After the tight confines of Monaco, Turkey is going to be very much a technical, Barcelona-style race weekend albeit the slow-speed sections are not as slow as they were in Spain. It¹s a nice, wide-open racetrack that, as a driver, allows you to get your elbows out again! I see this as Red Bull Racing¹s big opportunity to swing the balance back in its favour.
All the tell-tale signs of the nature of the track, based on what we learned from Barcelona¹s first sector, suggest that Red Bull has a car that will work very well in its high speed corners, with lots of downforce and good stability. In conjunction with the double-diffuser upgrade that was introduced at Monaco, and whatever Turkey-specific upgrades that might occur, all leads me to believe that they could be setting the pace.From the evidence of what we saw in Monaco, Brawn obviously has a car that is generally good at all tracks. After all, five out of six wins can¹t be wrong. Brawn will still be up there at Istanbul, of course, but this race unquestionably is where Red Bull has to strike back if it¹s going to make life difficult in championship terms. My prediction for the running order is this: Red Bull, Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren beyond that, how can you possibly know when Toyota will get back up there? When will BMW start to show any kind of form? What about Renault? You just can¹t say anything with any degree of certainty about those teams.
KERS TO PLAY A MAJOR ROLE
I expect Turkey to be a KERS-friendly circuit, which will play out to the tactical benefits of running that system. I think the teams that choose to run it will reap the performance advantages here more than perhaps anywhere. Ferrari and McLaren, as predicted in my last AUTOSPORT column, enjoyed their strongest weekends so far in Monaco. McLaren was undone by Lewis Hamilton¹s qualifying faux pas, and then, perhaps more bizarrely, Heikki Kovalainen¹s crash in the race. Losing the back end like that at the Swimming Pool was very unusual. We saw Felipe Massa do the same in Q1, but I had a word with Felipe about that, and basically he¹d put his brake bias rearwards to help bed-in the brakes on his out-lap. That, to me, is incredible. I¹ve never done that in my whole career. I don¹t like surprises, and brake bias, coupled with the brake pressure you¹re applying, is one of the constants you rely on. Obviously the KERS affects the balance as well, so I think that underlines the fact it was a major error of judgment.That said, Massa has an incredible record around Istanbul Park, and this will be a key performance indicator if he makes the front row in what appears to be a much-improved Ferrari. Couple that with the KERS advantage off the startline, it should make for an interesting race and can Kimi maintain his podium form of Monaco?.
DON¹T RULE OUT RUBENS
After Barcelona we heard Rubens speak out that he was concerned that team orders might have been brought into play. Whether they were or not, I see his statement as a very positive sign. Sure, he¹s in the best car and hasn¹t won a race yet, but Rubens is a realist and sees this as a great opportunity for him. Yes, he wants to win, and he wants to ensure he¹s doing so on a level playing field. If he had sat back, and not questioned that, then I¹d see it as a sign of him giving in. He¹s showing good pace relative to Jenson. Where he has lacked is that last-minute qualifying run, where Jenson has been utterly flawless as he showed in Monaco. That was a remarkable lap. Rubens is a quality driver, but he¹s up against someone who¹s at the top of their game and showing all the hallmarks of one of the best drivers we¹ve seen in Formula 1. There¹s no embarrassment in that, but it¹s up to him to get on with it and beat Jenson.
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