Team-Mate Wars: Istanbul Wednesday 14th May 2008 - Planet F1 In Istanbul Felipe Massa struck back, but it was more gloom for the rookies. Rubens proved there's life in the old dog yet - but not the one that Bruno Senna hit. Ferrari Season: Raikkonen 3 Massa 2 Race: Massa Very dangerously, Felipe Massa said "I own this track" before the race. They say pride comes before a fall - and until Ferrari engineers pointed out that Lewis Hamilton was on a different race strategy - Felipe thought he might be heading for a fall. Raikkonen may have got fastest lap, but in the early stages of the race Felipe was considerably quicker, only easing off in the final stint when he knew Hamilton couldn't get past him. Massa's challenge is to get quicker at tracks that Raikkonen is only marginally better at, such as Magny-Cours. BMW Season: Heidfeld 1 Kubica 4 Race: Kubica Robert Kubica threatened to stick his car on the front row again during qualifying, but the BMW looks a much less potent weapon when it's got fuel onboard. He seems to have got the measure of Heidfeld this season. Renault Season: Alonso 5 Piquet 0 Race: Alonso Piquet's failure to escape Q1 was only made more painful by Alonso making it all the way through to Q3. If this were Kovalainen last season, Flavio would already be making noises to the press about how he had to improve. Perhaps Flav is mellowing. Piquet managed to hang onto his car in the race and proved he hasn't lost the aggression he demonstrated in GP2, but Nelsinho needs a pretty good result in a hurry. Kubica, Vettel and Hamilton had already got points by now. Even Bourdais has two for Toro Rosso. Williams Season: Rosberg 4 Nakajima 1 Race: Rosberg Nico resumed control of the Qualifying pecking order at the Istanbul Otodrome. Nakajima's poor performance put him at the back with the Desperados, though it was a different Force India that caused mayhem at the start this time. He was an innocent victim of a needless accident and to his great credit took it on the chin. Or the rear wing to be precise. Despite his disappointment he still managed to point out to Louise Goodman politely that she had named the wrong bit of his car that was destroyed. Toyota Season: Trulli 5 Glock 0 Race: Trulli Jarno Trulli is still putting a sizeable gap between himself and Timo Glock in qualifying. Though they were close in Q1, in Q2 the difference was almost a second. Five races is still early days to start getting worried, but Toyota seem to have hired a driver slower than Ralf Schumacher. Less money, of course, but when was that an issue? They need someone to push Jarno, not give him a comfort zone. Red Bull Season: Webber 4 Coulthard 1 Race: Webber Webber's qualifying edge is beginning to pay big dividends now. In previous years he would get into good positions and then retire from them, but this year the car is staying together - which is why he's outscoring his team-mate 10-0. Though the writing was on the wall before the season started for DC, we can see Vettel in that car next year. Honda Season: Barrichello 2 Button 3 Race: Jenson Though Rubens outqualified Jenson by a place, Jenson took it back right at the start and increased the gap to the most experienced F1 driver of all time. This week Rubens has been talking about how many more races he could have won during his time at Ferrari if he'd been allowed to pick the optimum strategy like Michael. Well he knew before he signed for the team that that's what was expected. Did the red overalls come as a surprise too...? Jenson just about had the edge on Rubinho in Turkey, but there's life in the old dog yet. Which can't be said of the one that Bruno Senna hit. Toro Rosso Season: Vettel 3 Bourdais 2 Race: Bourdais Vettel may have picked up a puncture on the opening lap, but at least he finished a race, which is progress. He also managed to escape from Q1 which with the removal of the Super Aguris is going to be an ongoing struggle. Force-India Season: Sutil 1 Fisichella 4 Race: Sutil And just when he was doing so well, too, Giancarlo Fisichella comes on like a driver in a charity racing event who has no idea where to brake for Turn 1. Fisichella's never been that great on opening laps and last season he had quite a few for Renault. Braking too late and skeetering into the back of Nakajima was the worst it's been. Between them, Sutil and Fisi are keeping the fabricators busy. McLaren Season: Hamilton 4 Kovalainen 1 Race: Hamilton Lewis failed to make his softer Bridgestones work and was outqualified by Kovalainen. If you believe what McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh said about fuel loads he must have had quite a bit more than Lewis. However that was all lost with a dreadful start coupled with some bad luck at being tagged by Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis drove a hell of a race while Heikki laboured to get past Sutil at the back. The McLaren fightback has definitely started, though. In effect it was a reverse of Spain. In Barcelona they were a lot closer to Ferrari than they merited, in Turkey they should have been even closer to Ferrari, but weren't. Golden Arse Yet again Turkey used the grand prix to play politics, with the Turkish prime minister dragging his wife along for a gridwalk. The message was splashed around the world several days later during the Queen's visit that in a secular country his wife was wearing a muslim head scarf. She had already done that on the grid on Sunday. Flat dogs have more comedy value, though. "Hey, Mustafa, fancy going across to the other side of the circuit...?" Star of the Race Massa 2 Hamilton 1 Raikkonen 1 Alonso 1 Overtaking Move of the Race Hamilton 1 Kovalainen 1 Raikkonen1 Heidfeld 1 Driver Most Likely To Be Replaced Before The End of the Season Last race in brackets 1. Piquet (1) 2. Glock (3) 3. Nakajima (2) 4. Sutil (4) Andrew Davies
I'll agree with the last bit. Jarno's quick but I think he'd be a lot quicker if they had someone else to push him. I'm also not sure how good Glock is at development work.
I never thought much of Glock when he ran a couple of races back for Jordan, seems like this is the time period where the German Drivers have gotten many more seats, the Brasilians had their time, just as the French did. I guess right now Sutil and Glock should be thanking their lucky stars for the seats.
How is Vettel better than Bourdais? Vettel has crashed out 3 times on the first lap and finished in last in Turkey.
