Eddie Irvine's first ever win was a wild one. The Formula One season got off to Australian Grand Prix winner Eddie Irvine and reigning World Champion Mika Hakkinen were just two of the Grand Prix personalities who were present at Tuesday evening's official opening of the new Sepang circuit near Kuala Lumpur's International airport, scene of this year's inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix.

The 5.542 kilometre track was declared open by the country's Prime Minister Y. A. B. Dato Seri Dr. Mohamad, whose brainchild it was. A crowd of 10,000 thronged one of the circuit's unique back-to-back grandstands and enjoyed a spectacular four hour show, which at times included 50 people dancing and performing acrobatics, as well as car and bike demonstrations.

Dr Mohamad, a keen motor sports enthusiast, arrived in a TVR sportscar to officiate at the opening ceremony, which was held in the cool of the evening. In spite of initiating the circuit, he admitted that it was difficult to visualise that it would come out looking like this. "Malaysians are practical dreamers," he explained, adding that he was proud that the launching of this circuit would put Malaysia on the map in terms of tourism.

As well as Irvine and Hakkinen, the two Sauber-Petronas drivers were also present, Jean Alesi and Pedro Diniz. Petronas is a Malaysian petroleum company and they will sponsor the Grand Prix, which will be the penultimate round of the World Championship, and will be held on October 17. Apart from the four drivers, team members of Ferrari, McLaren, Sauber, Stewart and Minardi were also present as well as organisers FOA and Allsport Management.

During the evening, Hakkinen presented the Prime Minister with the Sepang F1 logo, while Alesi presented a chequered flag with which the Prime Minister waved to initiate the opening ceremony, while Irvine presented his personal helmet to Dr Mohamad.

Earlier in the day, all four drivers had driven the circuit and all had been impressed not only by the track but also by the facilities. "It's a good driver's circuit, very tricky, very technical," said Eddie Irvine after some ten laps in a Ferrari F50. "There is a lot of variation of corners, and that always makes set-up very tricky. There are also a lot of difficult entrances to corners and the exits are quite wide so you've got to keep your speed up. There are a couple of overtaking opportunities; a couple of corners where the entry line is ambiguous, so there are probably two lines into the corner: one will give you a better exit and the other will give you a better entry. I think that could give us some good racing.

Jackie Stewart was even more effusive. "I think it's the most spectacular and impressive facility that's ever been created for motor sport, let alone for Formula One. But to see the scale of this and the manner in which it's been created, the styling of it, the spectacular grandstands is quite amazing. I think it's a great statement for Formula One."