First point to make about this race is - the race had flying start (see the picture above). Second - we actually had a race. There were cars that raced each other ! Third point to make about this race is a question - would Lewis Hamilton even start the race under 2005 rules that prevented tyre changes ?

Felipe Massa is becoming the King of Istanbul track. Three pole postitions in a row, three wins in a row. He is the first driver since Michael Schumacher to win three consecutive races at the same Formula 1 track … He had a perfect start and created nice gap between himself and Hamilton before even reaching Turn 1. He lost his lead later on in the race when Hamilton overtook him, but at that time Massa was already aware of Hamilton’s 3 stop strategy and did exactly defend hard. He reclaimed his lead after another round of pitstops and held it rather comfortably. Massa wnet on to win his 7th F1 race, 3th consecutive Turkish GP and second race this year. After 2 DNFs early on Massa made it to the podium 3 times in a row. He is now officially back in the hunt for the title.

It was not the best weekend for Massa’s team mate and the championship leader Kimi Raikkonen. His troubles started on Friday already and stuck with him for the rest of the weekend. He collided with Heikki Kovalainen at the start and damaged his front wing. He still however managed to record the fastest lap of the race and finish on podium. Nothing spectacular from the defending champion, pretty much a damage limitation weekend …

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F1Wolf

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Heikki Kovalainen messed up many predictions but there are still several very respectable scores this weekend. Ozzi decided to score 22 points yet again and yet again it was not enough to win a round . Steve Robertson holds on to the lead, but it is quite tight at the very top. I am slowly getting settled in top 10 .

2008 Prediction Game Round 5 Results:

25 - Klokan, daniel
24 - Queen Bee, Fisheye
23 - Rob The Flying Dutchman
22 - Steve Robertson, Ozzi, fantoci
21 - stew, F1Wolf, brabhamburger
20 - mcw3, shaun, gertjan
19 - igi, Arnel
18 - zblkhwk, Kaylen, Ben, fatfish , Ram
17 - nieuwe, xxMarinaxx
16 - deaddogsmoking, blazena, Rich
15 - kotenok, Arun
14 - Luis Miguel Sainz

F1Wolf

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Welcome to the Live Blog coverage of 2008 Turkish GP Formula One race !

Thank you for joining the debate, this Live Blog has now closed, you can replay it inside the post.

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F1Wolf

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Felipe Massa will start the Turkish GP from pole position, as predicted by many people on this site . His neighbour on front row will be Heikki Kovalainen. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen will line up on second row. There are suggestions that Kimi might have been slowed down by Alonso… I haven’t seen that, will have to wait for more on that. Both Red Bulls made it to Q3 for the first time this season.

This was another disapointing day for Nelson Piquet … Getting out after Q1 is not what Flavio Briatore signed him for …

2008 Turkish GP Qualifying Results:

1. F. Massa - Ferrari - 1:27.617
2. H. Kovalainen - McLaren - 1:27.808
3. L. Hamilton - McLaren - 1:27.923
4. K. Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:27.936
5. R. Kubica - BMW Sauber - 1:28.390
6. M. Webber - Red Bull - 1:28.417
7. F. Alonso - Renault - 1:28.422
8. J. Trulli - Toyota - 1:28.836
9. N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber - 1:28.882
10. D. Coulthard - Red Bull - 1:29.959

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F1Wolf

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The Formula One season continues without Super Aguri and moves to Turkey. The weather should be sunny. The only chances of rain are reported for Friday. This is the 4th Turkish Grand Prix but for the first time it is held this early in the season. All previous 3 races in Istanbul were held in August. The temperatures are now below 20 degrees Celsius, much lower than what the drivers are used to in Istanbul Park. Keep that in mind while predicting the results or simply pull the eight names out of the hat .

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F1Wolf

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The track was officially wet but looked quite dry except few wet patches. Mark Webber finished the session at the top ahead of Alonso and Coulthard. The top 16 were separated only by 1 second. The qualifying later today should be exciting. And … there is a possibility of rain …

Saturday Free Practice Times:

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F1Wolf

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I managed to see bits and pieces of the first practice. It started with wet track between turns 3 and 9 due to late cleaning . It continued with cars sliding all over the place (and not because of the late cleaning). Felipe Massa was the fastest driver of the session but he also managed to get off the track more than once (I saw twice). He needs to make friends with Turn 8 . Not sure what happened to Kimi, he did one timed lap and ended up at the tail of the order. But if the weekend continues the way it has begun, we may see some interesting action on th track. Not the best show from the Red Bull family …

Kimi Raikkonen recovered from the gearbox problems and recorded the fastest time in second practice just ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Rain affected early stages of the session only but the track seemed quite damp till the end. Cars however spent the whole session on dry tyres, at least as far as I could tell. There was not much grip and the off-track trips continued in second session too. Mark Webber crashed his car, few drivers lost the rears of their cars. How I wish there is about this much for qualifying and the race .

To follow the practice, qualifying and race live, check this link for info.

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F1Wolf

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The 2008 Formula 1 season continues this weekend with the Turkish Grand Prix. Here is what we know:

- there will be no Super Aguri, no Takuma Sato , no Anthony Davidson
- there will be no shark fin on Toro Rosso yet
- there will be no hole in the nose of Ferrari car for this race
- Rubens Barrichello will celebrate his 257th F1 GP
- there will be no changes to the safety car rules
- the weather forecasts do not expect rain on Saturday and Sunday
- the weather is rather cool

We can’t be sure but we can expect another strong weekend from Ferrari. Out of the last 6 Formula One races 5 were won by Ferrari driver. It gets even more scary if we talk about Turkish Grand Prix. The inaugural race in 2005 was won by Kimi Raikkonen (in McLaren that time), the last 2 races had one winner - Felipe Massa… But as it is with the investments - the past performances do not guarantee future returns. Ferraris were hot favourites for Australian Grand Prix too and we all know how that race ended up.

It is getting tigher behind Ferrari. It will be interesting to see who will come out on top this time - BMW Sauber or McLaren. The other unknown is Fernando Alonso. Was his new found pace in Barcelona just an one race wonder is he ready to fight with Kubica, Kovalainen, Heidfeld and Hamilton for the rest of the season ?

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F1Wolf

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The 2008 Turkish Grand Prix will mark 257th F1 Grand Prix for Rubens Barrichello. This will make Barrichello the most experienced driver in F1 history, surpasing the 256 mark set by Riccardo Patrese. There has been questions about when exactly will Barrichello reach the record mark but I am not going into the details of the confusion. It has been done excellently elsewhere (see this post). The deal now is that 2008 Turkish GP is the one, so let’s leave it there.

Rubens Barrichello seems to have been around F1 forever. He entered the F1 circus in 1993. Here are some other names that were on grid in 1993 - Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, Riccardo Patrese, Jean Alesi, Martin Brundle, Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell, Michael Andretti, Mika Häkkinen, Alex Zanardi, Eddie Irvine, Aguri Suzuki. Perhaps with an exemption of Michael Schumacher all these names remind me of a totally different F1 era… He scored points in his debut season. The first podium came in his second F1 season, 1994 Pacific Grand Prix.The same season he however had his most serious accident - the heavy crash during 1994 San Marino Grand Prix Friday practice (video inside the post) - and was lucky to walk away. Later that year he was on pole position for the first time. The points, podiums and pole position came quickly but for his first Formula 1 race win he had to wait longer than anyone before him - till 2000 German Grand Prix. Eight more race wins (all with Ferrari) followed. The last race he has won (as it stands) was the inaugural 2004 Chinese Grand Prix. The last time he made it to podium was the infamous 2005 United States Grand Prix where he only had Jordans and Minardis to beat …

Here is little summary Barrichello’s F1 career:

Milestones:

1993 South African Grand Prix - F1 debut in Jordan
1993 Japanese Grand Prix - first F1 points (5th place)
1994 Pacific Grand Prix - first F1 podium (3rd place)
1994 San Marino Grand Prix - serious accident in Friday free practice (video)

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F1Wolf

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It has been busy few days for me and it took me 2 days to finish the Spanish GP review. Here it comes finally… I apologize for a dull format without pictures this time .

Four races, three Ferrari wins, two 1-2 finishes, red cars leading both championships and Ferrari friendly Turkey track next … Things have turned around a bit since Melbourne …

After Fernando Alonso squeezed in between Raikkonen and Massa in qualifying there was a chance Renault may spoil the race for Ferrari. Massa’s good start put an end to those worries and from then on it was Ferrari’s race. The gap between them and Hamilton and Kubica was not that big but this may be down to the safety car period and Ferrari preserving the machinery towards the end of the race.

Hamilton returned to the podium for the first time since Melbourne. The race of both McLarens has been compromised by their qualifying. Fifth and sixth places on the grid are not the best places from where to launch the attack on the podium. The positive sign for McLaren is that they did not seem to be too much off the pace of Ferrari. The worry must be the BMW Sauber … The talking point of the race however was the heavy crash of Heikki Kovalainen. It looked very scary and to me even worse than the crash of Robert Kubica in Montreal last year. It is amazing to see how much protection the current F1 cars give to drivers. It is hard to believe that somebody can survive an impact like that with pretty much no injuries at all. At the same time crashes like this are a reminder that F1 is still a dangerous sport …

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F1Wolf

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