The F1 Thread

[Nabil]

Massa makes it three in a row in Istanbul

Felipe Massa put his Ferrari on pole for the Turkish Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon, for the third consecutive time in Istanbul Park. But the two McLarens of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton lined up second and third and they will be doing their best to frustrate the Brazilian’s aspirations for his hat-trick of victories here on Sunday.

Massa set the pace when Q3 began, with a lap of 1m 27.896s, but it was a good job that he was able to improve that to 1m 27.617s as Kovalainen punched in a 1m 27.808s on his second run. The Finn showed absolutely no ill effects after his nasty shunt in the recent Spanish Grand Prix, and seemed very happy with his car.

Hamilton had been very fast in Q1 until Massa beat him, but was unhappy with his McLaren’s ultimate performance on his second try in Q3. Where Kovalainen made the medium Bridgestone tyres work for him, Hamilton admitted that his choice of the harder tyre was not the answer.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth for Ferrari and it may be that he is running more fuel than Massa. The Finn lapped in 1m 27.936s, compared to Hamilton’s 1m 27.923s.

Robert Kubica put his BMW Sauber fifth on the grid with 1m 28.390s, followed by Mark Webber for Red Bull on 1m 28.417s, Fernando Alonso for Renault on 1m 28.422s, Jarno Trulli for Toyota on 1m 28.836s and birthday boy Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber on 1m 28.882s.

David Coulthard had got the second Red Bull through to Q3 to endorse the team’s growing improvement, but a lap of 1m 29.959s left him 10th overall.

Nico Rosberg was the fastest of the five who failed to make it through Q2, lapping his Williams in 1m 27.012s to head the Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button on 1m 27.219s and 1m 27.298s respectively, Sebastian Vettel’s Toro Rosso on 1m 27.412s and Timo Glock’s Toyota on 1m 27.806s. Barrichello faces what his team say is his 257th start, which will break Riccardo Patrese’s long-held record.

Yet again qualifying did not happen for Kazuki Nakajima, who was 16th in his Williams on 1m 27.547s and thus failed to make it through Q1. Equally at sea was Nelson Piquet on 1m 27.568s for Renault, then came Sebastien Bourdais on 1m 27.621s for Toro Rosso and the Force Indias of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil. The Italian lapped his VJM01 in 1m 27.807s and the German in 1m 28.325s, but with the former’s three-place grid penalty for exiting the pits against the red light on Friday morning, they will reverse places on the grid.

www.f1.com

[MCS]

Pretty tight race today... but I hope Kubica and BMW can pull something off....

[petrolhead]

Please put a spoiler warning when posting results, as some people still haven't seen the qualifications or race (like me)... Thanks :)

[Bruno]

this is nabil's favorite thread... who you reckon will win the championship?

[Nabil]

Massaaaaaa


The race starts in 2 hours!

[itsmeyousef]

where are going to watch the race???

[Nabil]

At home with little Abood :clap:

[Nabil]

AS I Said, Massa did it for the third time in row in the Turkish Grand prix!! :clap:

[Ayham]

Nabil, I'd kill for an F1 channel....Details on where to subscribe!!

Massaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...Don't do the evolve trend here!! :lol:

[Nabil]

I watch it on Jazeera sports :pimp: Orbit FTW!

[Nabil]

Turkish win puts Massa back in title contention

No wonder that Ferrari’s Felipe Massa loves Istanbul Park. On Sunday afternoon he owned the place, and nobody seriously looked like challenging him as he sped to his hat-trick of victories here to move into joint second in the driver standings.

Sure, Lewis Hamilton pulled what seemed a brilliant passing move on him for the lead on the 24th lap, but it transpired that the Englishman was on a three-stop strategy for McLaren, and soon the way was clear again for Massa as Hamilton stopped to refuel and retain hard tyres on the 32nd lap.

Hamilton had sufficient in hand over Kimi Raikkonen, however, to keep the Finn in third place and to reduce his championship points lead to seven as they sped to the line 3.7s adrift of Massa, and separated by only four-tenths of second. The MP4-23 had been sweet on the harder Bridgestones, but still clearly didn’t like the softer rubber that Hamilton had to don for his final 13-lap stint. After the race the team revealed that tyre durability concerns had in fact prompted the three-stop route.

Into fourth and fifth places came the BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, which lacked the sheer pace to play anything other than leading supporting roles this time out.

Fernando Alonso further boosted Renault with a solid sixth place, surviving a minor brush with Raikkonen in the first corner, and seventh fell to Mark Webber after another solid performance by the Australian for Red Bull. Nico Rosberg took the final point with eighth for Williams, and was followed home by David Coulthard in the second Red Bull and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli as the last unlapped runners.

Honda’s Jenson Button was a lapped 11th ahead of Heikki Kovalainen. The Finnish McLaren driver, who started second, was desperately unlucky to have to make an unscheduled stop for fresh rubber after two laps, having picked up a slow rear puncture following minor contact from Raikkonen's front wing - which sustained some minimal damage - at the start.

After that Kovalainen fought back from the rear of the field and had some great dices with Toyota’s Timo Glock, in particular, and Rosberg, before dropping back in his final pit stop. He finished ahead of Glock, who again showed his fighting spirit, Rubens Barrichello, whose 257th GP outing did not produce anything to shout about for Honda, Renault’s Nelson Piquet, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel.

The latter duo both stopped at the end of the opening lap to have repairs made after Giancarlo Fisichella’s unhappy weekend came to an end as he overtook Kazuki Nakajima - by flying over the top of the Williams. Neither the Italian, who landed his Force India in the gravel, nor the Japanese, who got to the pits minus his rear wing, were able to continue. The other retiree was Sebastien Bourdais, whose Toro Rosso dumped him in the gravel as the result of a technical failure.

The result leaves Raikkonen with a diminished lead in the world championship chase with 35 points, ahead of Massa and Hamilton on 28 and Kubica on 24. Ferrari extend their advantage atop the constructor standings, heading BMW Sauber by 19 points, with McLaren a further two adrift.

[MCS]

Respect to Massa.

Reminds me of those Ayrton Senna days....

[Bruno]

ayrton senna :luv:

[MCS]

Next race is in Monaco. I predict that Kubica will win this one...

Last year Alonso got the win, with Hamilton, Massa coming in 2nd and 3rd. Fisichella was fourth and Kubica came in 5th.

[Nabil]

Monaco race analysis - Hamilton plays it to perfection

After McLaren’s whitewash in Monte Carlo last season, few were predicting a Ferrari victory in this year’s race. However, all that changed after the red cars locked out the front row on Saturday. What no one could have predicted, however, was how just how unpredictable Sunday’s race would be.

On a day when it all went wrong for Ferrari, with both team and drivers admitting mistakes, McLaren made the best judgement calls. That, allied to some stunningly consistent pace from Lewis Hamilton, was enough to put the Briton back in charge of the championship standings…

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 18.510s, P1
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 17.282s, P8
It all seemed over for Hamilton after he punctured his right rear tyre after hitting the wall exiting Tabac on the sixth lap, but McLaren switched to a one-stop strategy and got him going quickly enough that he only dropped to fifth. He passed Alonso and Raikkonen when both made early stops, then outran Kubica and Massa and was thus able to refuel on lap 54 and stay in the lead. The final safety car could have ruined it for him, but he kept his head for a brilliant triumph which he described as the highlight of his career. Kovalainen’s car wouldn’t engage a gear at the start of the formation lap so he had to start from the pit lane with a new steering wheel. When he got a clear road he flew, but eighth and the final point was the best he could muster on another unlucky day.

BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica, 1m 17.933s, P2
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 20.251s, P14
When Kubica took the lead from spinning Massa on lap 16 it seemed that perhaps this was going to be a really big day for BMW Sauber. But a graining set of rear tyres in his second stint cost him dear, as did Hamilton’s great strategy switch, and only fast pit work when the team changed him from wets to dry tyres late on put him back ahead of the Ferrari. Second, nevertheless, was a great result for the team.

Heidfeld had an appalling weekend, but seemed set to make amends as he was up to fifth by lap 12 when Alonso assaulted him at the chicane. The resultant heavy damage sent him tumbling back down the order, on a Sunday he would rather forget.

Ferrari
Felipe Massa, 1m 17.886s, P3
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 16.689s, P9
Massa looked in control in the wet early stages, but gradually this one slipped away from him. He lost the lead to Kubica after spinning at Ste Devote on lap 16, got back ahead in the early stops, then fell behind again when Ferrari had to switch to dry tyres as the track dried out. Third was a disappointment after the high of his pole position.

Things went wrong for Raikkonen even before the start when a wheel location problem put Ferrari beyond the three-minute warning signal on the grid and ultimately resulted in a drive-through penalty that dropped him from second place on the 13th lap. Then he needed a new nose on lap 27 after an off at Ste Devote. Thereafter he was running fifth, a long way behind Sutil, when the second safety car threw him a lifeline. He muffed that by losing control exiting the tunnel when the race went live again on lap 68, and took his nose off again on the Force India. Ninth just about said it all for the Finn, as he lost his championship lead.

Red Bull
Mark Webber, 1m 19.036s, P4
David Coulthard, 1m 42.112s, Retired lap 8, accident
A strong drive, which at some points saw him set a string of fastest laps, brought Webber a deserved fourth when things had shaken down, and a healthy five points. Coulthard was out of luck again, sliding off into the barrier at Massenet after seven laps.

Toro Rosso
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 18.787s, P5
Sebastien Bourdais, 1m 41.150s, Retired lap 8, accident
At last Vettel got something back, after a string of disappointments. Running Toro Rosso’s STR3 for the first time, he put in a drive that saw him lap quicker than Webber did in the Red Bull RB4, and took a great fifth place. Bourdais was unlucky after a promising charge in the opening laps, sliding off on the river at Massenet and hitting Coulthard’s crashed Red Bull.

Honda
Jenson Button, 1m 19.562s, P11
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 19.574s, P6
Barrichello was always a points contender with a strong drive in the midfield which, on lap 42, led to a fastest lap. He benefited from the Sutil-Raikkonen clash to take sixth and his first points since 2006. Button’s race was ruined on the opening lap when his brush with Heidfeld exiting the Swimming Pool removed his front wing.

Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 21.270s, Retired lap 61, accident
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 19.910s, P7
Williams had one of the fastest cars in the race, but it all went wrong early on when fast-starting Rosberg tagged the back of Alonso’s Renault on the opening lap. That prompted one stop for a new front wing, then came another after he got involved in the Alonso-Heidfeld bump. He had a great scrap with the Spaniard, laps down, but then crashed heavily on the race’s 61st lap, bringing out the safety car for the second time. Nakajima was always in the thick of the midfield battle, and brought his FW30 home seventh for two points. In terms of what might have been, Monaco was its traditional disappointment for Sir Frank in his 600th Grand Prix.

Renault
Fernando Alonso, 1m 17.869s, P10
Nelson Piquet, 1m 31.187s, Retired lap 48, accident
Alonso had an adventurous afternoon, as he had promised. He walloped the Massenet wall the lap of the Coulthard-Bourdais incidents, pitted for a new right rear wheel, and later pulled off a good pass on Webber. Then he pushed Heidfeld into a spin at Loews on lap 12 and soon had to stop again, for a new front wing. After a fierce battle with Rosberg he had a big bounce over the kerb strips on the exit to the Swimming Pool when he had changed early to supersoft tyres before the track had dried out. Piquet fought well in the midfield and battled Vettel, but an early tyre change like Alonso’s caught him out and led to retirement.

Toyota
Timo Glock, 1m 19.618s, P12
Jarno Trulli, 1m 19.830s, P13
At one stage Toyota seemed on the pace, but gradually they fell away. Glock spun three times and finished 12th, just ahead of Trulli. Both found themselves on the wrong tyres at the wrong times.

Force India
Adrian Sutil, 1m 22.039s, Retired lap 68, hit by Raikkonen
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 32.849s, Retired lap 37, gear selection
Oh, what could have been! Poor Sutil and poor Force India! They both worked so well in the race, as the German moved up the field despite a very heavy fuel load. A great drive, allied to the misfortunes of others, put Sutil in fourth place, behind only Hamilton, Kubica and Massa, when Rosberg crashed on lap 61. Then Raikkonen misjudged things coming out of the tunnel when the race went live again on lap 68, and suddenly the great dream was over. It really doesn’t get much crueller than that. Replays suggested there was little the Finn could have done to avoid contact and the stewards apparently agreed, though they did admonish Sutil for a separate incident of passing under yellows. Fisichella, meanwhile, did not perform anything like so well, and quit his 200th Grand Prix with gear selection problems