This season does not stop to amaze one. Just when you feel you’ve seen a race which can’t be bettered, you’re immediately proven wrong the next race. Experts have often rated the Herman Tilke designed circuit in Turkey as one of the best in the F1 calendar – with ample overtaking opportunities to boot – and certainly it lived up to its reputation by dishing out an edge of the seat race. That the top three drivers finished within 5 seconds of each other is ample proof of the close race that we witnessed this weekend. Everyone was expecting the Ferraris to dominate on what traditionally has been their circuit in its short history. That was vindicated till Q2 with Kimi topping the timing sheets. Timo Glock put in a good cameo with some scorching laps and the red bulls again impressed with both Mark Webber and David Coulthard making it to Q3. And Q3 it was that jumbled things up. The McLarens suddenly seemed to be coming out on top and it was only due to some last moment heroics by Massa that he salvaged pole for the Maranello based outfit. Kimi admitted making a mistake in the second sector of his hot lap, which resulted in him qualifying a disappointing fourth – but what must have been more disturbing was the fact that he was behind the two McLarens.
Kimi’s disappointing run continued to the start of the race, when in trying to get the better of Hamilton, he ended up losing track position to both Kubica and Alonso. Behind him Giancarlo Fisichella misjudged his braking going into the first corner and ran into the rear of the hapless Kazuki Nakajima. While Fisichella was immediately out of the race, Nakajima managed to limp to the pits, but the rear wing damage was too much for his engineers to repair and he too had to call it a day. This also got out the safety car (of which we saw a lot in the previous race) on the very first lap, albeit for a brief stint of two laps. Somewhere in the rumble poor Heikki Kavalainen picked up damage to his tyres (there was some indication of a contact with his compatriot Raikkonen at the first corner), which dropped from second to seventh and eventually he had to pit for new set of tyres, only to rejoin at the rear end of the grid. He spent the rest of the race battling with the back markers trying to get into the points. But his valiant efforts went in vain as the best he could manage was 12th.
Meanwhile as the race resumed Massa could manage to get a clear get away from Hamilton, who kept him on his toes for the pretty much the entire race. Kimi got the better of Alonso after a couple of laps and the meek way in which Alonso let him pass displayed the sea of difference in the two cars. Thereafter the top four comprising of Massa, Hamilton, Kubica and Raikkonen traded some fastest laps and remained close to each other. The McLaren of Hamilton was the first to pit, implying he was light during qualifying. This meant that his qualifying performance was poor considering he was beaten by the heavier Ferrari of Massa. But what transpired ahead was even more surprising. The McLaren was stationary only for about 6 seconds which implied he would have a long third stint.
This seemed a very interesting gamble by the British team, as this was probably the only manner in which they could challenge Ferrari, and showed the faith they had in the young Brit’s driving capability. However it all seemed to go amiss when Massa pitted. Despite speculation that the astute Ferrari crew too will opt for a short stop to get Massa ahead of Hamilton, they opted for a normal stop and were vindicated when Massa could still make it out ahead of the McLaren. However armed with a lighter car and his unquestioned commitment, Hamilton closed in on Massa in no time and passed him in a beautiful overtaking maneuver. While all this was going on Kimi was the last of the front runners to pit and maybe his low qualifying can be partly attributed to his considerably heavier car. He came out of the pits ahead of Robert Kubica courtesy some stonking laps he put in while leading the race briefly.
Hamilton had to pull a big gap in order to make his short stop strategy work and was ably doing it by pulling a second a lap over Massa. By the time he came into the pits he had a 10 sec lead over the Brazilian, impressive but unfortunately not enough. He went in for another short stop which confirmed a three stop strategy (Ron Dennis later attributed this to their worry about tyre damage and the linked safety concerns). Raikonnen too had got ahead of Hamilton and was trying to stretch enough gap between the two so as to come out of pits ahead of his main rival.
In the middle of the pack there were some pretty interesting overtaking and side-by-side scenes courtesy the ever entertaining Coulthard and a desperate-to-score Kovalainen. Also Nick Heidfeld had run a quiet but brilliant race to rise to a comfortable fifth from his ninth place start. It is also pertinent to mention Rubens Barichello here, who made his 257th start, making him the driver with most F1 starts under his belt (or should it be under his helmet!). He was duly congratulated by his team at the start, but unfortunately could not produce as memorable a result as he would have liked as he finished out of the points.
In the final round of pit stops the Ferrari team showed some slick work getting both their drivers in and out in a jiffy. Now the onus was on McLaren to out do them. As Hamilton entered the pits, all eyes were on the far end of the pit lane. The team was upto it and took under 6 seconds to get the car out. It was not enough to get him ahead of Massa and for a moment the Tifosi felt it would not be enough for him to come out ahead of the flying Finn either. That was not to be as he came out just ahead of the reigning world champion. Thereafter the last 12 laps or so went in a dizzy as Raikonnen tracked down Hamilton, who in turn was pulling in Massa.
Massa was may have been content with cruising as the 5 second cushion would be enough to get him safely to the chequered flag if he did not commit a mistake. Also he must have wanted to pamper his engine as he’ll have to race with it in Monaco. Hamilton however did not have that luxury, as Raikonnen – who then was clearly the faster of the two – was breathing down his neck. But the Brit has enough experience by now and comfortably held back Raikkonen in the end. Behind them were the two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld. Alonso and Webber finished an impressive sixth and seventh respectively. Both these drivers have impressed this season with their exceptional performance in a car that is not among the best. The final point went to Williams’ Nico Rosberg.
Overall a very thrilling race courtesy some ingenuity from the McLaren team in terms of strategy and spirited driving from the top three. Though Massa led from pole to finish on top, it certainly was not an easy race and Ferrari were kept on their toes. It’s a very encouraging sign for the rest of the season. The points table is also getting pretty crowded and it’s anyone’s title yet. Though Ferrari have gained a slight head in the constructor’s championship, the next two tracks generally favour the Woking based team. As we head next to the glamour capital of F1 – Monaco, Raikonnen will be keen not to let his lead slip down further while the McLarens would want to get on the top. Sadly the ease with which Raikonnen got the better of Kubica, it seems that the BMWs still are some way off from challenging the top two. But below them it’s all mixed up and only a brave man would have the heart to single out a team from Williams, Renault and Red Bull to come out on top. Finally I hope I’m proved wrong (yet again) and we have an even keener contest the next time the cars hit the tarmac.
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