McLaren Fans Track Preview

Round 12- Istanbul-Turkey.

History of the circuit

The Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul is the newest track currently on the formula one calendar. The two year old Istanbul Park was designed by circuit designer Herman Tilke, the circuit challenges the drivers throughout the lap, the circuit is also home to the infamous turn 8.

The maiden Turkish grand prix was held back in 2005, in which current Ferrari star Kimi Räikkönen won the 57 lap race ahead of Renaults Giancarlo Fisichella.

The 2006 Turkish grand prix featured an exciting race, which had a multi car pile up at the first corner, which eliminated Kimi Räikkönen from the race, in weeks and months after the race, the greatness of the race was overshadowed by formula one's dark side... politics.

The cause? The winner's trophy was presented by Mehmet Ali Talat, who was introduced to the audience as president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is a state only recognized by Turkey, this goes against the sporting regulations. The punishment for this was a fine of $5 million.

Since then the charges on the circuit's owners were dropped, with the owners only having to pay a small amount of the original fine. Since then, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has bought the circuit, Bernie quoting the track as "the best track on the F1 calendar".

Characteristics of the circuit

The circuit features medium to high speed turns, something that will favour this years Ferrari F2008, which will make a McLaren win all that more difficult.  

Current reigning world champion and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso achieved a staggering minimum speed of 165mph (265.54kmh) through the well known turn 8 corner.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton finished on the podium in last years GP2 race despite starting the race in 8^th position Lewis then had the misfortune of spinning on the first lap. The spin caused Lewis to rejoin the track at the pack of the pack.

Lewis then started to lap the circuit at over a second a lap faster than everyone else and began to overtake his vastly slower rivals. With just a few laps left Lewis was in third position, and overtook Adam Carol for second position.

Istanbul Park Facts

The Istanbul park is not only challenging on the cars, but also the drivers, the infamous turn 8 makes the drivers experience 5g for seven seconds, that's five times their own body weight. For example Lewis Hamilton would feel like they weighed a massive 340kg! 272kg more than normal at 1g.

Turn 8 is a fantastic corner, even the more experience and best drivers on the formula one grid get caught out, pushing for any extra time they can get their hands on.

Circuit Map

Where to watch

There are many great overtaking opportunities and some excellent places to watch the action from, not surprisingly, turn 8 is one of them. Turn 9 which follows a long straight, is a great place to overtake, it is easy enough for the driver in front to make a mistake, opening the window for the driver behind to overtake going into turn 9. The main grandstand overlooking the pits is another great place to watch the race from

2007 Results

Other Results

McLaren Fans Predictions

With Ferrari dominating the last race in Spain, its hard not to consider them as the favourite for the race weekend, Coupled with Felipe Massa's near perfect record since the circuit hosted its first race back in 2005. McLaren will be surprised I think at how close they are to the Ferrari's, considering the heavy penalty that was given to them as a result of the spy scandal, last year.

BMW will be strong this weekend as well, if something goes wrong for McLaren, they could be fighting off the two BMW's, just like they were in Barcelona. Renault might be able to challenge BMW for third best team during the weekend, though that remains unlikely.

Track map copyright F.I.A

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