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Going into
the seventh round of the
F1 World Championship this
weekend, Scuderia Ferrari is in
fourth place in the
Constructors’ Championship,
a long way behind the
leading team. Nevertheless,
the Scuderia arrives in
Istanbul in optimistic mood,
based on strong showings in
the last two rounds in
Barcelona and Monaco and the
fact that it has a fantastic
track record at the Istanbul
Park circuit.
As of this
race, the F60s driven by
Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe
Massa will benefit from
further modifications to the
aero package, including an
update to the double-deck
diffuser. These changes are
not as major as those
introduced for the Spanish
Grand Prix, but they do
represent a small step
forward in terms of
development. More
significantly, while the
many changes introduced in
Barcelona were mainly a
reaction to the FIA’s ruling
on the double diffuser
issue, opening up new areas
that could be looked at from
an aero point of view, the
changes in Istanbul
represent a return to the
team’s planned development
programme, based on the
principle of introducing
minor updates at every race.
Even if the
efforts of everyone at the
factory have shown their
worth in Monaco a fortnight
ago, this weekend, one can
expect the Red Bulls, that
are particularly suited to
faster circuits, to be more
competitive than in the
Principality, so while Brawn
is likely to still be a step
ahead of the pack, the fight
behind between the Prancing
Horse and the Bull should be
much closer, as indeed it
was in Barcelona. It is to
be hoped that the further
technical updates made to the F60 package
for this race, will continue
to move Ferrari up the
pecking order.
Past history
in Istanbul tells of a very
competitive Ferrari, partly
because the engineers found
a good set-up basis, which
is still valid despite the
big changes to the technical
regulations. The working
practice of the team has
also been validated, because
the new approach adopted in
Monaco in 2008 proved just
as effective this year. In a
sport where the car plays a
huge role in the final
result, it has to be said
that Felipe Massa can be
described as something of an
Istanbul specialist. In
fact, the current Ferrari
driver line-up has won all
four Turkish Grands Prix to
date, as Kimi Raikkonen won
the inaugural race back in
2005 driving for another
team, when Ferrari was
uncompetitive because of
tyre issues. Since then,
Felipe has won the last
three, each time starting
from pole, each time
recording the fastest race
lap, with the other Ferrari
driver also on the podium:
Kimi third last year and
second in 2007, with Michael
Schumacher third in 2006.
On the tyre
front, Bridgestone is
bringing its “soft” and
“hard” tyre types, the same
as used in Barcelona and the
team will attempt to improve
its performance on the
harder compound, which has
been a weak point for a
while now. The fact that the
front right tyre gets put
under extreme pressure here
is not a problem that should
affect the F60, as the car
is quite gentle on it tyres,
which is down to set-up.
Even around slow and twisty
Monaco, the KERS system
proved useful, if not in
facilitating any overtaking,
then in terms of producing
good lap times and here in
Istanbul, its benefits
should be far more obvious
and help with overtaking:
The long straight, that runs
from Turns 9 and 10, passing
through the kink at Turn 11,
ends with a hard braking
entry into a tight
right-hander (Turn 12) and
that is the best passing
opportunity on the lap. The
run down to the first corner
after the start is also
sufficiently long for KERS
to provide a handy advantage
when the start lights go
out. The F60s have been
fitted with KERS for all bar
one of the races so far this
season and the team’s
knowledge and ability to
extract the maximum from it,
has improved significantly
throughout the year, so that
it is now being used more
efficiently. As for race
strategy, two stops is the
most common choice, although
as Hamilton showed in the
McLaren last year, three is
an option, because the pit
lane itself is quite short
and the entry to it means
the drivers cut the final
very slow corner. Combined
with a high 100 km/h pit
lane speed limit, making
that extra stop can
sometimes pay off in terms
of running a lighter car for
four stints.
Away from
the technical front, Ferrari
has also greatly reduced
it’s “lap time” from hotel
to circuit and back. After
years of staying in hotels
on the European side of the
city, it has now made the
switch to the Asian side:
this means the endless
queues for the toll bridges
across the Bosphorus are now
a thing of the past, thus
allowing for a very valuable
additional thirty minutes
before the early morning
alarm clocks begin to ring!
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