The Formula One Paddock is a bit of a goldfish bowl for drivers at the best of times and in Malaysia many will be keeping a keen eye on Lewis Hamilton. The big question is how will he respond to his horrible weekend in Melbourne? Will he be able to pick himself up and dust himself down or will the hint of mental fragility come back to haunt him? Sepang may well be the seminal moment in the season for the young British racer, which decides whether his championship challenge stays on track or disintegrates.
Last weekend started badly when he was caught in his road car doing wheelspins and 'fishtailing'. It's not the brightest thing for the average motorist to do, but for a grand prix driver it's utter stupidity. To do it exiting Albert Park in front of a policeman adds insult to injury. Australia takes a dim view of 'hooning' as they call it, and Filipe Massa had days earlier been safety campaigning on the issue.
Embarrassing it may be, but the real problem is that he let it affect qualifying. Eleventh place is not the response he would have hoped for and his McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh admitted that the incident had left Lewis 'fragile and distracted'. It's not unusual for us mere mortals to let something like that affect us, but F1 drivers are paid huge sums because they can put such distractions to one side and focus solely on the task at hand. At the very least they will use it as a motivating tool.
Of course, the guy is still only 25 and most of us are not the finished article emotionally at that age. But he's not a normal guy and, having dispensed with his dad as manager, he's sorely in need of a father figure. He needs a manager who can not only take care of business but take care of him, and make sure he doesn't need to let off steam by screeching around Melbourne roads.
The contrast couldn't be greater with his teammate Jenson Button. While we could be forgiven for thinking that Hamilton is more tightly coiled than a spring at the moment, Button seems to be as relaxed as they come. On Saturday night after qualifying, Button was enjoying dinner surrounded by his family, totally at ease with himself and others.
The contrasts continued during the race itself. Hamilton drove brilliantly, tearing through the places. But a misguided team call to make a second pit stop ruined his race. He was heard on the radio to his team venting his frustrations, a blunt message asking who made the 'terrible decision'.