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[Formula 1 will pay tribute to]

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The plane, travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared on 8 March and is thought to have crashed with the loss of all 239 people on board.

Drivers are expected to carry messages on cars and helmets and there will be a minute's silence before the race.

"It's devastating to hear about it," said Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. "All you can do is pray."

Fellow Briton and McLaren driver Jenson Button added: "It's good that the whole of the paddock are running tributes.

"It's devastating. I really feel for all the families. We will do all we can. It'll be difficult this weekend for all the Malaysian people."

Malaysia mood



James Allen
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BBC Radio 5 live F1 commentator

There is a sense of sadness as the country is clearly suffering in the wake of the story of the Malaysian missing flight, which has dominated the world's news headlines the last two weeks. From the main grandstand at Sepang you can see the runway of Kuala Lumpur airport, from which the ill-fated flight MH 370 took off.



The atmosphere so far is understandably somewhat subdued. But this is Malaysia's one chance each year to host a world class sporting event, and despite the sadness, you can be sure that they will put on their best show on Sunday.



Several countries are involved in the ongoing search for the Malaysia Airlines plane that vanished from air traffic controllers' screens over the South China Sea.

On Monday, the Malaysian prime minster Najib Razak announced that "beyond reasonable doubt" the aircraft crashed in the southern Indian Ocean with no survivors.

No debris has been recovered.

Nico Rosberg, who won the season's opening race in Australia, said: "I've experienced first hand how everybody in Malaysia is thinking of families and friends.

"There are billboards and signs here with people who have put stickers up with messages on them."

Race organisers have toned down events around the weekend, with the cancellation of a concert featuring American singer Christina Aguilera and Rain.

More than 84,000 spectators attended the 120,000-capacity Sepang circuit in 2013, but the venue might only be a third full for this year's race.

Razlan Razali, CEO of the Sepang circuit, said: "We remind ourselves that this is a huge international event, regardless of our state of mourning.

"The world will be on us to see how fragile or how strong [we are]. So we have a huge responsibility to put on a good show."

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[Red Bull have appealed against]

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz says his company could quit Formula 1 if he is not happy with the way the sport is run.

His remarks follow Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo's exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix and the adoption of new rules.

Mateschitz said Red Bull's future in F1 was more "to do with sportsmanship and political influence" than finance.

He said: "In these issues there is a clear limit to what we can accept."

He also referred to the "inappropriate politicisation" of the sport.

Red Bull's era of dominance 2010-13



Race victories: 41

Pole positions: 52

Total points: 2,204
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Constructors' championships: 4

Red Bull have appealed against Ricciardo's exclusion from the season-opening race in Melbourne for using more fuel than is allowed under new rules. The appeal is to be heard on 14 April.

Mateschitz has great influence in motorsport. He owns two F1 teams and has been instrumental in keeping the world rally championship alive through his company's investment.

His remarks were made in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Kurier, in which he was asked under what circumstances Red Bull may end its involvement in F1.

He replied: "The question is not so much whether it makes economic sense but the reasons would be to do with sportsmanship, political influence, and so on.

"In these issues there is a clear limit to what we can accept."

Mateschitz did not expand on his answer but Red Bull's involvement in F1 revolves around its two teams, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso. It is also promoting its own race for the first time this year, with the return of the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.

Asked if he felt his acceptable "limit" had been exceeded as a result of F1's new rules and Ricciardo's disqualification, Mateschitz said: "The team has lodged a protest. The fuel-flow sensor, which was given to the teams by the federation, gave divergent readings and it is inaccurate. We can prove the exact amount of fuel flow and this was always within the limits."

Governing body, the FIA, warned Red Bull in Australia that all teams had been told they must stick to the readings given by the official sensor.
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Dietrich Mateschitz

Mateschitz, 69, is estimated to be worth £5.6billion by Forbes, making him the world's 134th richest man

His other sporting interests include the Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls football teams

Red Bull ignored the readings and ran the car according to readings given by their own measurements.

The FIA has said that these can be used if it feels a sensor has a problem, but this permission was not given to Red Bull in Melbourne.

Mateschitz also criticised the new format of F1, both in terms of the use of a fuel limit and in the sound produced by the turbo hybrid engines, which are much quieter than last year's naturally aspirated V8s.

"You have to make F1 like it used to be - the top discipline of motorsports," he said.

"F1 is not there to set new records in fuel consumption, nor to make it possible to have a whispered conversation during a race.

"It is absurd to race a lap seconds slower than last year. GP2 partially provides more racing and fighting and almost equal lap times as F1 with a small fraction of the budget."

Red Bull's four-year dominance of F1 has been ended by the new formula, which has lessened the effect of aerodynamics - in which the team excelled - and brought back engine performance as a differentiator.

Red Bull's engine partner, Renault, is significantly behind Mercedes in both outright power and fuel efficiency.

Mateschitz insisted Red Bull would be able to challenge the factory Mercedes team before long.

"The work with Renault continues around the clock," he said. "In the next two or three weeks we will make a big step and reduce the gap to Mercedes. There are 18 races still to go. We will be back." hypervenom phantom

[Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg h]

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has defended Formula 1's new format in the wake of criticisms of the spectacle and the sound of the new engines.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has said the new turbo hybrid engines, governed by a fuel limit, are too quiet.

Rosberg, who won the season's first race, said: "It's been all good for F1. It's changed around the pecking order.

"That's definitely good for everybody because the same guy winning [so much] last year, we needed a change to that."

But Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel, who won the last nine races of the 2013 season on the way to his fourth consecutive title, echoed Ecclestone's criticisms.

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F1 2014 rule changes

The German, who retired in Australia two weeks ago and is close to Ecclestone, used a derogatory swear word in describing the sound produced by the V6 turbo engines, and added: "I was on the pit wall during the race, and it is quieter than in a bar!

"For the fans it is not good. F1 has to be spectacular - and the sound is one of the most important things.

"I remember when, although I don't remember much because I was six years old, we went to see the cars live in free practice in Germany, and the one thing I remember was the sound.

"I remember how loud the cars were, and feeling the cars through the ground as it was vibrating. It is a shame we don't have that any more."

Rosberg's team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was on pole position in Australia before retiring with engine problems, said the extra power and torque of the new power-units made the 2014 cars rewarding t Mercurial vapor o drive.

"It's OK," Hamilton said. "It's not special like it used to be, but it's a lot of power, so it's special in other ways."

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, a two-time world champion, said it was too soon to judge the new rules.

Are the new V6 turbo hybrid engines 'too quiet'?



Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

"They still sound like racing cars, despite what Ecclestone says. And instead of the monotone, ear-splitting scream of the old naturally aspirated V8s, the new V6 turbo hybrids have a multi-dimensional tone.



"There is the throaty muscularity of the V6 engine, the whine and whistle of the turbo. The motor-generator units that come as part of the hybrid system are audible. The different manufacturers' engines are even noticeably different from each other, for the first time in years.



"The cars are much quieter than before. There is no argument about that. But was the old engine sound particularly enjoyable?"



Click here to read more from Andrew



"This is a very uncomfortable matter to speak about because if I say I like it, I will be criticised because this is not F1 any more for most of the fans; if I say I don't like it, the fans criticise because I say I only like it when I win," the Spaniard said.

"We need to give the races a little more time.

"I understand the disappointment of the Australia race from the fans' point of view, because the race was not probably as we thought.

"There was a lot of talk before the race about how exciting will be the new F1, how many cars will finish, will it be none, and what will they do then?

"When 15 cars finish and there were not many problems and not much overtaking; people were not expecting that."

Alonso added that this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix could just as easily produce a "fantastic" race, influenced by the tropical rainstorms that often affect the Sepang track.

And McLaren's Jenson Button says that if some drivers were unhappy with the rule changes then they should consider leaving F1.

"Go and race something else if you are not happy. As drivers we don't have an opinion of where the cars are in terms of sound and feel.

"When you cross the finish line first you have won a grand prix. You don't care what it sounds like or what it looks like.

"You have beaten the best in the world and that is all you care about."

Rosberg said he expected his Mercedes team to continue to be the team to beat this weekend.

"The chances are that we will be right at the front because it seems that we have a bit of an advantage over the other people," Rosberg said.

"Of course Melbourne is not a benchmark, as a race, so we need to be a bit cautious with that but I think we're looking good, so for sure it will be possible to do a great result again here."

[Kirsty Young's castaway is the]

Kirsty Young's castaway is the broadcaster Murray Walker


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His commentating career began in 1948 and he finally hung the lip mic at the end of 2001. His trousers-on-fire style of delivery brought excitement, emotion and fanatical obsession to Formula 1 - for many motor racing fans he was motorsport.



He was a petrol-head before the term had even been coined; his father, one of the top motorbike racing champions of his day, ignited his son's life-long love of big noisy engines.



He's talked British fans through so many of the sport's greatest victories - Damon Hill crossing the finish line to win the World Title brought an audible lump to his throat. But also, inevitably, there have been great tragedies too - his live commentary on Ayrton Senna's fatal crash in 1994 was possibly his most professionally demanding.



He says, "I have always believed that Formula One, with its highs and lows, is the ultimate distillation of life."



Producer: Cathy Drysdale. hypervenom-phelon

[Southampton boss Mauricio Poch]

Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino will not discuss his future with the club until the end of the season.



Pochettino insists there is much to play for this season and he will not be drawn on his future despite apparent interest in his services from Marseille, Monaco and Getafe.
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Following the January departure executive chairman Nicola Cortese there has been rumours over Pochettino's future at St Mary's.


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"At the moment, we're in the midst of finishing the competition as best as possible," Pochettino said.



"I am not a manager to speak about individual situations when we're in the middle of doing that, which also includes my own personal, individual circumstances.



"I think the fact that I still have an additional year on my contract is proof enough that we should be focusing on the league, focusing on the competitions.



"After these six weeks, then we can speak about things in a calm manner and I can get to know more how the club wants to move forward, what the new project at the club is and how we move forward from then on.



"With everything that has happened in January, with the arrival of a new team, a new vision for the football club, a new vision in a commercial and sporting sense, I don't think it is time to be speaking about decisions or making abrupt decisions.



"I think once the season is over, we can make a deep analysis of how we want to move forward.



"We want to listen, especially more than anything to the new team, how they want to forward with the new team and from then on we can make a decision with the new team about how we move forward."