Bjorn Wirdheim is a fresh addition to the Formula One paddock. Intelligent, humble and hard working, the F3000 Champion made his debut in Melbourne as Jaguar's third driver - a stop on his way to a fulltime F1 racing career. In an exclusive column for Atlas F1, Bjorn will share his experience over the 2004 season and tell us in his own words about the technical and personal challenges he faces throughout the year.

This Week: Bjorn writes about the trials of driving an F1 car in extreme heat, and the tribulations of Jaguar's race start

Coming to Malaysia has been a great experience for me, but it certainly is hot here. It's quite different to anything I've experienced before; the closest experience I've had to driving here is when I went to Brazil in Formula 3000 two years ago. I remember I lost more than two kilos during the race there when not only did I have to get to the finish, I had to fight my way back to fifth position after stalling during the start.

After Australia we went straight to Langkawi for training, and it is a really, really beautiful island with white sand and lots of tropical rainforest all over the island. The training was good, and we all worked hard; we went kayaking, running, swimming and did some gym work as well. I think we were really well prepared when we got to Sepang, although when you go there it's a different kind of heat, because Langkawi is an island and you have a sea breeze and it doesn't get as hot as Sepang.

On Friday it was terrible, with the air temperature over 38 degrees when we were running in the second session. When you're in the car driving you don't really notice how hot it is; it's only when you get back to the garage and step out of the car that you realise how much you've been sweating; my overalls were dark green when I got out of the car! It's just incredible; I've never sweated that much in a car before; it was over fifty degrees Celsius in the cockpit, close to the temperatures in a sauna!

I tried to avoid air conditioning all weekend, to reduce the risk of catching a cold. The only place we had air-conditioning was in the engineers' office and it was like a shock to the system when you walked outside again and into the heatwave. Physically I'm pleased with the way things went on Friday, although we didn't complete all the laps we were planning to do as we had an electronics problem with the car.

We ran into problems half way through the second session, and the engineers made a change to the car to fix it which was unsuccessful, and just to be on the safe side I parked the car. Unfortunately we lost most of the second session because I only got one and a half outing in that session, which is really a shame as we were in the middle of our tyre comparison. Luckily the other drivers got some data out of my earlier runs anyway, so they knew pretty much what they were going to do for qualifying and the race.

The track was great, and I really enjoyed driving it; it's a high grip circuit, and the difference between there and Melbourne is that this one is really rear grip limited, so for once I didn't suffer from understeer, which was nice! It has some really challenging corners, quick ones, and some that are tricky under braking.

There are at least two of them, both right-handers, where you are braking and turning at the same time, and it's difficult to get that right because you don't want to end up too far out on the left as it's difficult to measure the grip levels out there, although you need to do this to get a good line. The circuit is also very wide in these particular places, which makes it difficult to find a good, consistent braking point.

The first corner is difficult too, to get the right line into the second one. And there's a huge bump in the braking area of the fourth corner, which really upsets the car. It was alright for us because the car was pretty stable anyway, but with the compression you nearly lose your breath when you start braking for the corner! The car was completely bottoming out on the bump, and you are braking at the same time, so there's already a lot of strain on you.

It was never a huge problem, but it was something that was pointed out in the drivers' briefing. Everyone was aware of it although there was nothing that could be done about it, the circuit had already been resurfaced once but it was agreed in the drivers' briefing to have it resurfaced again for next year's race.

Because of the high grip on the track I thought the tyre wear would be a bit harder, but it wasn't too bad actually, as Michelin had done a good job. The rear grip goes first, which made it more difficult as it's usually easier to handle an understeering car than an oversteering.

I didn't have many functions to attend in Malaysia other than a dinner with Jaguar Cars of Malaysia. The other drivers also went for a cocktail party, but I didn't have to go because I was driving on Friday, so it has been pretty quiet in that regard compared to Australia. Of course there is always something happening; for example immediately after Friday's sessions I went up to the Paddock Club to do an interview in front of a group of 50 guests, specially invited by Jaguar.

These functions are different each time; for example this time I just went up on a podium and there was an emcee who asked me a few questions and I told them about the practice and what happened, and that went on for about ten minutes. Normally when we go to functions in the evenings we only go for about half an hour, just to be introduced and maybe they have a question and answer session and then that's it and we're heading back to the hotel to get our beauty sleep.

It's a huge difference from last year though; it's a lot more intense during a race weekend because when you're not driving then the PR people within the team are pushing you do something; to go for an interview, to go see some guests; and so you're always busy. They have my whole weekend planned out for me; we have a movement schedule, so we know exactly what we need to do at any minute!

Over the weekend I went to all of the briefings, as I did in Melbourne, and although there's not much for me to do on Saturday and Sunday, because most of it is for Mark Webber and Christian Klien, I still go to all the briefings because it's good to keep up to date, to understand what's happening. I find it really interesting, and I'm still learning, I understand which way the team is thinking about pitstop strategy, qualifying strategy and things like that, things that I haven't really worked with before now.

I was listening in on the other drivers on Saturday while they were driving, and our feedback is pretty similar; there is a written report at the end of the day, where I can read what the other drivers have been saying about the cars and their running. By going through these you can pick up things that you keep in mind; this way when you do it yourself, you already have an idea what to expect.

My feedback is getting better as I get used to the car; and I'm sure this will lead to greater demands from the team.

Unfortunately we had a problem with our launch system in the race. With the new regulations we are no longer allowed an automated launch system, and this makes it more difficult for the drivers, especially when under pressure. There are so many things that you need to keep in mind to get off the start line in a good way, but on the other hand, it's the same for everybody else.

When it came to Malaysia though, the drivers handled everything perfect and the reason for the poor starts was down to a small miscalculation from the team. I'm now back in England as we're concentrating extra hard on this area for the next race in Bahrain.

Unfortunately Mark had a few problems in the race, especially after Ralf Schumacher made contact with him and caused a puncture. On the bright side Christian got another finish which is good for him; he finished in tenth position and I think he was pretty pleased. But I think it's looking very promising anyway with Mark's pace and amazing front row start, and to me it's only a question of time before we get our first points-scoring position.

På återhörande,             Bjorn Wirdheim's column is written exclusively for Atlas F1 by Bjorn himself, with the assistance of David Cameron. Click here for Bjorn's official website.