2008 Turkish Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = Turkey
Grand Prix = Turkish
Date = 11 May
Year = 2008

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Caption = The Istanbul Park Circuit
Race_No = 5
Season_No = 18
Official name = IV Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix
Location = Istanbul Racing Circuit, Istanbul, Turkey
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 3.32
Course_km = 5.34
Distance_laps = 58
Distance_mi = 192.56
Distance_km = 309.72
Weather = Partly cloudy; Air 17-18°C, Track 27-36°C
Pole_Driver = Felipe Massa
Pole_Team = Ferrari
Pole_Time = 1:27.617
Pole_Country = Brazil
Fast_Driver = Kimi Räikkönen
Fast_Team = Ferrari
Fast_Time = 1:26.506
Fast_L

Fast_Country = Finland
First_Driver = Felipe Massa
First_Team = Ferrari
First_Country = Brazil
Second_Driver = Lewis Hamilton
Second_Team = McLaren
Second_Country= United Kingdom
Third_Driver = Kimi Räikkönen
Third_Team = Ferrari
Third_Country = FinlandThe 2008 Turkish Grand Prix was the fifth race of the 2008 Formula One season. It was held from 9 to May 11 at the Istanbul Park in Istanbul, this was a change from its usual place on the calendar, the last weekend of August. It was the fourth time a Formula One race had been held here.

After two consecutive one-twos Ferrari lead both the Constructors' Championship by 12 points from BMW Sauber and the Drivers' Championship through World Champion Kimi Räikkönen by 9 points from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari's two drivers are the only drivers to win a Turkish Grand Prix to date with Räikkönen winning in 2005 for McLaren and his current team-mate Felipe Massa winning both his debut win in 2006 and again in 2007, both with Ferrari.

The race featured only 10 teams and 20 cars for the first time since the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix. Super Aguri was forced to withdraw from the championship season due to financial problems. [cite news|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67170 |title=Super Aguri withdraw from Formula One |accessdate=2008-05-06 |date=2008-05-06 |publisher=Autosport.com]

Report

Qualifying

Following the withdrawal of the Super Aguri entries, minor changes were made to the qualifying procedure. In the first qualifying session, the five slowest cars would be eliminated, leaving 15 drivers to continue into the second session. In the second session, once again five slowest were eliminated, leaving ten drivers to compete in third part as previously.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa qualified pole ahead of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. World Champion and Championship leader Räikkönen qualified fourth ahead of BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica and Red Bull's Mark Webber. Alonso, Trulli, Heidfeld and Coulthard complete the top 10.

Rubens Barrichello of Honda qualified 12th on his record-breaking 257th Grand Prix, ahead of team-mate Jenson Button. Nelson Piquet of Renault failed to make Qualifying 2, whilst Kazuki Nakajima of Williams was the first driver this season to finish 16th in Qualifying 1 and not go through to Qualifying 2. Giancarlo Fisichella's three-place grid drop saw him drop behind team-mate Sutil to 20th and last place on the grid.

Race

At the start, Hamilton immediately overtook Kovalainen to claim second before the first corner to pursue Massa. Into the first corner Räikkönen's front wing made contact with Kovalainen's left rear tyre, which resulted in a puncture for the McLaren driver; this forced him to pit, dropping him to the back of the field while Räikkönen damaged his front wing and would continue the entire race distance without changing the nose, "We chose to use the front wing as it takes too long to change it" the Ferrari driver said following the race.cite news |coauthor=Jonathon Noble; Pablo Elizalde |title=Raikkonen welcomes third after tough day |url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67341 |publisher=Autosport Official Website |date=2008-05-11 |accessdate=2008-05-15 ] Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel collided with Force India driver Adrian Sutil and both were forced to pit, Vettel with a puncture and Sutil for a new front wing.cite news|title=Turkey Sunday quotes: Toro Rosso |url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67355 |publisher=Autosport |date=2008-05-11 |accessdate=2008-05-15 ] Hughes, pg. 44] Sutil's team mate Giancarlo Fisichella and Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima collided at the first turn as well after the Italian braked too late and could not avoid the Japanese driver.cite news |first=Paolo |last=Elizalde |title=Force India laments troubled start |url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67352 |publisher=Autosport Official Website |date=2008-05-11 |accessdate=2008-05-15 ] Fisichella later claimed this was because of Sebastien Bourdais changing direction twice before the first corner, leaving him with very little option. Fisichella retired on the spot but Nakajima carried on, despite losing both his front and rear wing in the incident, and pitted at the end of the lapndash he retired soon afterwards. The incident resulted in the safety car being deployed.

The safety car was withdrawn at the end of the second lap and the race was underway again with Massa six tenths of the second ahead of Hamilton. Between lap four and lap eleven, the pair exchanged fastest laps and the Briton managed to hold the gap between him and Massa at one and a half seconds; he then began to close the gap, posting consecutive quick lap times and was within seven–tenths of a second by lap fifteen. Hamilton pitted a lap later and dropped back to sixth, while Massa stayed out for another three laps. When the Brazilian came in to pit-lane, Räikkönen led temporarily before he pitted at the end of lap 20; once those three had taken their stops, Massa was back into the lead. Running lighter on fuel, Hamilton was able to close the gap on Massa and on lap 24, he overtook him at turn twelve.

Hamilton soon broke away from Massa and by the end of the next lap he was 1.8 seconds ahead of him. Further back, Bourdais span off at turn twelve, "Something broke at the back of the car, I don't know what it was yet. Going into Turn 12, I braked at the usual point and the car went sideways, I felt the right rear corner of the car drop and it spun me round" the French driver remarked after the race. Over the next six laps, Hamilton would stretch his lead over Massa to 3.8 seconds before pitting in on lap 32; when the harder tyres were again fitted, it became clear that Hamilton was on a three stop strategy. The Brit re–emerged third, 2.6 seconds behind second place Räikkönen.

Eight laps after Hamilton's pit stop, Ferrari call in Massa for his final stop of the afternoon making Räikkönen the leader of the race once more. This lead, however, would last for a couple of laps as the Finn pitted on lap 43, also making his final stop of the afternoon. Two laps after the Ferrari drivers' pit stop, Hamilton went in for his final one. The McLaren driver rejoined the track behind Massa but ahead of championship leader Räikkönen. The top three would remain this way for the remainder of the race.

Further back in fourth and fifth were the two BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, behind them were Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and David Coulthard with Kovalainen pursuing closely behind them. The Finn would, however, climb up past Coulthard, Rosberg and Trulli to get into the points but had to pit pushing him back down the field. Back at the front, Felipe Massa won the race, making it his third consecutive win at the circuit, 3.7 seconds ahead of Hamilton with Räikkönen half a second behind in third. The two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld finished fourth and fifth respectively while further back Alonso, Webber and Rosberg complete the top eight.

Classification

Qualifying

*fnb|1 Giancarlo Fisichella got a three place grid penalty for exiting pitlane on red lights during Friday first practice session. [cite news|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67237 |title=Fisichella gets three-place grid penalty |date=2008-05-09 |publisher=Autosport.com |accessdate=2008-05-09]

Race

Notes

* Lap Leaders: Felipe Massa 42 (1–19, 22–23, 33–40, 46–58); Lewis Hamilton 11 (24–32, 44–45); Kimi Räikkönen 5 (20–21, 41–43)
* This was Felipe Massa's third consecutive win in Turkey, all achieved from pole.
* This was Brazilian Rubens Barrichello's 257th race, thus making him the driver who has raced the most number of Formula One races, beating Riccardo Patrese's 256.
* This was Sebastian Vettel's first finish of the season.
* This was scheduled to be the last time Toro Rosso used the "b-specification" car of 2007. The team intend to introduce the Toro Rosso STR3 at the next race, the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix.
* Kimi Räikkönen's wing was damaged during the first lap, but it was decided not to change it.

References

Publications

*cite journal |last=Hughes |first=Mark |authorlink=Mark Hughes (journalist) |coauthors=Jonathan Noble; Gary Anderson|year=2008 |month=May |title=Massa Attack |journal=Autosport |volume=192|issue=7 |pages=36–47 |id= |url=http://www.autosport.com/journal/article.php/id/1566 |accessdate=2008-05-15

Citations

External links

* [http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/791/ Official FIA results]
* [http://www.manipef1.com/results/2008/turkey.php Detailed Turkish Grand Prix results]

F1_race_report
Name_of_race=Turkish Grand Prix
Year_of_race=2008
Previous_race_in_season=2008 Spanish Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season=2008 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race=2007 Turkish Grand Prix
Next_year's_race=2009 Turkish Grand Prix