Could it possibly be cooler in Turkey than at home in the UK this weekend?How long will the longest journey to the track be?Will Jenson make it six out of seven?
Race DataPractice 1: 10:00 - 11:30FridayPractice 2: 14:00 - 15:30Practice 3: 11:00 - 12:00SaturdayQualifying: 14:00 - 15:00Sunday Race: 15:00Lap Distance 5.338kmLaps 58Distance 309.396kms
Istanbul Park in a nutshellThis relatively new addition to the Formula One calendar, it staged its first race in 2005, was greeted as aninstant classic. Turn Eight, a long, fast left-hander, is adored by drivers who regard it as one of the season’s mosttesting corners. It generates more friction energy than anywhere else on the calendar and can also influence racestrategy.
Car dynamicsAverage turn angle indicates the average angle of a circuit’s corners expressed in degrees. The higher theaverage turn angle, the more acute the corners in the circuit’s configuration and the greater propensity forundersteer to compromise lap time. At Istanbul Park, the average turn angle is 1340, against a season average of1100, ranking it as the circuit with the 3rd highest average turn angle across the Championship.The end of straight (EOS) speed at Istanbul Park was 314kp/h in 2008. Istanbul ranks as having the 3rd fastestEOS speed on the 2009 calendar, and this is one indicator of the wing level typically selected to optimise thedownforce/drag ratio. Meanwhile, Turkey has the 5th highest average lap speed of any of the tracks on thecalendar.
Pitlane & refuelling strategyThe pitlane length and profile (i.e. corners in the pitlane entry) contribute to the determination of the optimum fuelstrategy. The pitlane loss at Istanbul Park is approximately 18.5 seconds, the 13th most penalising pitlane in theChampionship. To complete a normalised distance of 5km around Istanbul Park requires 2.49kg of fuel againstan average of 2.42kg per 5km across all circuits this season, making the circuit the 5th most demanding track ofthe year in terms of fuel consumption.
Safety carAnother key contributor to the determination of race strategy is the likelihood of safety car deployments, whichare influenced by weather considerations, the availability of clear run-off areas that allow racing to continue whilerecovery takes place and the circuit profile, especially the character of the entry and exit into turn one at the startof the race. Since the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix in 2005, there have been 2 safety car deployments, whichmeans that there is a 50% chance that the circuit’s character will induce a safety car period.
Temperature, pressure & humidityAs an example, it is a long observed tradition that drivers arriving at Interlagos complain about a lack of grip andan absence of engine power. Having become acquainted with a baseline of engine and aerodynamicperformance during the season, the climb to 750 metres above sea level for one of the final races can, courtesyof the reduction in air density, rob a Formula One car of engine power, aerodynamic performance and cooling.The losses can come close to double digit percentages and thus have a very real impact on car performance. Airdensity is a factor of the prevailing ambient temperature, which varies most significantly by season, air pressurewhich is closely linked to altitude and, to a much smaller degree, by humidity. Thus if races are run at the sametime each year, the factor that tends to have the greatest bearing on air density is elevation. Istanbul is 125mabove sea level and has a relatively low pressure of 999.75 mbar, so engine power will be lower than atMonaco, which was at sea level.
* Please note these statistics do not take into consideration Abu Dhabi.
What the drivers say
Thoughts on MonacoNico “I had hoped for slightly more than sixth place in Monaco. Having found a really good set-up, I felt I hadsettled into the track well and was comfortable in the car. That showed in practice on Saturday and then duringQs1 and 2 of qualifying. Only getting sixth in Q3 because I was caught up behind Barrichello on my fastest lap,was therefore disappointing. I was pushing hard in the race and passed Massa and Vettel early on, but our pacewasn’t quick enough to finish any higher than sixth. That’s still a solid result for us though and we’re hoping formore in the next few races.”
Kazuki “After getting into the top ten in qualifying for the first time this year, I was hoping for a decent result inMonaco. The opening laps went well and I made a clean start, but then it became quite a frustrating race for mewith lots of traffic and then getting caught up in other drivers’ one-stop strategies. In the end, I crashed out as Iwas just pushing a bit too hard.”
Thinking about Istanbul ParkKazuki “Turkey is one of the few tracks we race on in an anti-clockwise direction so that puts a lot of pressureon our necks. With lateral loads reaching 4.5g, I’ll be doing lots of neck work before the race to prepare. I don’thave much experience of the track as I was knocked out of last year’s race on the first lap, but it’s a circuit whichtends to suit our car with its mix of long and short straights, several corners for overtaking and then there’s turneight – a triple apexer where we’ll hit speeds of 250km/h. It’ll be challenging, but I can’t wait to get going.”
Nico “Turkey is usually a good track for us and we should be able to score points there. I like the circuit, andit’s a completely different proposition to where we’ve just come from. There are definitely some good overtakingopportunities around the lap as the track stretches to about 20m wide at one point and there are lots of largebraking zones.”
Can we expect some Turkish delight?Nico “We’ll have some upgrades for Turkey, so I really hope that maybe we can make a step forward andpick up points. It’s so difficult at the moment though. There are teams that have come from behind us and arenow in front, like Ferrari, and then teams like Red Bull, Brawn and Toyota are still ahead of us. It’s going to bevery challenging for us to score points, but I really hope that we can beat one or two of those cars with theupgrades we’ll have. We need to keep getting a handful of points from each race.”
Kazuki “I hope so. I haven’t had the best run recently, I know that, and I need to turn it round and get somegood, solid finishes.”
On TurkeyKazuki “It’s certainly not as glamorous as Monaco but I quite like that! The one thing I don’t like, though, is thetraffic! As usual, I won’t be going out much. I’ll stick to my team hotel and have some quiet dinners with mytrainer and the mechanics and focus on the job in hand.”
Nico “I really enjoy going to Turkey. It’s a great cosmopolitan city and I enjoy visiting its different elements,like the bazaar, the cool restaurants or even some of the very ancient sites. I also love my photography and it’s aperfect place to take some pictures.”
