Sunday, May 11, 2008
# posted by Rich @ 10:10 PM
2008 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix: Race Report
Felipe Massa took a well deserved victory in Istanbul, after battling with and sustaining pressure from Lewis Hamilton throughout the race. A bold 3-stop strategy saw Lewis Hamilton finish second, ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
Before the race, the talk in the paddock was the somewhat odd decision of Lewis Hamilton to complete two runs in Q3 on the harder Prime tyres, rather than doing one stint on the softer Option tyres. Overnight it would transpire that Bridgestone had warned McLaren, and specifically Lewis Hamilton, that they were marginal on tyres - Hamilton's tyre wear rate was too high and they wanted to try and avoid a repeat of last year's tyre failure. The question, therefore, was what strategy would Hamilton be on for the race. One factor affecting the strategy was the fact that the temperatures were a lot cooler than expected, even considering the date change (the event was moved up from late August to mid-May).
As the parade lap got underway, it was evident that the McLarens and the Ferraris were on slightly different strategies - the Ferraris started on the Option tyres, the McLarens started on the Prime tyres. The cars lined up on the grid, and after an extremely long wait, the lights sequence started. When the lights went out, Hamilton managed to jump ahead of team mate Kovalainen, who dropped to fourth behind Kubica. As they rounded turn 1, the front wing of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari grazed the left-rear tyre of Kovalainen's McLaren. That would have repercussions for Kovalainen's race, but more on that later. There was drama at the back of the field though. Giancarlo Fisichella - who had been dropped to the back of the grid because of a pit-lane red light infraction on Friday morning - steamed into the first corner but misjudged his braking and slammed into the back of Kazuki Nakajima's car. Fisichella's car was launched into a spin and came to rest at the edge of the track. Nakajima continued around to the pits (but subsequently retired due to too much damage), but Fisichella stopped out on track, precipitating the safety car.
So the field formed up behind the safety car as the wreckage of Fisichella's car and the associated debris was cleared. During this time, Vettel and Sutil pitted to repair accident damage. When the safety car peeled off after two laps, Kovalainen was forced to pit because of a puncture - to his left rear tyre. The slight contact between he and Raikkonen had been enough to cause a slow puncture, and because of this he would drop to the tail end of the field.
In the opening few laps after the race resumed, Massa pulled out a small gap to Hamilton, but within a few laps, Hamilton was matching Massa's pace. The two soon started trading fastest laps. Meanwhile Raikkonen, who had dropped back after the start, found his way past Alonso and up into 4th place. The battle between Hamilton and Massa continued for several laps, with Hamilton eventually closing to within a second before pitting on lap 16. This was earlier than expected, and when his stop was only 6 seconds long, it signified that Hamilton was in fact on a three stop strategy (which was possibly a change in strategy). Hamilton's stop dropped him to 6th pace, but as the pit stops cycled through, he would retain 2nd place.
Massa pitted on lap 19 and rejoined ahead of Hamilton. This allowed Raikkonen to take the lead - he pushed hard and set a new fastest lap of the race before pitting on lap 21. He emerged ahead of Kubica (who pitted at the same time as Massa), thus leapfrogged into 3rd place. The battle raged at the front though, and Hamilton closed right up on Felipe Massa. On lap 24, Hamilton managed to get very close coming out of turn 10 and got a good tow down the long back straight. He dived to the inside and overtook Massa under braking for turn 12. Hamilton was the new leader of the race! He proceeded to pull away from Massa at about a second per lap, but with a presumed 3-stop strategy, he would be pitting around lap 30/31 - he would have only 6 or 7 more laps before he had to pit again. Sure enough, Hamilton pitted on lap 32, and emerged in third place, with the Ferraris 1-2. Hamilton then seemed to struggle with pace a little bit - before his stop he was lapping in the mid 1m 26s range, and afterwards was only able to manage mid 1m 27s (the same as the Ferraris). Hamilton maintained a gap of around 10 seconds to second placed Raikkonen.
Massa pitted from the lead on lap 41 - his final stop of the race. Raikkonen assumed the race lead, but made his final stop on lap 44. Hamilton again led the race, but would have one more stop to make. Hamilton put the hammer down, and two laps later pitted from the lead. It was a short stop, and he took on the Option tyres (which he had avoided using all race). He stormed out of the pits and emerged just ahead of Raikkonen - he had managed to leapfrog the Finn into second place.
For the remaining 12 laps, the top three held station, all running at roughly the same pace. The gaps between the driver waxed and waned a little, but ultimately there was no change until the checkered flag.
Whilst the leaders were battling it out, Heikki Kovalainen was having a difficult race. After having dropped to the tail end of the field after his early stop, he worked his way up to 11th by lap 26, but dropped back to 14th after a pit stop. He again battled through the field and made his way up to 8th (after some excellent passes on Coulthard and Rosberg), but pitted on lap 51 and dropped back to 13th, and would ultimately finish 12th. In hindsight, the McLaren crew probably should have put more fuel in Kovalainen's car during his first stop (for his puncture) and therefore would not have needed the extra stop at the end of the race.
Elsewhere, Kubica and Heidfeld had relatively uneventful races and came home in solid 4th and 5th places respectively. Fernando Alonso brought his Renault home an excellent 6th - the Renaults didn't quite have the pace that they showed in Barcelona, but nevertheless it was another solid drive for Alonso, who seems to be able to overcome the limitations of his machinery and go faster than the car seems capable of (compare his performance to team mate Piquet, who struggled through to 15th place). Having started 6th, Mark Webber seemed to go backwards all day and ended up in 7th place, and Nico Rosberg was consistent all afternoon and picked up a single point for finishing 8th. David Coulthard failed to capitalise on his top ten starting position and came home 9th, the Toyotas of Trulli and Glock endured an uninspiring race and finished 10th and 13th respectively, the Hondas fared even worse with Button and Barrichello (in his record breaking race) finishing 11th and 14th, the sole remaining Force India of Sutil finished 16th and Sebastian Vettel brought up the rear in 17th. The retirements were Bourdais, who spun out at turn 12 on lap 25 and dug himself into to the gravel; and Nakajima and Fisichella were involved in the turn 1 fracas.
So, it was another great win for Felipe Massa, and one that was by no means easy - he had to battle to stay ahead of Hamilton. The win secured valuable world championship points for the Brazilian, whose team mate Raikkonen netted four fewer points in third place. It was a valuable points haul for Hamilton as well - two more than championship leader Raikkonen. Unfortunately for McLaren, Kovalainen finished outside the points, but one thing is clear - McLaren have closed the performance gap to Ferrari. Furthermore, with two "McLaren" tracks next on the calendar - Monaco and Montreal - the McLaren drivers have a good chance of closing the points gap to Ferrari.
Before the race, the talk in the paddock was the somewhat odd decision of Lewis Hamilton to complete two runs in Q3 on the harder Prime tyres, rather than doing one stint on the softer Option tyres. Overnight it would transpire that Bridgestone had warned McLaren, and specifically Lewis Hamilton, that they were marginal on tyres - Hamilton's tyre wear rate was too high and they wanted to try and avoid a repeat of last year's tyre failure. The question, therefore, was what strategy would Hamilton be on for the race. One factor affecting the strategy was the fact that the temperatures were a lot cooler than expected, even considering the date change (the event was moved up from late August to mid-May).
As the parade lap got underway, it was evident that the McLarens and the Ferraris were on slightly different strategies - the Ferraris started on the Option tyres, the McLarens started on the Prime tyres. The cars lined up on the grid, and after an extremely long wait, the lights sequence started. When the lights went out, Hamilton managed to jump ahead of team mate Kovalainen, who dropped to fourth behind Kubica. As they rounded turn 1, the front wing of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari grazed the left-rear tyre of Kovalainen's McLaren. That would have repercussions for Kovalainen's race, but more on that later. There was drama at the back of the field though. Giancarlo Fisichella - who had been dropped to the back of the grid because of a pit-lane red light infraction on Friday morning - steamed into the first corner but misjudged his braking and slammed into the back of Kazuki Nakajima's car. Fisichella's car was launched into a spin and came to rest at the edge of the track. Nakajima continued around to the pits (but subsequently retired due to too much damage), but Fisichella stopped out on track, precipitating the safety car.
So the field formed up behind the safety car as the wreckage of Fisichella's car and the associated debris was cleared. During this time, Vettel and Sutil pitted to repair accident damage. When the safety car peeled off after two laps, Kovalainen was forced to pit because of a puncture - to his left rear tyre. The slight contact between he and Raikkonen had been enough to cause a slow puncture, and because of this he would drop to the tail end of the field.
In the opening few laps after the race resumed, Massa pulled out a small gap to Hamilton, but within a few laps, Hamilton was matching Massa's pace. The two soon started trading fastest laps. Meanwhile Raikkonen, who had dropped back after the start, found his way past Alonso and up into 4th place. The battle between Hamilton and Massa continued for several laps, with Hamilton eventually closing to within a second before pitting on lap 16. This was earlier than expected, and when his stop was only 6 seconds long, it signified that Hamilton was in fact on a three stop strategy (which was possibly a change in strategy). Hamilton's stop dropped him to 6th pace, but as the pit stops cycled through, he would retain 2nd place.
Massa pitted on lap 19 and rejoined ahead of Hamilton. This allowed Raikkonen to take the lead - he pushed hard and set a new fastest lap of the race before pitting on lap 21. He emerged ahead of Kubica (who pitted at the same time as Massa), thus leapfrogged into 3rd place. The battle raged at the front though, and Hamilton closed right up on Felipe Massa. On lap 24, Hamilton managed to get very close coming out of turn 10 and got a good tow down the long back straight. He dived to the inside and overtook Massa under braking for turn 12. Hamilton was the new leader of the race! He proceeded to pull away from Massa at about a second per lap, but with a presumed 3-stop strategy, he would be pitting around lap 30/31 - he would have only 6 or 7 more laps before he had to pit again. Sure enough, Hamilton pitted on lap 32, and emerged in third place, with the Ferraris 1-2. Hamilton then seemed to struggle with pace a little bit - before his stop he was lapping in the mid 1m 26s range, and afterwards was only able to manage mid 1m 27s (the same as the Ferraris). Hamilton maintained a gap of around 10 seconds to second placed Raikkonen.
Massa pitted from the lead on lap 41 - his final stop of the race. Raikkonen assumed the race lead, but made his final stop on lap 44. Hamilton again led the race, but would have one more stop to make. Hamilton put the hammer down, and two laps later pitted from the lead. It was a short stop, and he took on the Option tyres (which he had avoided using all race). He stormed out of the pits and emerged just ahead of Raikkonen - he had managed to leapfrog the Finn into second place.
For the remaining 12 laps, the top three held station, all running at roughly the same pace. The gaps between the driver waxed and waned a little, but ultimately there was no change until the checkered flag.
Whilst the leaders were battling it out, Heikki Kovalainen was having a difficult race. After having dropped to the tail end of the field after his early stop, he worked his way up to 11th by lap 26, but dropped back to 14th after a pit stop. He again battled through the field and made his way up to 8th (after some excellent passes on Coulthard and Rosberg), but pitted on lap 51 and dropped back to 13th, and would ultimately finish 12th. In hindsight, the McLaren crew probably should have put more fuel in Kovalainen's car during his first stop (for his puncture) and therefore would not have needed the extra stop at the end of the race.
Elsewhere, Kubica and Heidfeld had relatively uneventful races and came home in solid 4th and 5th places respectively. Fernando Alonso brought his Renault home an excellent 6th - the Renaults didn't quite have the pace that they showed in Barcelona, but nevertheless it was another solid drive for Alonso, who seems to be able to overcome the limitations of his machinery and go faster than the car seems capable of (compare his performance to team mate Piquet, who struggled through to 15th place). Having started 6th, Mark Webber seemed to go backwards all day and ended up in 7th place, and Nico Rosberg was consistent all afternoon and picked up a single point for finishing 8th. David Coulthard failed to capitalise on his top ten starting position and came home 9th, the Toyotas of Trulli and Glock endured an uninspiring race and finished 10th and 13th respectively, the Hondas fared even worse with Button and Barrichello (in his record breaking race) finishing 11th and 14th, the sole remaining Force India of Sutil finished 16th and Sebastian Vettel brought up the rear in 17th. The retirements were Bourdais, who spun out at turn 12 on lap 25 and dug himself into to the gravel; and Nakajima and Fisichella were involved in the turn 1 fracas.
So, it was another great win for Felipe Massa, and one that was by no means easy - he had to battle to stay ahead of Hamilton. The win secured valuable world championship points for the Brazilian, whose team mate Raikkonen netted four fewer points in third place. It was a valuable points haul for Hamilton as well - two more than championship leader Raikkonen. Unfortunately for McLaren, Kovalainen finished outside the points, but one thing is clear - McLaren have closed the performance gap to Ferrari. Furthermore, with two "McLaren" tracks next on the calendar - Monaco and Montreal - the McLaren drivers have a good chance of closing the points gap to Ferrari.
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix, Turkey
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