Monsoonal thunderstorm strikes Sepang

With the F1 circus bustling around the Sepang paddock late on Thursday afternoon, the skies opened.

There was thunder, lightening, and reams of driving rain, and similar conditions - rain in the late afternoon after a hot and humid day - have been observed in and around Kuala Lumpur for the past few days.

Moreover, local forecasts say the weather is staying put for the remainder of the week and the weekend, with a particularly high chance of rain around 4pm — precisely the same time scheduled for qualifying and the race.

"The rain is expected to start around 4pm and normally lasts two hours," said a spokesman of the Malaysian Meteorological Department.