F1 Turkey Race

The weather looks good for the start of the race and accepting the cars can go from zero to hundred miles an hour in four seconds turn one could be interesting. It's clear the dirty, right hand side of the grid isn't as fast as the clean, left side which could give Sebastian a punt into the first turn.

It will be interesting to see Fernando forcing his way through from twelfth and the first few laps could be exciting and the view through turn eight pulling 8g should be immense. The Red Bull durability still causes concern and this time with the rear wing which has had mods made to it since arriving in Turkey.

The cars launch from the grid for the warm up lap and the excitement builds. Can the Mclaren's use the abilities of the F duct to get ahead of the Red Bull's. Now the talking is over as the cars come to the line.

From the start as I forecast Sebastian went ahead of Lewis and Michael beat Jenson into turn one. Lewis soon took the place back and Jenson really set about Michael and went ahead fairly quickly which he had to do to keep with the leading three.

Lewis is really on the pace with Mark and his best chance of the season to go ahead and really challenging him on lap three. Great driving between the two of them. The front four are having a very interesting scrap and this is more like it.

It is interesting to watch Mark and Lewis through turn eight and The Red Bull is flat bit Lewis can't match there. However, he is then quicker through nine and ten keeping it close at the front. Watching Lewis into turn twelve on the bumps is unbelievable as the car seems very unstable but Lewis holds on.

We clearly saw Felipe and Robert come together early on and the tyre to tyre contact has put a groove in Felipe's near side front tyre but all seems well as the tyre is retaining its pressure. So after 10 laps it is Red Bull, Mclaren, Red Bull, Mclaren with only 3.8 seconds between first and fourth but only half a second between Mark and Lewis.

It does appear the Mclaren's have made great strides and are definitely matching the Red Bull's apart from turn eight. Fernando was the first to stop in lap twelve whilst Lewis is getting closer and closer to Mark even in the dirty air.

It seems Lewis only needs to sit this close to Mark until the first tyre stop and run an extra lap and he should take the lead. Jenson is also setting hot laps and maybe he can also take Sebastian.
Great driving between the two of them as they are very close as Sebastian comes in for his first stop.

Then surprisingly Mark and Lewis both came into the pits line astern and out they went and Mark was still in P1 followed by Sebastian but he was in front of Lewis due to his earlier stop.

Lewis now has a problem with two Red Bull's and we have to wait and see where Jenson comes out. In he comes on lap fifteen and he stops on the marks and he was gone but only feeds out in fourth and now the race is on and what a scrap we have to enjoy.

Then on lap twenty one they come across the back markers which can mix things up and Lewis is the one that can do it. Now we had rain forecast which comes as a surprise to all concerned and what have we to come. Lewis is really pushing Sebastian and he seems to like these hard tyres.

After twenty two laps the front four were already fifteen seconds ahead of Michael in fifth as the first back marker came and went without hitch for the front four. Who will gamble on intermediate tyres when the rain comes and the clouds look ever darker overhead. The front end of the Mclaren is stunning compared with the Red Bull's.

The track temp is 44 degrees and the rain will burn off quickly but that depends of how much of the wet stuff falls, we wait with baited breath. Wet tyres are being readied in anticipation of in the rain. The talk is of three mm's of rain and intermediate tyres seem a good call.

Behind the top four were Michael, Nico, Robert, Felipe, Vitaly and Fernando who are all quite close together. Nico is slowing down those behind him and they are all bunching up waiting to pounce. The track temp is tumbling down to below thirty degrees confirming the change in temperature since the start of the race.

Then on lap forty one Sebastian tried to pass Mark but as he got alongside he moved over into Mark. They touched and they both went off. Sebastian was out with a flat drivers side rear tyre. Oh dear, Sebastian got that wrong. Mark was also off but after a quick visit to the pits and with a new nose cone he came back and as he was so far ahead of Michael he rejoined in third, justice was done to some degree.

From the comfort of my armchair I have to say that was a ridiculous move on Sebastian's part and will no doubt affect Sebastian's championship and another one, two for gone. The change then gives Mclaren a one, two and a welcome change for the Woking team.

So through all this excitement Lewis took the lead followed by Jenson followed by Mark. Then an almighty scrap as Jenson took Lewis as they fought hammer and tongue. Great, clean stuff between the two Mclaren's as Jenson went ahead and Lewis then came straight back at him but all so close.

Brilliant driving between the two of them and maybe Mark and Sebastian should have done it like that. One wonders what the call was from the pit wall as the Mclaren pair nearly came together. Lewis was having none of it and immediately went 1.5 seconds ahead and all seemed to calm down. Brilliant from both drivers and obviously I am pleased they came through it without a problem.

The call from the pits we heard to Lewis to save fuel seems to have been ignored by Jenson and then we heard, after the excitement the same call to Jenson, wonder why! We still have rain on the cameras on lap fifty eight but the threat doesn't materialise.

Vitaly and Fernando were also having a spirited dice in the last few laps and eventually Fernando bullied his way through past Vitaly which damaged his front suspension and he went down the points and into the pits eventually. Fernando was going through whatever the Renault did in typical Fernando style.

So the finish eventually was a one, two for Mclaren and after the excitement of Jenson's pass on Lewis they need to both think themselves very lucky. Lewis showed his bottle with abundance and Jenson backed off sensibly so as not to do the same thing as the Red Bull drivers.

Behind them it was Mark (P3), Michael, Nico, Robert, Felipe, Fernando, Adrian and my fighting ace Kamui. Lewis drove a fantastic race and had the Red Bull's in sight from turn one. He waited, waited and waited and it came to him, which shows a maturity from my number one. Mclaren are coming slowly, slowly and it bodes well for us for the rest of the season.

The rain didn't come after all and gave us an excitement from start to finish from the top four. It is great to wonderful driving from the top four on the grid and let us have more of it.

After a very thrilling race the drivers and teams left Istanbul with changes at the top with Mark retaining his place with 93 points but now followed by Jenson (88), Lewis (84), Fernando (79), Sebastian (78), Felipe and Robert (67), Nico (66), Michael (34), Adrian (22), Vitantonio (10), Rubens (7), Vitaly (6), Jamie (3) and the last three Kamui, Nico H and Sebastian B (1).

In the team championship Mclaren take over the lead with 172 points followed by Red Bull (171), Ferrari (146), Mercedes (100), Renault (73), Force India (32), Williams and Toro Rosso (8) and BMW bringing up the rear with still only a single point.

Great race with superb driving from all the top drivers and a shame Sebastian made a horlicks of it. Now the teams move to Canada which comes back to F1 this year and another thrilling race in prospect around the streets of Montreal, 13 June.