F1-Blog

For the third year in a row, Felipe Massa has popped his Ferrari onto the pole slot. He has won from first on the grid for the last two years, so looking good for the Brazilian in tomorrows race.

Heikki made a great comeback from his smash in Spain to take the second spot on the grid. Lewis took the third spot on the grid with a great lap using the hard compound tyres on his fast run, making the pace of the McLaren look good, if not quite the match of the Ferrari.

Fourth spot went to Kimi, with a Ferrari that was certainly looking a handful, especially towards the end of the lap, so the Finn may well be running a heavier car.

The BMW Sauber’s did not look as quick as they have in the previous races, with Robert Kubica taking fifth and Nick Heidfeld struggling back in ninth.

The Red Bull’s and Renault’s are showing that their pace in Spain was real, with Webber in sixth, and Fernando in seventh.

The Toyota of Trulli did not seem to come on form in the Q3 session after both Toyota’s being quick in the earlier sessions, but Trulli took the eight spot.

David Coulthard chose not to run in Q3, resulting in him saving tyres and taking the tenth spot.

With cars so closely matched, and a track that seems to work equally as well with the understeer style of Filipe and the oversteer of Lewis, as well as genuine overtaking opportunities it could be an interesting race tomorrow.

Istanbul is another of the Hermann Tilke new tracks, with the exception that it is a counter clockwise track.

Filipe Massa has enjoyed the track in the past, winning here twice since it’s opening race in 2005, and Ferrari have typically been strong here.

The track temperature will again be high this weekend, and the teams will almost all be bringing new aero updates to the car to help with this and also to improve performance, we may even see some of the car take the Ferrari nose hole concept on.

It’s also the fifth race of the season, so teams are allowed to use a new gearbox at this race, and they were probably starting to feel a little tired after the end of the Spanish weekend.

The Ferrari team will again be the team to beat, and are likely to be fastest here all weekend, however it will be interesting to see if Filipe has got the TC issues he seemed to be having under control, especially at turn 8.

McLaren were again back to the front of the chasing pack last race alongside BMW, so it’s good news that Heikki has been cleared to drive. Lewis will want to get back to winning ways as well, so expect them to be strong. Let’s hope they get the qualifying strategy right this weekend, as it hurt the team starting so far back last race. McLaren have also released the result’s of the Heikki investigation saying -

It has been established that, owing to a process fault during manufacture, the outer clamp surface of the wheel was given a clear lacquer coating. As a consequence of this fault, the clamp load that attached the wheel was not to specification.

In running, the consequent loss of load caused the wheel to fret and distort, leading to its eventual failure.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and the wheel supplier have now established new procedures designed to prevent a re-occurrence of this issue. McLaren Press Statement.

BMW will be in contention too, they have openly been playing with the Ferrari nose concept, and it may make an appearance, but probably needs more testing. Both drivers should go well here, and the team will certainly score points, keeping them in the constructors championship race.

As for the other teams, Toyota and Red Bull will probably still be the best of the rest behind the top 3, with Red Bull possibly just sneaking ahead of Toyota in the development race so far this season. Let’s hope their drivers have a little more luck this weekend, as both have had their fair share of race stopping problems.

Renault again could be a dark horse, they proved the new car’s speed credentials in Spain, and Fernando is certainly looking more at home again in the cockpit of the car. His young team mate seems to be starting to settle down as well, so expect them to run in the Q3 session on Saturday, and at least worry some of the teams on Sunday.

Super Aguri will not be at this event, Aguri Suzuki ended the team during the week after failing to get the money to continue. Honda were also not willing to help out, and took the cars off the team. What is going to happen to Anthony and Taku is still unknown, but it is known that Anthony is covered by clauses that links him with Honda, and after all the team was setup up for Taku, so I should think they are both safe.

So we should get a decent race, the Istanbul track is well liked, and has overtaking opportunities, plus it’s ‘back to front’ so has that to add challenge to the drivers.

See map in Google Earth!

Stats :

Fastest Lap : 1:24.770 (Juan Pablo Montoya, McLaren, 2005)
Pole Time : 1:26.797 - Kimi Raikkonen (2005)
Most Wins : 2 Filipe Massa

Link to ITV Web Simulcast for the GP and Practice/Qualifying sessions.

Broadcast Times for Turkey in UK time

First practice Friday 08:00
Second practice Friday 12:00
Qualifying Saturday 12:00
Race Sunday 13:00

The controversy around the podium presentation at this weekends Turkish GP has started a lot of comentaries.

I will not delve deeper, politics is not really my bag, but for those wanting to know a little more, then pop along to GrandPrix.com's good article on it all. 

Felipe Massa will take the start for the first time from the front of the grid.

The first row is an all Ferrari affair, with Ross Brawn admitting that Schumacher took the safe option after ruining his first high speed run with a mistake at the first corner.

Behind the Ferrari's are the two Renault's, showing perhaps that the short break we have had has given them time to claw back some of the mass damper performance they will loose.

The BMW of Heidfeld showed a decent pace, as did Ralph's Toyota (he starts 15'th after an engine change penalty), with the McLarens either looking slow, or heavy, tomorrow will tell.

Kubica again showed pace, and Webber showed he is a good driver by getting the slow looking Williams through to the last 10.

Session three times

1. MASSA Ferrari 1m26.907s
2. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m27.284s
3. ALONSO Renault 1m27.321s
4. FISICHELLA Renault 1m27.564s
5. HEIDFELD BMW 1m27.785s
6. BUTTON Honda 1m27.790s
7. RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m27.866s
8. KUBICA BMW 1m28.167s
9. WEBBER Williams 1m29.436s
10. KLIEN Red Bull
11. DE LA ROSA McLaren
12. TRULLI Toyota
13. BARRICHELLO Honda
14. ROSBERG Williams
15. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota*
16. COULTHARD Red Bull
17. SPEED Toro Rosso
18. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
19. MONTEIRO Midland
20. YAMAMOTO Super Aguri
21. SATO Super Aguri
22. ALBERS Midland*

* demoted 10 places for engine change