2009 Turkish Grand Prix

prisonermonkeys

prisonermonkeys

Be Fearless
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Well, we're inside forty-eight hours until Friday practice. Seems like a pretty good time to start a discussion on Round Seven of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship:

ING Turkish Grand Prix
from the Istanbul Otodrom

Istanbul_Park_Circuit.PNG


One lap of Istanbul with Felipe Massa

Lap Record ~ 1:24.770
(Juan Pablo Montoya, McLaren-Mercedes, 2005)

2008 Results:
1st ~ Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2nd ~ Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
3rd ~ Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

2009 standings after six races:
Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) ~ 51pts
Rubens Brrichello (Brawn-Mercedes) ~ 35pts
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) ~ 23pts
Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) ~ 19.5pts
Jarno Trulli (Toyota Racing) ~ 14.5pts
Timo Glock (Toyota Racing) ~ 12pts
Fernando Alonso (Renault) ~ 11pts
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) ~ 9pts
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) ~ 9pts
Felipe Massa (Ferrari) ~ 8pts

Once again, the question is whether or not anyone can beat Jenson Button and Brawn. With fifty-one points from a possible fifty-five, he needs just eighty-three points to have an unassailable lead in the championship - and that's being generous; everybody else has some serious catching up to do. A win in Istanbul and another ten points on the board will put Button within twenty-five points of the World Drivers' Championship. If the other teams are going to catch him, now wouldn't be a bad time to start.

But it's not all going to be easy for Button. Ferrari have already demonstrated their new aero package is good on circuits requiring aerodynamic grip like Catalunya and mechanical grip like Monaco, while Red Bull's diffuser is expected to make the French-powered Austrians a force to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, BMW-Sauber will be debuting their own version of the infamous double-decker diffuser in the hopes of alleviating their woeful 2009 campaign, while Toyota believe their Monaco disaster was a once-off and are looking to be strong in Turkey.

Can Jenson Button do it again? Will Felipe Massa continue his run of form at Istanbul and claim the top step of the podium? Or will Rubens Barrichello stage a coup within the Brawn ranks and steal a much-needed victory out from under his team mate?​
 
I hope the Red Bulls or Ferraris can beat the Brawns, if only just so that I won't have to hear Jenson's horribly unintelligible & incoherent ramblings on his teamradio.
 
You try stringing together sentences after winning a Grand Prix. The man's excited and the transmission isn't always the best.
 
I really hope Button doesn't get pole AGAIN.

V-V-V-Vettel FTW!! :D
 
mipuumal
I hope the Red Bulls or Ferraris can beat the Brawns, if only just so that I won't have to hear Jenson's horribly unintelligible & incoherent ramblings on his teamradio.
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Better than previous winner's team radio though..I don't seem to remember the brief moments of Hamilton radio last year being much good.

PeterJB
I really hope Button doesn't get pole AGAIN.

V-V-V-Vettel FTW!! :D
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Go Jenson! :p
I think Rubens deserves a winning streak now...well I felt that 2 races ago but he really does now. He seems to require some bad luck on Jenson's part though and it just isn't happening.
 
I expect Ferrari to put up the same battle with Brawn as we saw in Monaco. I'm not really seeing Toyota on the podium in this one. It's been going downhill since Barcelona, and I'm expecting this season to be a repeat of 2005, with Toyota ending the championship behind Brawn-Ferrari-Red Bull.
 
Massa to finish at least 2nd with, hopefully, Barrachello taking a win this season. Who am I kidding? Button again. Probably.
 
Never been a big fan of Istanbul, but if things continue to be as tight near the top... Who knows. But I feel a little jaded now - the MotoGP races were so unbelievably close that the Brawn dominance gets pretty dull.

I still don't see why people actually keep the excitement up. I mean, what's different from the 2002 season, which people said was dull?
 
Metar
I mean, what's different from the 2002 season, which people said was dull?
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I'm guessing it's a combination of a) someone other than the usual suspects of Ferrari and McLaren winning races, and b) the story behind Brawn's zeroes-to-heroes rise from the remains of Honda. It's a wonder Hollywood haven't purchased the rights to the story yet ...
 
Do you race?
I'm guessing it's a combination of a) someone other than the usual suspects of Ferrari and McLaren winning races, and b) the story behind Brawn's zeroes-to-heroes rise from the remains of Honda. It's a wonder Hollywood haven't purchased the rights to the story yet ...
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it was interesting/inspiring/something for Melbourne, but after that it became quite clear that we've been had big time.

Like Martin Whitmarsh said, Honda spent so much time and money on this car that it's not a surprise in the least to see them winning.

I had such high expectations for this season, new rules, slicks, KERS, overtaking. But instead we have one dominating team and a couple of scraps here and there.

I can see why the majority of the British crowd are interested though, if Kimi was in Jenson's place I'd probably feel differently. But the racing hasn't delivered to the standards I imagined.

Anyway, back on topic:

Predictions:

1. Jenson
2. Massa
3. Rubens
4. Kimi
5. Webber
6. Alonso
7. Nico
8. Buemi?
 
Yeah, I think Button will dominate this one too but I still have hopes for a Massa win.
 
I'm not going to try and bet against Button for this race, so I'll pick a much safer bet.

Rosberg for 3rd!
 
True DD diffuser, new floor, new chassis (for Massa), and some aero bits for Ferrari. The question is not, "Are Ferrari closing the gap to the Brawns?", but rather, "When are Ferrari gonna start winning races again?" Massa better put his "special setup" to work here. Let's at least split the Brawns. Red Bull should be strong here too, so I'm anxious to see where the Scuderia really stands at this point.
 
I think its ferrari to beat this race, closely contested by RBR and Brawn.
 
Stevisiov.
I think its ferrari to beat this race, closely contested by RBR and Brawn.
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I agree with this and will go out on a limb and say no BGP on the podium.

Being an Aussie, will be going for a maiden win for Mark, as his confidence is growing with the RBR machine.
 
Metar
Never been a big fan of Istanbul, but if things continue to be as tight near the top...
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I think Istanbul is one of the better 'new' circuits. It actually has a little bit of character and at least 3 great corner/corner complexes.

This weekends race might turn out to be the closest race so far this season. Ferrari and McLaren are beginning to get their games together and after a inconclusive Monaco race, Redbull's new defuser might just put them on a par with Brawn. Toyota, Williams and Renault (Alonso) won't be far off the pace either i suspect.
 
I agree with you - it has character and some interesting points, but the final mickey-mouse section just kills the flow. Without it, it'd be a great track.

Lap charts are misleading for FP2, since for the last 30-45 minutes, nobody managed to improve - the track slowed down. Several times, Alonso was two tenths faster than Kovalainen by S2, but like everyone, lost everything in the final sector due to the worsened conditions.

Toyota, McLaren and BMW brought brand-new diffusers for the weekend.
 
Hmm, seems like Brawn aren't as competitive this weekend so far, looking at Friday practise.

Kova seems to be doing alright for himself, though. Can't say the same for Force India, but I don't think anybody expected me to.
 
Brawn are never competitive in Practice though. Button will probably come out of nowhere at the last second and steal pole position again.
 
FatAssBR
Hmm, should we expect a McLaren fight for the win?
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doubtful. its first day testing so its impossible to tell a teams true speed for the weekend. im hoping for a raikonen win this week :sly:

followed by vettle then massa then the brawns
 
Hope springs eternal, but he's curretly fifth, half a second adrift of Massa and just edging out Hamilton after spending yesterday outside the top ten. If Spain and Monaco are anything to go by, we're not going to know what's really going on until qualifying.

Big surprise is Piquet in fourth.
 

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