18-Dec-09: Turkish Grand Prix Faces Uncertain Future

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Today is the 18th December 2009 and this is F1 Minute.

Another circuit has come under the wrath of Bernie Ecclestone, with the future of the Turkish Grand Prix under doubt. Bernie has apparently doubled the price of hosting the GP from 2011 onwards, and the Istanbul organisers aren’t impressed with the amount of money he is asking. Next year’s race could be the last one, but there will be an official decision by the end of the month.

Elsewhere, Kimi Raikkonen has been talking about his future, with a lot of fans speculating that his switch to the World Rally Championship would be a one year thing, until he could find another seat in Formula One. However, he says it all depends how this year goes because if he does well, he might stay in rallying, but equally he wouldn’t be adverse to returning to F1. He also revealed that he did have conversations with Mercedes but they couldn’t agree on a deal and he wanted to be 100% happy.

That’s all for now, have a great weekend and I’ll be back on Monday with another F1 Minute.

An Expensive Place to Race

Sebastien Buemi heads round the circuit at Istanbul during the Turkish Grand Prix weekend. The future of the race in Turkey is looking uncertain after reports suggest Bernie has doubled the cost of hosting the event. Organisers are not impressed, but will make a decision by the end of the month.

Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images

Improving the Situation

Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet during the race weekend at Istanbul earlier this month. Alonso has issues a reaffirmation of his belief that the team can turn things around for the rest of the season, saying that everyone is working hard to try and get points, then podiums, then wins.

Credit: Charles Coates/LAT Photographic

Bridgestone Motorsport’s Turkish Grand Prix Report

Brawn GP driver Jenson Button used a two stop, hard – hard – soft tyre strategy to win a fast paced Turkish Grand Prix in hot and sunny conditions at the Istanbul Park circuit.

Button finished 6.7 seconds ahead of Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber, who used the same strategy. The final podium position went to Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who was the only driver to use a three stop strategy, using the soft tyre for only his final stint.

Bridgestone’s hard tyre proved to be the superior race tyre here, with good consistency. Button set the race’s fastest lap, a 1min 27.579secs, using the hard tyre on lap 40. There was some front tyre graining seen on the soft tyre, however this did not cause any particular issues. Most drivers used a two stop strategy, however Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) and Sebastien Bourdais (Scuderia Toro Rosso) completed the race distance on a one stop strategy.

Hirohide Hamashima – Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says
“Today was an interesting race in very hot conditions. Congratulations to the Brawn team and Jenson Button who were a very good combination today. I am happy to say we did not have any tyre problems at this very severe circuit, even in the notorious Turn Eight. We continued to see graining on the soft tyre, but this was much less than yesterday so lap times remained reasonably quick. Tyre strategy considerations were quite straight forward as the lap time difference between the two compounds at this circuit was not so big, but the hard was more durable. We did see one stop strategies today, illustrating that even the soft tyre was capable of doing a long stint.”

Pointing in the Right Direction

Kimi Raikkonen during Friday Free Practice in Istanbul. The Ferrari driver has said that their performance in Turkey was a one-off dip and they are still on the way up. He says all they need is patience and Silverstone will hopefully be better.

Credit: Bridgestone Corporation

11-Jun-09: Raikkonen Believes Ferrari Can Fight Back

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This is F1 Minute for the 11th June 2009.

Ferrari appeared to be on the way back to the front of the grid recently, but Turkey was not a great weekend for the team. Raikkonen is keeping his spirits up, though, and says that one bad race isn’t the end of it all. He says: “We don’t have any reason to give up, we just need patience. That’s what I’ve said before the race at Istanbul. We do have the potential to achieve a good result, I know it.” Kimi enjoys racing at Silverstone, so is hoping they can pick up some good points next weekend.

Elsewhere, Donington organiser Simon Gillett has been talking to Autosport about his plans for the circuit and revealed that they have a 17 year deal with Bernie to host the British Grand Prix. He says: “What Bernie has done is given us a safety net. Part of the problem with our financing has been that everyone out there saying it doesn’t matter if Donington doesn’t make it because Silverstone will pick it up.” Question is, are uber-long term deals wise in this current climate?

That’s all for now, I’ll be back tomorrow with your next F1 Minute.

Searching for Speed

Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais debrief Friday practice in Turkey with their engineers. Toro Rosso have been struggling towards the back of the grid, but have new hope in that their double diffuser might be ready in time for Turkey.

Credit: Peter Fox/Getty Images

10-Jun-09: Toro Rosso Last to Introduce Double Diffuser

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Today is the 10th June 2009 and this is F1 Minute.

No politics today, I promise. Toro Rosso have been suffering at the back of the grid for the past few races but might see a brighter future, as they’re hoping to bring a double diffuser for the Grand Prix in Hungary. Team principal Franz Tost said: “We are the only team currently not running a double diffuser yet, and Giorgio has missed the last two races working hard to prepare the car for a double diffuser. It’s not just a simple bolt on.” He’s referring to Giorgio Ascanelli, technical director for the team. Hungary is still two races away though, so there may be no improvement for the two Sebs just yet.

Elsewhere, BMW favoured aerodynamics over their beloved KERS for the last couple of races, and still aren’t sure when it will make it’s return. First it was due in Turkey, but they postponed that, and now are not yet decided if it will make Silverstone.

That’s all for now, I will be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Fighting for Places

The entire grid head into the first corner at the Turkish Grand Prix 2009. How many of these teams will be represented next year though? The politics continue as Max Mosley suggests FOTA should remove their entry conditions, and if they do, then the regulations can be looked at with everyone on the same page.

Credit: Bridgestone Corporation

Force India – Race – Turkish GP

The Force India Formula One Team’s Adrian Sutil has finished a hot and physically demanding Turkish Grand Prix in 17th position. Giancarlo Fisichella unfortunately retired on the fourth lap of the race as a result of a brake problem he had been suffering most of the weekend.

2009 Turkish Grand Prix Race Report

Adrian had a competitive first stint on the hard tyres and had moved up to 11th before his first stop on lap 20. Remaining on the hard tyres for the second part of the race, Adrian held station just behind McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and kept Rubens Barrichello at bay until his second and final stop on lap 36. The German switched to the soft tyre for the remaining part of the race to finish 17th.

Force India will now look forward to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone – just opposite the team’s factory – where a new aero upgrade is anticipated.

Adrian Sutil (car 20)
Perhaps we had hoped for more from 15th on the grid. I lost a couple of places at the start but was able to get them back quickly. The race pace was quite good though and I could have some exciting battles on track with a McLaren and a Brawn, which was great. It was not a real problem with Barrichello: he touched me once through a corner but I was just defending position. It was an interesting race, the car balance and the race pace were pretty good. Only the result was not as we would have liked, but it’s been quite a positive weekend overall.

Giancarlo Fisichella (car 21)
I have had a few problems with the braking this weekend. We changed all the brake systems to see if it made any difference but it was actually worse today as the car was almost completely locked. I had a good start and in the beginning of the race I was quite competitive with the cars around me but then unfortunately the brake pedal was getting longer and longer and we decided to come back in to the pits. We tried to see if we could get back out again but in the end it was very risky and we had to retire. It’s a shame as I enjoy this race but I’ve just had terrible luck at the track!

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
I think we hoped for slightly more from this race, but the overall weekend performance has consolidated the steps forward we took in Monaco. We’ve got through to Q2 for the second race in a row and Adrian drove a very competitive race, particularly on his first and second stints. Unfortunately Giancarlo retired very early on with a brake problem he had had during several of the earlier sessions. We can be encouraged by this team performance however and also in the knowledge that we have some significant upgrades coming through for Silverstone in a couple of weeks’ time.

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