Turkey, Minor Results May Make for a Great Silverstone Race

Silverstone authorities and the British fans alike must be filled with excitement after the promising results shown from mid-running teams in the Turkish Grand Prix. They will be expecting, along with a British winner, a great race.

No real surprises in qualifying for the race at Istanbul Park as the usual suspects filled the top positions of the grid. Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel taking pole position, not really a surprise as they had threatened their new diffuser was about to alter the results in the Austrian teams favour.

Vettel’s pole position backed up with teammate Mark Webber’s fourth place, squeezing the Brawn GP cars into second and third. Pole position may well be developing into a physiological advantage only as there is nothing between the top runners.

Evident was the promise of a mid-grid battle looming as Toyota’s ever- green Italian Jano Trulli qualified in fifth place on the grid with a chance to challenge the front-runners. The Williams duo lead by Nico Rosberg dispelled the theory that they are practise one heroes with Rosberg qualifying a creditable ninth and Kazuki Nakajima in 12th.

Frank Williams and Patrick Head confident they stood a big chance to cause problems for drivers up front. Fernando Alonso qualified in eighth; reminding all that although Renault is off the pace he is still a force to be considered.

Toyota, Williams and Renault are capable of an upset at The British Grand Prix. Williams already charting their course for next season have a clear development path leading up to the race.

Toyota's results are paramount to their very survival and Renault with Flavio Briatore busy leading a charge towards leaving the Formula as it is for season 2010 have the experience of Double World Champion Fernando Alonso to assist development.  

One team not carrying on from the last race was Ferrari as they tried to back up their Monaco results but it soon showed they were off the pace. But put Ferrari on British soil and if its the only win for the season they have they would take it now.

Championship leader Jenson Button, again starting from the front row, positioned his car at an angle on the line after the warm up lap in an attempt to head off Vettel or at least be alongside him as they approached the first turn.

Vettel held strong and led through the first turn. How long could Vettel hold the Brawn driver off, we had the answer by turn ten, the German made a mistake and the Briton seized an advantage he held until the end of the Grand Prix.

Button’s teammate, Rubens Barrichello, had his race wrecked at the start, with a clutch problem making him botch his start, the second botched start for the Brazilian this season. After Barrichello’s miserable start, there was a chance we were to witness an inspired drive as the most experienced driver on the grid carves his way through the field.

In a rare display, Barrichello, angered and frustrated, lost composure resulting in two collisions the latter causing him to spin. He ultimately gave Brawn their first retirement of the season, indeed their first ever retirement, due to gearbox failure influenced by the start line problems.

Rubens, disappointed, will stay focused as he heads for Silverstone, one of his favourite circuits.

Australia’s Mark Webber pursued the two front runners including his Red Bull team mate, Vettel, who has out qualified Webber in seven out of seven races this season.

Webber though has turned the tables in the race proper finishing ahead of Vettel in four races so far. By the end of the Turkish Grand Prix, he had made it five from seven finishes ahead of the young German.  

By the time Webber took his first pit stop he knew it was a matter of who finished behind Button. A race win still eluding the Aussie as he had to settle for second after passing Vettel during a pit stop.

Sebastian Vettel, candid given his race efforts, also knew during his second stint that a win was out of the question. His win earlier this season came from pole position and with the exception of Bahrain the winner had come from pole position in all races it looked bad for Vettel.

When he failed to overtake Button, and he should have been able to, who was running heavy with fuel in comparison to the light fuel load of the Red Bull car Vettel conceded second spot to his Australian team mate.

Vettel readily admitted that it was his mistake, and he was having difficulties in turn 10, almost repeating the off in the next lap. Team bosses alerting us to the fact they, Red Bull, scored more points than Brawn for the second time this season.

The anticipated battle did develop amongst the mid-field runners with Jano Trulli and Nico Rosberg fighting out fourth position. Both drivers putting their results down to their great starts. Trulli from fifth went to third and Rosberg had made up four positions by lap one’s end.

The two running fourth and fifth exchanged places after stop one with Trulli taking back the upper hand after their second stop. Trulli relishing in fighting at the top admitted so after the race. Trulli’s team mate Timo Glock confirmed Toyota as a threat with a points finish in eighth from thirteenth.

After some discrepancies in the first corner dropped him back some places Glock suggested he could have had a better result. It was the tonic the Japanese giant needed, team Principal Tadashi Yamashina was pleased by the improvements. They look forward to Silverstone as they believe it suits their car.

William’s Rosberg was content with his points scoring run and is taking a lot of confidence out of Turkey. To continue to score points is what he hopes for at the moment, a realistic aim.  

A home win in two weeks time for Williams would be a welcoming result for one of the iconic teams of Formula One. Kazuki Nakajima added consistency to the Williams race in Turkey.

During his second pit stop troubles robbed the Japanese driver of a seventh place but he was pleased that prior to this he was able to race and pass former world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.  

Ferrari was inconspicuous during the race. Their static race position kept them from everybody’s interest.

Felipe Massa told us what we already knew; they weren’t in with a chance to worry the front runners. Ever the optimist Massa pointed to Silverstone as a starting place to improve. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen described the race as not one wanted by Ferrari.

Still with the same amount of confidence as Massa Raikkonen believes the team can bounce back having already shown improvements in recent times. Ferrari team Principal Stefano Domenicali agrees with both drivers that the team cannot dwell on the negatives of the race and push on with their development.

BMW had the race they needed with Robert Kubica scoring his first points for the season. Dr. Mario Theissen is well aware of where BMW's predicament when world motor racing is concerned. Eleventh place for team mate Nick Heidfeld albeit with problems beginning on the warm up lap.

Problems that can be rectified through routine work and therefore wont't interrupt the teams improvements. Both Kubica and Heidfeld were happy with their cars. Despite Heidfeld's drama, the speed of their development impresses both pilots. BMW will look forward to Silverstone with renewed vigour.

Recent times have been an uncharacteristic chink in the teams staged development.

It was an uneventful race but one Brawn and Red Bull were happy to come away with the major points. All teams must be pleased with their development programs, although catching Brawn is still a major feat, and look forward to the lead up to the Silverstone finale.

With off-track issues coming to a head priorities shouldn’t be disrupted. The FOTA has galvanised the teams and together they are amicably pressing ahead with their plans for next season.  

With the first four races at Istanbul being won by the pole sitter Sunday’s race broke the sequence. The Turkish Grand Prix has though had its winner off the front row and as we lead up to the 2010 event will we find this be a advantage.   

Silverstone is going to be a terrific race, but things can alter a lot before then. A fortnight is a very long time in Formula One. We have the announcement of the entrants for the 2010 season to be released at the end of the week to look forward to. Should be a good distraction to time as we head for the Silverstone Finale.