2007 FORMULA 1™ Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix

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Well i hope its not too early :nervous: cause its like Wednesday morning here already! I mean i can't wait for the grand prix weekend to start. I wonder if BMW could really show their performance here after a good podium finish at the last race? Will Alonso be third time lucky and win here after finish second here twice? Will Hamilton prove his great skills here and prove who's on top of the food chain in F1? Will Massa or Räikkönen win this race for the second time? We'll have to wait as the race weekend progresses.
 
Its a bit early to say, but i reckon the ferarri's will have the upper hand this weekend because their longer wheel base will work well in the first and second sectors and through the famous turn 8. Also because the McLaren's have a dismal straight line speed which will hurt them down the back straight!!!
 
I can see Hamilton taking this if his GP2 performance here last season is anything to go by. It's gonna be the usual top 4 challenging for the win again I think, maybe Heidfeld can nudge into the fight aswell if BMW have made another advance with the car.

I really do hope Honda have found something to atleast put them back ahead of Spyker, I'll also be keeping my eye on Liuzzi vs Vettel. Liuzzi really is fighting for his career in these last handful of races, he was on top of Vettel all weekend untill his car gave up at Hungary, but of course it was only Vettel's thrid day in the car come the race.

Aother interesting battle will be Red Bull vs Renault. During the mid-season, Renault seemed to be edging away from the midfield mess of 4 or 5 teams and was becoming the definate 4th fastest team, however at Hungary their race was poor at best. Red Bull seem to be getting over their reliability problems.

Finally, ten pounds says Yamamoto will fail to complete 20 laps.
 
I heard last week that Hondas wind tunnel wasn't callibrated right so their blaming their results on that.
 
GT4 genius
Also because the McLaren's have a dismal straight line speed which will hurt them down the back straight!!!
Click to expand...

Actually, did you notice they were fastest by a large margin down the Hungaroring, without compromising downforce?


Performance-wise, it's hard to tell. A lot of untested new parts will arrive from the 3-week pause, so I guess the first practices will be crowded with many pitstops to change parts.
 
Turkey always turns out a good race, it has to up to this point anyway. Kimi win for me.
 
Woohoo, racing weekend again! I hope Ferrari to do well in Turkey, lets heat up the battle for the championship!
 
They will always be at the back of the grid. They're the new Minardi - they barely develop their car.

And like Minardi, their efforts are just loveable. And they bring in fresh talent, and old scrap.
 
First Friday Practice:

Code: 
Pos 	No 	Driver 			Team 			Time/Retired 	Gap
1 	6 	Kimi Räikkönen 		Ferrari 		1:27.988 		
2 	5 	Felipe Massa 		Ferrari 		1:28.391 	0.403 	
3 	1 	Fernando Alonso 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:29.222 	1.234 	
4 	2 	Lewis Hamilton 		McLaren-Mercedes 	1:29.261 	1.273 	
5 	4 	Heikki Kovalainen 	Renault 		1:29.346 	1.358 	
6 	16 	Nico Rosberg 		Williams-Toyota 	1:29.403 	1.415 	
7 	11 	Ralf Schumacher 	Toyota 			1:29.414 	1.426 	
8 	3 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	Renault 		1:29.541 	1.553 	
9 	9 	Nick Heidfeld 		BMW 			1:29.641 	1.653 	
10 	12 	Jarno Trulli 		Toyota 			1:29.685 	1.697 	
11 	10 	Robert Kubica 		BMW 			1:29.710 	1.722 	
12 	23 	Anthony Davidson 	Super Aguri-Honda 	1:30.384 	2.396 	
13 	14 	David Coulthard 	Red Bull-Renault 	1:30.398 	2.410 	
14 	7 	Jenson Button 		Honda 			1:30.483 	2.495 	
15 	8 	Rubens Barrichello 	Honda 			1:30.580 	2.592 	
16 	18 	Vitantonio Liuzzi 	STR-Ferrari 		1:30.612 	2.624 	
17 	22 	Takuma Sato 		Super Aguri-Honda 	1:30.624 	2.636 	
18 	17 	Alexander Wurz 		Williams-Toyota 	1:30.876 	2.888 	
19 	15 	Mark Webber 		Red Bull-Renault 	1:30.917 	2.929 	
20 	19 	Sebastian Vettel 	STR-Ferrari 		1:31.383 	3.395 	
21 	20 	Adrian Sutil 		Spyker-Ferrari 		1:31.445 	3.457 	
22 	21 	Sakon Yamamoto 		Spyker-Ferrari 		1:32.270 	4.282

Ferrari with a distinct advantage throughout the session, always 1.2 seconds ahead.
 
Wow....this is really putting McLaren on the backfoot. I mean if Ferrari can do lap times 1.2 seconds faster than McLaren that this may look like a Ferrari 1-2 on qualifying (but of course if this is actually Ferrari on a light fuel load. But both Kimi and Massa both had won this race before,so this may help Ferrari as well.....)
 
They only did very short stints, that I know. Alonso had a few long ones, and Hamilton mediumish ones.

I'm more suprised by the closeness of BMW, Williams and Renault, with Toyota mingling in.
 
Yeah, Kinda interesting too. All of them from 3th to 11th are separated by just under a second! Man, thats really close...should be interesting how the race weekend is going to be like :)
 
Friday Training 2:

Code: 
Pos  	No  	Driver  		Team 			Time/Retired  	Gap  	Laps
1 	2 	Lewis Hamilton 		McLaren-Mercedes 	1:28.469 		28
2 	6 	Kimi Räikkönen 		Ferrari 		1:28.762 	0.293 	21
3 	11 	Ralf Schumacher 	Toyota 			1:28.773 	0.304 	23
4 	12 	Jarno Trulli 		Toyota 			1:28.874 	0.405 	28
5 	5 	Felipe Massa 		Ferrari 		1:28.884 	0.415 	25
6 	1 	Fernando Alonso 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:28.947 	0.478 	24
7 	16 	Nico Rosberg 		Williams-Toyota 	1:28.995 	0.526 	27
8 	4 	Heikki Kovalainen 	Renault 		1:29.025 	0.556 	28
9 	17 	Alexander Wurz 		Williams-Toyota 	1:29.093 	0.624 	27
10 	10 	Robert Kubica 		BMW Sauber		1:29.368 	0.899 	31
11 	14 	David Coulthard 	Red Bull-Renault 	1:29.435 	0.966 	12
12 	3 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	Renault 		1:29.456 	0.987 	28
13 	9 	Nick Heidfeld 		BMW Sauber		1:29.792 	1.323 	30
14 	7 	Jenson Button 		Honda 			1:29.945 	1.476 	26
15 	8 	Rubens Barrichello 	Honda 			1:30.055 	1.586 	31
16 	22 	Takuma Sato 		Super Aguri-Honda 	1:30.104 	1.635 	27
17 	15 	Mark Webber 		Red Bull-Renault 	1:30.315 	1.846 	25
18 	23 	Anthony Davidson 	Super Aguri-Honda 	1:30.530 	2.061 	24
19 	18 	Vitantonio Liuzzi 	STR-Ferrari 		1:30.702 	2.233 	24
20 	19 	Sebastian Vettel 	STR-Ferrari 		1:30.801 	2.332 	16
21 	20 	Adrian Sutil 		Spyker-Ferrari 		1:31.153 	2.684 	32
22 	21 	Sakon Yamamoto 		Spyker-Ferrari 		1:31.175 	2.706 	32

McLaren back on pace, they're close now again. Toyota - surprise of the weekend so far...
 
Mclaren have basically said, "yeah we can go fast with low fuel too" to ferrari i reckon. Toyota are just building up to a dissappointing race..
 
Yeah, they need some momentum so they can built a massive failure.

But yes, it's obvious now that the last runs were very low-fuel, seeing as nobody even came close to Raikkonen's blaster in the first session.
 
Saturday: Qualifying.

Code: 
Pos  	No  	Driver  		Team  			Q1		Q2		Q3  		Laps
1 	5 	Felipe Massa 		Ferrari 		1:27.488	1:27.039	1:27.329 	18
2 	2 	Lewis Hamilton 		McLaren-Mercedes 	1:27.513	1:26.936	1:27.373 	17
3 	6 	Kimi Räikkönen 		Ferrari 		1:27.294	1:26.902	1:27.546 	18
4 	1 	Fernando Alonso 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:27.328	1:26.841	1:27.574 	17
5 	10 	Robert Kubica 		BMW 			1:27.997	1:27.253	1:27.722 	17
6 	9 	Nick Heidfeld 		BMW 			1:28.099	1:27.253	1:28.037 	17
7 	4 	Heikki Kovalainen 	Renault 		1:28.127	1:27.784	1:28.491 	24
8 	16 	Nico Rosberg 		Williams-Toyota 	1:28.275	1:27.750	1:28.501 	20
9 	12 	Jarno Trulli 		Toyota 			1:28.318	1:27.801	1:28.740 	24
10 	3 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	Renault 		1:28.313	1:27.880	1:29.322 	24
11 	23 	Anthony Davidson 	Super Aguri-Honda 	1:28.304	1:28.002			12
12 	15 	Mark Webber 		Red Bull-Renault 	1:28.500	1:28.013			12
13 	14 	David Coulthard 	Red Bull-Renault 	1:28.395	1:28.100			12
14 	8 	Rubens Barrichello 	Honda 			1:28.792	1:28.188			12
15 	7 	Jenson Button 		Honda 			1:28.373	1:28.220			12
16 	17 	Alexander Wurz 		Williams-Toyota 	1:28.360	1:28.390			14
17 	18 	Vitantonio Liuzzi 	STR-Ferrari 		1:28.798					9
18 	11 	Ralf Schumacher 	Toyota 			1:28.809					7
19 	22 	Takuma Sato 		Super Aguri-Honda 	1:28.953					8
20 	19 	Sebastian Vettel 	STR-Ferrari 		1:29.408					6
21 	20 	Adrian Sutil 		Spyker-Ferrari	 	1:29.861					9
22 	21 	Sakon Yamamoto 		Spyker-Ferrari 		1:31.479					7

And as Ashers expected, Toyota built up a massive slump: 3rd in Practice, 18th in Qualifying. Bravo!

Though, an interview with Ralf said he was stuck behind traffic, and on top of that, the tyres weren't heated up properly.

Davidson missed out oh-so-slightly on Q3, which was a shame.
 
That was one good qualifying, Massa outqualified Hamilton by just 0.025 of a second. But too bad for Alonso and Kimi. Both maybe had a chance of getting pole (especially Kimi) but too bad as they say. Its really interesting how good Davidson was. Getting 11th with a Super Aguri wasn't easy but he did. As for Ralf, being 18th is just a joke. I mean he was good these past few races but now drop back to his old self.....somebody better fire him! :grumpy:

Well its interesting how the race is now....most likely a Ferrari win if things go as planned......
 
Close for the top four then! I really didn't have a clue who was going to be on pole. I think Massa could repeat the win last year, if he doesn't mess up the first lap. Methinks Ralf will be fired by Toyota at the end of the season - having your team-mate 9 places ahead of you on the grid must hit your confidence somewhat! Shame Davidson didn't squeeze in to Q3, great day for him though 👍 It'll be a shame if Super Aguri replace him next year, but they'll probably bring in someone with the money, like Spyker and Yamamoto.
 
At least Kimi is on the clean side of the track. Hopefully he can get ahead of Lewis early on, then he has a chance to repeat his French performance. Hoping for a Ferrari 1–2.
 
I'll repeat. Ralf and Vettel were stuck near the end of the Q1-last-runners line. Ralf also made a small setup-mistake, dialing in a bit more front downforce - which came at the expense of stability. As a result, he had a very oversteering car - cold tyres, and not enough rear downforce to compensate and stabilize the rear. Plus, he was stuck behind traffic.

Sato's car looked very unstable, too - he lost a lot sliding in that last set of petty little corners. Davidson, however, looked like the car was fitting him like a glove. Perfectly stable, and, for the downforce it has, incredibely fast.
 
Great qualifying session, and should make for an exciting first lap at least. 👍


BTW: Interesting that in Q3 McLaren had two different pit areas, one for Hamilton and one for Alonso... I wonder why they did that? ;)
 
Niki Lauda commented: "Oh what do you know, Hamilton is going out of the pits" :lol:


My half-educated guess: Alonso is fueled high, the other three are very similar. Raikkonen wasn't quick, but that's because, after setting strong T1 and T2 times, he lost it in the final corner-complex. Alonso, however, was just a little slower, by an equal amount, compared to his Q2 speedrun - despite having no errors, so I guess the car is heavier.
 
He did, however, do his final run on hard tyres whilst Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen did theirs on softs.

I have a feeling that Hamilton has a bit less fuel in than the guys around him.
 
Here is to hoping that Raikkonen beats Lewis off the line and then beats Massa by strategy and 1-2 Ferrari. :dopey:
 
I think this is Kimi's.
Good quali close but only between 2 teams. I'd love to see the championship go down to the wire. I think Davidson deserves a better team, Toyota maybe?
 
Davidson and Sato aren't that great. They have flashes of incredible speed, Sato is a (dare)devil overtaker - but at times, they're very slow.

Yes, it hurts me to say the above text. Taku FTW!
 
I think Davidsons better, maybe because hes British, but i said when he was test driver he would do well in a race seat and he hasnt done half bad. Not a world beater, but he'd score a fair few points.
 

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