Turkey - Istanbul

[schumi]

So we move on to Turkey with the news that there will be one less Brit on the grid after Super Aguri confirmed their withdrawal from F1 due to financial difficulties.

Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton will be looking to gain ground on the Ferrari's, altough he is ahead of Massa in the standings due to a couple of retirements from the Brazilian in the first races. Can anyone stop Kimi, will Honda be buoyed by their recent improvement, and when are we going to see Robert Kubica get his first race win?

[schumi]

Kovalainen has been given the all clear to race this weekend after his doctor advised him against.

[schumi]

Fisichella has been hit with a three place grid penalty after exiting the pit lane on a red light during practice, and Webber's trashed another Red Bull, although he's unhurt.

[Genghis]

Er... why hasn't King Kimi been given a stop-go penalty - and ran into Kovalainen on the first bend and forced him to pit.

[Genghis]

A pretty good race - thanks to McLaren and Hamilton deciding to choose an aggressive three-stop strategy.

[schumi]

I crashed out, exhausted. Didn't see the last 10 laps.

[Genghis]

May 11, 2008 16:35:50 GMT @schumi said:

I crashed out, exhausted. Didn't see the last 10 laps.

Schumi, it had settled down by then. Raikonnen closed in to within a second of Hamilton, but never looked like getting by.

The more interesting part of the race was the middle third - when Lewis was really charging.

At times, he reminds me of Senna and a certain German - and today was one of those. I only hope he fulfils his massive potential.

I still think this year's championship is Raikkonen's to lose, though, despite his third today.

[schumi]

Apologies for taking so long to post this:

Qualifying:

Pretty standard qualifying session, although the format has now changed due to Super Aguri’s withdrawal, with only the top 15 drivers going through to the second session out of the 20 cars on the grid. Hamilton looked to have made the wrong decision by going out on hard tyres, although McLaren seemed to be wary of the tyre problems that plagued them last year, and Massa proved the point, but beating the Brit to pole position.

1..F Massa
2..H Kovalainen
3..L Hamilton
4..K Raikkonen
5..R Kubica
6..M Webber
7..F Alonso
8..J Trulli

The race:

Both McLarens started the race on the harder tyres, whilst Ferrari went in the opposite direction on softs. Massa lead the pack into the first bend, where there was an incident involving Fisichella, Vettel, Sutil, and Nakajima, causing a couple of retirements. It’s Giancarlo Fisichella’s third Turkish GP in a row where he hasn’t mad it past the first turn. The safety car was deployed for a lap whilst they recovered the Force India, but on its withdrawal Kovalainen pitted with a left rear puncture, possibly caused by a bit of a clattering from Kimi Raikkonen on the first lap. Meanwhile, Raikkonen put a move on Alonso and made it stick. Massa led the race, trading fastest laps with second placed man Hamilton, as Piquet took Vettel for 15th place.

Lap 15 and Alonso was the first man in for a scheduled stop, whilst Hamilton, chasing Massa hard, followed him in. Massa pitted four laps later and rejoined still ahead of Lewis, whilst Raikkonen managed to leap-frog third placed man Kubica during his own stop.

Lap 24 and Hamilton passed Massa on track for the lead of the race, whilst on lap 33 Hamilton came in for his second stop – clearly three-stopping. Good battle between Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock with the two passing and repassing each other, the McLaren driver eventually coming out victorious for 13th place. Just ahead of them Piquet passed Button, as did Kovalainen who took advantage of the duel between the two.

15 laps to go, and Raikkonen came in for his final stop, and Hamilton two laps later, managing to get past the Ferrari when he emerged on track. And that's how the race finished.

Final result:

1..F Massa
2..L Hamilton
3..K Raikkonen
4..R Kubica
5..N Heidfeld
6..F Lapperjack
7..M Webber
8..N Rosberg