The Turkish Grand Prix is over. After some of the best overtaking seen in the sport for a long time and strategy choices that made the race go right down to the last laps, the Istanbul Park circuit remains a popular all-round track and a place for Felipe Massa to improve his Career. Lets have look at all the action over the weekend from free practice one to the chequered flag.
Free Practice One
The Turkish Grand Prix got underway with some unusual weather. As well as a chance of rain, the air temperature only was only 14 degrees at the start of the session. This weather was rare for Turkey and not expected by the teams. Giancarlo Fisichella was the first out to start the installation laps in his Force India, however he left the pit lane before the session has began and whilst the red light was still on. Race control decided to penalise him three grid places for the race. Fisichella seemed to be the only driver eager to get going though. Some last-minute track cleaning had left the circuit wet and it took 40 minutes before anybody decided to head out. Sebastain Bourdais was the first out once the track had dried. Kovalainen was the first to set a quick time before the drivers started to struggle with the conditions and low tire temperatures. Trulli, Hamilton and Massa spun whilst many other drivers ran wide. Massa eventually beat Heikki's time, pushing him down to second. Hamilton set third fastest with his former teammate, Fernando Alonso in fourth. Jenson Button finished fifth and his record-breaking teammate started his weekend in eighth.
Free Practice Two
During the Friday lunch break, rain hit the circuit. The rain cleared in time for Free Practice Two however, and most of the track had dried. Kimi Raikkonen wasted no time in setting off and posted the fastest time of 1:27:54. Not long after, the red flags came out after Mark Webber went wide at the exit to turn 6 in his Red Bull. He made heavy contact with the barriers, wrecking the front end of his car. The Australian was unhurt in the accident. Jenson Button continued his good form when the session was restarted slipping into seventh. Alonso and Boudais made a journey on the grass but their mistakes were overshadowed by Timo Glock who lost his Toyota's nose whilst attempting to rejoin the track after running wide in turn 4. Massa failed to beat Kimi's time towards the end of the session slotting in second and so did Heikki Kovalainen with his best lap slower than the Ferrari's. Lewis Hamilton did manage to split the Ferrari's, however, and David Coulthard beat Heikki's time to finish fourth, wrapping up Friday's action.
Free Practice Three
Saturdays action got underway, well, very slowly actually. When the drivers finally left their pit garages it was Lewis Hamilton that set the first time to beat. Eventually all the drivers, but Coulthard, had set a time and the battle at the top were between the Renaults. The McLarens managed to get in front of them taking the top spots whilst Kimi was not where he wanted to be struggling down the grid. Massa manged to get in front of the McLarens taking the lead. With roughly half an hour left, David Coulthard left the Red Bull garage and quickly went up to third. When the last few minutes arrived Coulthard slid into first only to be pretty much immediately beaten by his Australian teammate who finished in first making up for his crash on Friday. Alonso also beat Coulthard managing second meaning the top three all had Renault engines in the back of their car. Rosberg finished fourth in front of Massa, Trulli and Hamilton.
Qualifying
After Super Aguri's withdrawal from the sport, only five drivers will drop out of sessions one and two instead of six. No rain was predicted for the whole of qualifying before session one began.
Session One
Timo Glock was the first to set a quick time and stayed in first until the Ferrari's and McLaren's left the pits. Raikkonen beat the Toyota's time. He was in beaten by Kovalainen who in turn was beaten by Hamilton. Massa was in fourth. Suprisingly, the Ferrari's went out again despite confirming themselves in session two. Massa improved to beat Hamilton's time and finish in first. Trulli slotted in fourth and the BMW's finished 7th and 9th. Knocked out of the first session were Nakajima, Piquet, Bourdais, Fisichella and Sutil.
Session Two
Nothing much happened at the beginning of Quali 2 with nobody bothering to set a fast time until the last ten minutes. Alonso, Webber, Trulli and Coulthard were the first few to set a time only to have them smashed by Kimi Raikkonen who stayed in front for the rest of the session. Massa, Hamilton and Kovalainen failed to beat him time on their best laps. Kovalainen did improve to beat his British teammate whilst Robert Kubica split the Ferrari's pushing Massa to third. Rosberg, Barrichello, Button, Vettel and Glock were refused entry to the top ten knockout.
Session Three
Timo Glock was the first driver to set a time, five minutes into the session. Lewis Hamilton wasted no time in beating the Toyota Driver's time of 1:30.299, taking the lead. Raikkonen, Kubica and Alonso all set times ahead of Hamilton but their efforts were overshadowed by Felipe Massa who set a super fast time of 1:27.896. Hamilton started to have problems keeping control of the car and pitted to change his tyres to the slower harder compound. He failed to beat Massa's time with a 1:27.923. Kovalainen did manage to beat Massa's time, just, with 1:27.808. Massa crossed the line next and smashed the time set by the McLaren driver, securing pole position for the third year in a row with 1:27.617. Kimi Raikkonen finished in fourth in front of Robert Kubica.
Race
The drivers completed their formation lap and lined up on the grid, waiting for the lights. Which took a very long time to come on. Massa made a good start to retain the lead with no challenges. Hamilton made an even better start behind him, though easily taking his teammate for second place. Both Kovalainen and Raikkonen dropped down another place after Robert Kubica took them for third. Kimi dropped down even more places after being boxed in by Heikki on turn 1. Meanwhlie, at the back, Giancarlo Fisichella went into turn 1 way too fast and flew over the top of Kazuki Nakajima's Williams to retire for the third time in a row in a first corner crash at Turkey. Nakajima managed to get to the pits with no rear wing but was forced to retire. The safety car was brought out whilst debris from the crash was cleared. When the pit lane reopened, Sutil pit for a new front wing after losing it in his teammates accident. Vettel pit for a puncture and so did second place starter, Heikki Kovalinen who re-entered the race in last place. Kimi Raikkonen started making his way back up the field, taking Alonso for fourth. The Spanish Renault driver was the first in the pits rather early. Hamilton had done a good job keeping up with Massa, he was next in the pitlane. His stop was very short, suggesting a three-stop strategy. Meanwhile, Kovalainen began his journey back up the grid, passing Sutil and Vettel. Massa pit and came back out infront of Hamilton. Kubica also pit from third. Raikkonen began his work and after his stop, he left the pit lane infront of Kubica moving him up to third. Meanwhile, right at the front, Lewis Hamilton overtook Felipe Massa to take the lead of the race. He began to pull away at an astonishing rate form Massa, again suggesting he was three stopping and he was lighter on fuel. He wasn't leading for long however, as he made his way to the pits confiming he was on a three stopper. He rejoined third. Bourdais spun and buried himself in the gravel, but then the attention was back on Kovalianen. He took Timo Glock just before the end of the lap, but Glock didn't give up and repassed him. Heikki took him again down the main strait. More action was taking place just ahead. Nelson Piquet was trying hard to get past Jenson Button. Evantually he did and Kovalainen took the advantage and got past Button too. Massa, Kubica and Raikkonen all made thier second stop with no troubles. Then Hamilton made his third and final stop and came out infront of Kimi, snatching third from the iceman. The last piece of action came, rather unsuprisingly, from Kovalainen. He passed Rosberg, only for Nico to come back at him like Glock did. Heikki passed him again for eigth and a championship point. Kovalainen still had to make a stop, however, and finished twelth. Massa won his third Turkish Grand Prix in a row. Hamilton came second with Raikkonen third. The retirements were Fisichella, Nakajima and Bourdais.
ChampionshipKimi Raikkonen stays on top in the Drivers Championship and Felipe Massa has pulled himself right back into contention. He is equal on points with Hamilton in second. In the Constuctors, Ferrari are 19 points from BMW and McLaren are now 2 behind the German team. Next we move to the most glamourous and one of the most popular locations on the calendar. The Monte-Carlo street circuit, Monaco.
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