Yes, its a tad early, but I'm not sure about being online tommorow and i'll do it now just to be safe. Well anyway, after a 3 week break, F1 roars back to life at the Tilke designed Instanbul Park circuit with the first European race of the season . F1 has been extremely unpredictable so far (apart from the pace of Vettel) and there seems no reason for this to change in Turkey barring the competitiveness, or lack of, this weekend.
Last years race is remembered for close action and fighting at the front, namely two incidents; The now famous crash between Vettel and Webber and Hamilton and Button arguing on track about who's going to win the race.
While we expect Red Bull and McLaren to pick up from where they left off in China with strong qualifying and race pace, it remains to be seen whether Ferrari can fulfill their pre season promise and finally get back to the front after 3 (or in Massa's case 2) lacklustre races. And what about Mercedes and Renault? Both teams will be aiming at the podium after strong drives this season with Heidfeld and Petrov getting 3rd places and Rosberg leading a sizeable portion in China before finishing a strong fifth behind the Red Bulls and McLarens. Williams appear to be going backwards and are now on a level with Team Lotus for pace and they will need a strong performance to banish doubts, and falling share prices. The midfield has also become increasingly conjested with Sauber, Force India and Torro Rosso fighting over the small points with the likes of Di Resta and Perez making positive early impressions with Sutil and the evergreen Barichello struggling.
At the back HRT and Virgin continue to squabble at the back with HRT finally getting their act together and posing a real problem for Virgin who have recently employed Pat Symonds to evaluate the outfit and suggest ways of improvement due to no increase in pace of their 2011 challenger and they could end up slipping behind the improving Hispania team.
Turkey has become famous for its high speed turn 8 which will no doubt help the likes of Red Bull with their *ahem* flexi-wings and it would be a foolish man to bet againsta Red Bull Vettel taking pole on Saturday, but as Murray Walker said, anything can happen and it usally does, particulary with rain being forecast for the latter part of the week, we might be seeing the intermediate tyres being used for the first time this season. Tyres will again be the watch word though whatever the weather, along with marbles.
With the Turkish Grand Prix currently under threat due to rising prices and low attendance figures, this year could be the last time we see F1 cars grace the sweeping track and one of Tilkes' better tracks and if the last 3 grand prix are anything to go by, we should be in for a cracker this weekend.
For Galahad's superb circuit write up see http://cliptheapex.com/pages/istanbul-park/
Last years race is remembered for close action and fighting at the front, namely two incidents; The now famous crash between Vettel and Webber and Hamilton and Button arguing on track about who's going to win the race.
While we expect Red Bull and McLaren to pick up from where they left off in China with strong qualifying and race pace, it remains to be seen whether Ferrari can fulfill their pre season promise and finally get back to the front after 3 (or in Massa's case 2) lacklustre races. And what about Mercedes and Renault? Both teams will be aiming at the podium after strong drives this season with Heidfeld and Petrov getting 3rd places and Rosberg leading a sizeable portion in China before finishing a strong fifth behind the Red Bulls and McLarens. Williams appear to be going backwards and are now on a level with Team Lotus for pace and they will need a strong performance to banish doubts, and falling share prices. The midfield has also become increasingly conjested with Sauber, Force India and Torro Rosso fighting over the small points with the likes of Di Resta and Perez making positive early impressions with Sutil and the evergreen Barichello struggling.
At the back HRT and Virgin continue to squabble at the back with HRT finally getting their act together and posing a real problem for Virgin who have recently employed Pat Symonds to evaluate the outfit and suggest ways of improvement due to no increase in pace of their 2011 challenger and they could end up slipping behind the improving Hispania team.
Turkey has become famous for its high speed turn 8 which will no doubt help the likes of Red Bull with their *ahem* flexi-wings and it would be a foolish man to bet against
With the Turkish Grand Prix currently under threat due to rising prices and low attendance figures, this year could be the last time we see F1 cars grace the sweeping track and one of Tilkes' better tracks and if the last 3 grand prix are anything to go by, we should be in for a cracker this weekend.
For Galahad's superb circuit write up see http://cliptheapex.com/pages/istanbul-park/
Back in 2008, i use to say Massa was better at parking his vehicle than driving it because he spent so much time standing still off the track.
