Malaysian GP: 6 things you need to know

Two-time champ Fernando Alonso will be back in the driving seat this weekend. Melbourne saw McLaren reserve Kevin Magnussen replacing the recovering Spaniard after his unusual testing crash in Barcelona, but Alonso has been passed fit to race in Sepang.

Unsurprisingly, Alonso was the man of the press conference, and took his opportunity to set the record straight on some of the rumours circulating over the incident.

"I remember the accident and I remember everything that following day," said Alonso. "There is not in the data anything clear that we can spot and we can say, 'it was that, the reason'. But definitely we have a steering problem in the middle of turn three."

Alonso also denied that he woke up thinking it was the Nineties.

"I didn't wake up in '95, I didn't wake up speaking in Italian, I didn't wake up in all these things that probably were out there," he said. In English. Not Italian.

While Alonso was putting rumours to bed in the press conference, Nico Rosberg revealed to the media his rather unusual method of beating the heat in Kuala Lumpur.

The Mercedes driver has struggled before with sweat pouring into his eyes during the races. His solution for 2015? Strapping a sanitary towel across his forehead underneath his helmet.

Yes, really.

Red Bull were far from impressive in Melbourne, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing a lowly sixth and Daniil Kvyat not even making the start of the race before his car packed up.

The post-race fall-out has seen something of a war of words between Red Bull and their engine supplier. RB designer Adrian Newey stated that the powerplant was 'quite a long way behind', while Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul hit back, accusing Newey of 'lying'. "Adrian is a charming man and an engineer without equal," stated Abiteboul, "but he has spent his life criticising engine partners."

Heading into Malaysia, Abiteboul tweeted a picture of a pair of boxing gloves, claiming he was ready for Round Two. Fight on!

After failing to even make it out on track in Melbourne, the Manor team - formerly known as Marussia - have already fired up their engine in Malaysia. Hallelujah, it works!

Manor Boss John Booth recently paid tribute to Jules Bianchi (pictured), saying the team simply wouldn't be racing if it wasn't for the Frenchman's heroic efforts in wrestling his Marussia up to a ninth place finish in last year's Monaco Grand Prix.

"Without him [Bianchi], without those two points he got in Monaco last year, we would not be here," said Booth. Forza Jules.

Sauber can afford to relax somewhat heading into the Malaysian Grand Prix. Not only because they've already got 14 points on the board, which is 14 more than they garnered the whole of last season, but also because their legal troubles have finally been resolved.

The team spent much of the Australian Grand Prix weekend unsure who would be racing in their cars, with Giedo van der Garde claiming he had a valid contract to drive despite Sauber already boasting two drivers in the shape of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

Since then, however, van der Garde has announced his contract with Sauber has been "ended by mutual consent". In F1 speak, that tends to translate as ‘given a lot of money to go away'.

Murray Walker once said, "Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does." These words have never been truer than at Sepang, thanks to Kuala Lumpur's ability to shift from hot and humid to apocalyptic rainstorm from seemingly nowhere.

The rain has seen the Sepang International Circuit serve up some truly memorable battles since it first hosted F1 in 1999. Remember 2012 when Fernando Alonso lead home Sergio Perez's Sauber, the Spaniard securing his third Malaysian GP title? Glorious as the story would be, it's rather too much to expect Alonso to add a fourth this weekend...