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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