F1 Turkish GP Preview: Will Ferrari Continue Their Winning Run?

Daniel ChalmersMay 5, 2008

Track Guide

This weekend the F1 circus heads to Istanbul Park for the Turkish GP, which is being held for the 4^thtime. Istanbul Park is another of the new circuits in F1 designed by circuit architect of choice Hermann Tilke. One of the main differences with this track as opposed to his other tracks is that it gets rave reviews from all the drivers. A varied mix of corners, elevation changes and clear opportunities for overtaking has established it as a favourite with the fans too. It is also only one of three F1 circuits in 2008 to go in an anti-clockwise direction. The others being Interlagos and the new street circuit at Singapore will go in an anti-clockwise direction. In Istanbul it’s a short run down to turn 1, which is very similar to the Senna “S” at Interlagos. Like Belgium the track features a flat-out kink on a hill similar to Eau Rouge to an extent. The corner that this circuit is really famed for though is Turn 8, which is a triple apex corner, which in effect works out to being like 4 corners in 1 go. There are different lines that can be taken in this corner sequence and in 2005 many drivers made errors as they tried to push as hard through as they can to get the most speed out of it. Even 7 times world champion Michael Schumacher got it all wrong in qualifying in 2005. The corner is also hard on the driver’s necks as for 4 seconds the drivers are pulling 5G, along with the fact that the circuit is anti-clockwise and in Turkey it is normally extremely hot for the GP weekend it makes life for the drivers even harder and its one of those races that they have to be really fit and strong for. The best overtaking spot on the circuit is without doubt turn 12 at the end of the long fast straight with the flat-out kink in the middle of it as mentioned above. Its also possible to overtake in Turn 9 at the end of the straight following Turn 8, the drivers can even bite back at the opponent that has just overtaken them all the way to Turn 12 even with the turbulent air the cars produce when following each other. The pit straight is fairly short which is unusual as Hermann Tilke has always favoured long straights but with a slow exit onto the straight and a tight turn 1 overtaking is possible here too but not the clearest opportunity on the track. So overall Istanbul Park has to rate as one of the best tracks on the F1 calendar with all the challenges that it offers to the drivers. They always have to work hard for their money here and provide a spectacle for the fans.

Past Races

The first ever race here in 2005 was very entertaining, qualifying saw plenty of errors in Turn 8 as drivers approached it for the first time. However it was Raikkonen who claimed pole and after a great battle with the Renaults on the first lap managed to storm away with the victory. Mclaren looked set to have a 1-2 until like many others Montoya made an error going into Turn 8 with two laps remaining letting Alonso through the back door to take 2^nd. This was a pivotal moment in that championship as Raikkonen wasn’t able to take enough points off Alonso to really close the gap on him in the championship and pressure him. 2006 was another entertaining race, Ferrari were on the front row but it was Massa who was on pole and in the end this actually ruined Schumacher’s race. Massa led comfortably from Schumacher. Schumacher couldn’t get near him in the early stages then Liuzzi spun in the Torro Rosso causing the safety car to come out, everyone decided this was the right moment to make a pit stop and Ferrari pitted Massa first so Schumacher had queue up, the time lost here for Schumacher allowed rival Alonso to nip ahead of him. This was a crucial moment in the race. For the second stint Alonso’s pace was better than Schumacher’s but in the final stint they were head to head for the remaining laps in an absorbing battle but Schumacher just couldn’t find a way past and this allowed Massa who had been brilliantly fast all weekend to take a well deserved maiden F1 win. Schumacher had missed a golden opportunity to gain points on Alonso, instead with 4 races left the gap had increased from 10 points to 12 points. 2007 confirmed that Istanbul Park was becoming a very special place for Massa as he beat his teammate Kimi Raikkonen in a straight fight. During the middle part of the race Raikkonen got very close a couple of times but Massa kept his nerve and earned what is probably his hardest fought race victory so far in his career. Lewis Hamilton was tagging along with the Ferraris quite nicely in third place but a tyre failure caused by a process called “chunking” bumped him back to 5^th place and cost him valuable points, which may have lost him the championship.

What is likely to happen this weekend?

Ferrari were always expected to dominate proceedings in Spain as that is one of the tracks that suits them best but BMW and Mclaren will be encouraged by the fact that they were not that far behind, they were often able to match Ferrari’s lap times very closely apart from the first stint when they were trapped behind Alonso and basically stranded losing a lot of time to the Ferraris each lap. Istanbul Park is another of the tracks that should suit Ferrari’s strengths but BMW and Mclaren will again be snapping at their heels. Ferrari certainly have daylight between them and their nearest rivals but the gap is nowhere near as big as in seasons such 2002 and 2004 where the gap was so big the Ferrari team could afford to spend the breaks between races watching episode after episode of Family Guy and still be a long way ahead of everyone come the next weekend. Ferrari don’t have that luxury in 2008, but as long as they continue to develop fast they should be able to stay ahead but one lapse and they will have BMW or Mclaren (or both) on their tail. In qualifying it is actually pretty close so Ferrari have to make sure they do enough to be at the front to make the use of their superior race pace, starting from 4^th and 5^thmakes life very difficult. The last driver to win a race from outside the top 3 was Alonso in Japan in 2006 showing how difficult it is to win from furthur back on the grid nowadays. Qualifying in F1 is crucial and very exciting.

An interesting element this weekend will be Raikkonen Vs Massa. Istanbul Park is a Massa track, he was even superior to Schumacher in 2006, which surprised everyone. You get the feeling that if Raikkonen can beat Massa here he will be able to beat Massa anywhere, and Massa will have a lot of trouble challenging for the championship and it could determine how the rest of their relationship together pans out. Massa simply has to close the gap this weekend and make no errors, an error free drive like Bahrain is required. Mclaren definitely made some headway with setup in Barcelona and they will be hopeful that they can get even better in Turkey. BMW may have been hoping to be a little better in Spain than they were so expect them to fight back and be aggressive especially in qualifying this weekend rather than go a bit heavier than Ferrari as they did in Barcelona.

And lets have a look at the rest of the pack finally. Renault made the biggest step forward in Barcelona and looked to establish itself as the 4^thbest team now in F1 2008 and in qualifying they were able to challenge for pole position albeit with a bit less fuel on board but they are now at least fast enough to take good points from every race. Alonso was delighted with how things were going in Spain despite the engine failure. With more developments planned for the car this weekend don’t rule out another surprise from Renault, they are ones to keep an eye on. With Ferrari, Mclaren, BMW Sauber and Renault looking as if they could well establish a monopoly over the points paying positions its going to be very hard for the other midfield teams to score points unless the top 4 as I will now call them encounter problems, they need to take every chance they can or maybe they should be thinking about concentrating on the rule changes in 2009. However one thing that won’t change is the battle in the midfield will be as intense as usual. Nobody wants to finish down the near the bottom of the championship standings.

So it looks to be a very interesting weekend at Istanbul Park and although I can’t see Ferrari’s winning run ending this weekend I think we will see a close battle and some great wheel to wheel racing.

If I was forced to make a prediction I would go: