Turkey GP Race Report

I saw Button on Instagram before the race commenting that it was spitting heavily and looked like good conditions for a great race.  By the time the Sky coverage had started it was properly raining and intermediate tire weather.  It was exactly the right kind of rain for a fun race, enough for the talent to show but not hours of red flag coverage.

It was a clean start with no losers apart from Alonso, who was tapped by Gasly and spun out, returning to the track in 18th from 5th.  At the back of the pack, Alonso then tagged Schumacher.  Both were duly served 5 second penalties and all my race predictions of one of the two getting a podium went out of the window.

Hamilton was starting from 11th after an engine replacement penalty.  He took Vettel quickly off the line.  Tsunoda held him up for quite a few laps, once taken, he was able to get past Stroll and then Norris, which made the Japanese driver look very good for a change.

Hamilton then slowly chased down his championship rival's team mate, Perez.  Finally, he was close enough to over take and over five corners they were side by side until Perez triumphed.  With Hamilton wishing that his wingman, Bottas, was more like this one.

Then the pit stop window came.  Ricciardo had previously become the track's guinea pig and tried a new set of intermediates early and failed but now the time had come to get a fresh set.  Vettel thought he'd try a set of medium, slick, dry weather tires and it took him less than a lap to decide that was a poor mistake, even sliding as he came into the pitlane.  The Red Bulls (in their fine one-off white Honda tribute livery) both pitted and Bottas from the lead too.  LeClerc led, with Fastest Lap under his belt.  He slid.  Would he change his tires or keep going to the end?  He questioned his team and they gave him permission.  Was this Hamilton's plan too?  There was a glimmer of hope for something a bit different from the Verstappen/Hamilton podium tussle.  Mercedes made the call for Hamilton to come in for new tires but Hamilton questioned them and stayed out.  Ultimately LeClerc couldn't make it stick and he came in for new tires after being overtaken for the lead by Bottas.  And Hamilton stayed out.  With 7 laps to go, he pitted and came out in 5th place.   Cue some old-skool whinging about tires and strategy decisions.  His press pen interview was surprisingly chipper.

Crofty got excited because he'd spotted a dark, rain cloud in the distance.  Many spectators would be happy with a Bottas, Verstappen, LeClerc podium.  Perez took LeClerc.

Bottas took his 10th (and final?) win in Formula 1 along with Fastest Lap.  Only 10th?  That's why he's going to Alfa Romeo,.

The moral of the story...a wet race only produced good racing when it is changeable.  When the drizzle is constant for the full two hours, it's just round and round as usual.  A dull race with Verstappen that they key to getting a podium was "staying awake".  Sainz was awarded Driver of the Day by the public.  Not sure why?  He started at the back and finished...not sure where.

Turkey GP Qualifying Report

Rain was predicted for the session but it was dry at the start, within two minutes, drivers were spinning because it was spitting.  They all got used to the conditions and fired in the laps before it stopped raining five minutes before the end of Q1.  Suddenly the lap times started to tumble, with Ricciardo and Latifi losing out, accompanying Giovinnazi, Raikkonen and Mazepin to the press pen early.  Mick Schumacher was through to Q2 for the first time.

Hot off the success of helmet cam, which the teams did not like as it gave away data and other information, we now have nose cam.  This has graphics which show what speed etc. the car is travelling at too.  It's good but it's not helmet cam.  What next?  Foot cam?  Rear view cam?  A sensor that detects tears?  A small unit that gives the driver an electric shock if they swear on team radio?

Verstappen must have eaten something dodgy before the second session as Crofty was heard to comment: "Out in the front, Verstappen is turning green then purple".

Sainz, Schumacher, Vettel, Russell and Ocon were all out after Q2, with Russell losing his Q3 pass in the last slow corner, that seemed to catch a lot of the drivers out.

Despite scoring the fastest lap in Q3, he will move back 10 places for a engine replacement penalty.  His team mate Bottas will move up from 2nd to 1st and his rival Verstappen will move from 3rd to 2nd.  LeClerc scored a respectable 4th (3rd on the day) in his Ferrari, Gasly doing well behind him  and then Alonso.  Norris and Stroll both comfortably out-qualified their older, illustrious team mates.

Button had predicted a yellow flag very early during the afternoon, however, despite all the spins, none came.  No red flag through rain.  Not so much as a bump into the barriers.

Turkey - "what a great race"

An interesting race weekend all round. From Schumi's "magic paddle" to Vettel's dominance as the "polemaster" (sounds like something you buy from the Innovations catalogue). Red Bull had a mighty confidence in themselves in Qualifying, it almost wasn't enjoyable. Rosberg compensated by heavily outqualifying Schumacher. As well as the endless KERS and DRS chat, it seems that we can now look forward to copious discussion about when Schumacher will quit, again. He feels "the big joy is not there yet".

Last word to Brundle: "It's just like the M25 when you sometimes have to nudge people out the way." What?!

Turkey Charts

Chart of Lust

1. (new entry) Barrichello takes Schumi - a wee moment of sweetness
2. (new entry) DRS - hurrah for overtaking
3. (new entry) Comebacks - Rosberg, Alonso
4. (new entry) Schumi admits making a mistake - jaw still ajar

Chart of Loathing

1. (new entry) DRS - why not put rocket burners on the back?
2. (new entry) Vettel on pole - yawn
3. (new entry) Lack of comebacks - Schumacher, Massa, Williams
4. (new entry) Shoddily dressed clapping ladies - one has already expressed one's displeasure with the initial concept and now they are dressed in outfits that were taken directly from Primark's Turkish sweatshops
5. (new entry) Lack of points - mainly for Williams

Turkey Results

1. Glock, Stock and Two Smoking Constructors - 287
2. Still Chewing - 234
3= Besta di Resta - 226
3= Lord of the Wings - 226
5. Gurning Rubber - 213
6. The Best Team - 212
7= The Pitstop Princess - 195
7= Trulli Scrumptious - 195
9. Fuelled by Tiger Blood - 189
10. Must do better... - 187
11. Beauty & the F1 Geek - 151
12. Ferrari Fanatic - 110
13. Hippy F1 - 109
14. Are All Williams Fans Masochists? - 72
15. Wheelie Wheelie Fast - 71

Turkey Caption Competition

Now I have more time on my hands, I thought the caption competition should rear it's ugly head again? What are Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber saying to each other? Please post entries as a comment.

Turkey Charts

Chart of Lust

1. (new entry) Intrigue - how will this team rivalry play out?
2. (new entry) Pitstop overtaking - the only excitement in the first half of the race, go Red Bull
3. (down 1) Adrian Newey - 7 poles in 7 races
4. (new entry )Metro - who call Robert Kubica "Bob Kub", my favourite nickname of the season
5. (new entry) Return of the caption competition - please please submit something

Chart of Loathing

1. (new entry) Return of the Pussycat Doll - dramatics for the camera, if we ignore her she might go away
2. (new entry) The bunch of miserablists - submitted by Beauty & the F1 Geek, if you a race podium, please jump about a bit, or smile, or look a little bit pleased.
3. (new entry) Pierced ears - both of Lewis's done in some kind of LA-inspired madness, as Button said: "Each to their own" but then he has a tattoo of a button...
4. (new entry) Coded signals - what did Vettel mean by circling his ear with his index finger?
5. (new entry) Matching belts - DC and Jake, BFF.

Turkey Talk - "We pushed them and they cracked"

This was always a four horse race, we didn't anticipate the four horses turning on each other. As I type F1 geeky sorts are getting terrifically excited about the possibility that there were dark manoeuvrings in each team to promote one driver over the other. All sparked by driver mumblings on the podium.



If you're interested in the progress of McLaren or Red Bull it was a fairly interesting race to watch; if you're interested in the progress of Williams, you may as well have switched off. Roll on Canada. Although the Hulk did some nifty overtaking at the start of the race. There were a couple of false starts, action-wise, with rain expected imminently and arrived never and the potential of the McLarens running out of fuel and didn't. What did happen were some great team tangles. And I thought "Save fuel, same for both cars" was code for no overtaking, hold positions.



All this led to some very glum faces on the podium, where we got to see just how wee Hamilton is next to Button. Further curiosity ignited when Hamilton and Webber whispered during Button's interview. How rude! Show me how beautifully you can listen, please!



Red Bull boss, Horner, was largely "disappointed" and felt they had "handed 43 points on a plate to McLaren". McLaren boss, Whitmarsh, felt there was too much cuddling of the person who delivered that plate du jour. Further afield, Alonso and Massa had boring races. They clearly feel that a better car should be delivered to them rather than they pull their fingers out and get racing.

Turkey Results

1. Que Senna Senna - 398
2. The Lord of the Wings - 356
3. Hippy F1 - 337
4. Gurning Rubber - 324
5. The Pitstop Princess - 312
6= Blood on the tracks - 310
6= Liuzzi goes bananas - 310
8. The Young and the Restless - 308
9. Corpus Christi - Trimble - 280
10. You will never see me in Lederhosen - 275
11. Chew Chew Joe - 271
12. Beauty & the F1 Geek - 264
13. Stars in Reasonably Priced Cars - 216
14. Wheely wheely fast - 214
15. Birley Chassis - 213
16. The Cake King - 201
17. Ferrari Fantatic - 109