecom tower in the world.
GET THERE: Malaysian Airlines(www.malaysiaairlines.com)