ING Turkish Grand Prix - 5 May 2011 - 8 May 2011 |
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Turkish GP: Lap by Lap Report
After three weeks of waiting, the Turkish GP is here. Today is going to be 58 laps of neck-to-neck racing. The Red Bulls dominated the Qualifying sessions but the others aren't far behind. Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari have clocked within a second of Sebatian Vettel's time.
At the grid,
It's the Red Bulls in tvhe front with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton on their tail. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button are next on the grid. Vitaly Petrov and Michael Schumacher are on row 4. Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa finish the top ten. Rubens Barrichello is on P11 alongside Adrian Sutil. Rookies Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado are next on the grid. Sergio Perez and Sebastien Buemi are on row 8. Jaime Alguesuari and Heikki Hovalainen are next, ahead of Jarno Trulli and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Timo Glock following a gearbox issue is forced to start from the pit lane. This moves Narain Karthikeyan up to P21 alongside Jerome d'Ambrosio who is facing a 5 place penalty. Kamui Kobayashi who had to skip the qualifying sessions due to car troubles is the last man on the grid.
The five lights illuminates...
The race is off to a brilliant start and the dirty side of the track forced Mark Webber back to 3rd. Lewis is victim two as he he slips back to 6th. Sergio Perez loses his front wing and is on his way to the pits. It is Vettel with the race lead. Behind him are Rosberg, Webber, Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Schumacher, Petrov, Heidfeld and Massa.
Lap 3
The DRS is enabled. Schumacher and Petrov begin their battle for position and the German turns in too early causing a slight collision with the Lotus Renault. Schumi dives into the pits with damage
Lap 6
Hamilton struggles to get past his teammate and finally succeeds at turn 12. If it weren't for the DRS, Hamilton would have had to be content with sixth. Alonso has his eye on third as he moves in on Rosberg
Lap 11
The last few laps saw almost all the drivers get a new set of tyres. Race leader is yet to pit and can be expected to do so in the coming laps. Felipe Massa exit from the pits seems rather unsafe and is sure to get the stewards' attention.
Lap 16
Schumacher makes another clumsy move. This time he clips di Resta and debris is seen flying.
Lap 24
Massa locks his tyres up under braking into turn 12. He dives into the pits soon after to get rid of his flat-spotted tyres.
Lap 29
Webber has been told to push his car and widen the gap between him and Alonso. Alonso is radioed in informing of Red Bull's plans.
Vettel is close to nine seconds ahead of Webber. Alonso uses DRS to get past Webber to claim second.
Lap 33
Rosberg is radioed requesting him to be easier on the tyres than he previously was. His previous set of tyres was excessively blistered and he will need to nurse the tyres more if he wanted them to last till the end of the race. He is in his second set of hard tyres already.
Lap 43
Hamilton is having a bit of bad luck. His pitstop has lasted far longer than the team would have liked it to. A troublesome front right tyre is to blame. The McLaren is over 40 seconds behind the race leader.
Maldonado is being penalised for speeding in the pit lane. He has been handed out a drive through penalty
Lap 48
Drivers have been busy posting the fastest lap. Mark Webber has clocked the best time so far- 1:29.703.
Lap 51
Webber is on Alonso's tail. He is less than a second behind Alonso meaning his DRS will be activated post turn 11. Webber uses the DRS to slingshot his Red Bull past the Ferrari. Alonso isn't one to make the manoeuvre easy. He gives Webber a run for the money but the Rd Bull emerges victorious in the end
Lap 54
It's a three way battle as Schumacher, Massa and Alguesuari fights for position. Massa gets past Schumi and forces the Mercedes to run wide giving Alguesuari a chance to get ahead. Schumacher fights the Toro Rosso back.
Final Lap
Alonso is just outside the one second gap needed to activate DRS. This means he will have to earn second the old fashioned way. Sebastian Vettel led the race from the start and has the looks of taking the chequered flag unchallenged.
At the end of the race, it is Vettel who took the chequered flag. Mark Webber came second making it a Red Bull 1-2. Fernando Alonso came third claiming his first podium of the season. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov, Sebastien Buemi and Kamui kobayashi who finished tenth after starting from the back of the grid.
It is races like this that make a three week wait tolerable. Join us in two weeks for the Spanish GP at Barcelona.
After three weeks of waiting, the Turkish GP is here. Today is going to be 58 laps of neck-to-neck racing. The Red Bulls dominated the Qualifying sessions but the others aren't far behind. Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari have clocked within a second of Sebatian Vettel's time.
At the grid,
It's the Red Bulls in tvhe front with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton on their tail. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button are next on the grid. Vitaly Petrov and Michael Schumacher are on row 4. Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa finish the top ten. Rubens Barrichello is on P11 alongside Adrian Sutil. Rookies Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado are next on the grid. Sergio Perez and Sebastien Buemi are on row 8. Jaime Alguesuari and Heikki Hovalainen are next, ahead of Jarno Trulli and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Timo Glock following a gearbox issue is forced to start from the pit lane. This moves Narain Karthikeyan up to P21 alongside Jerome d'Ambrosio who is facing a 5 place penalty. Kamui Kobayashi who had to skip the qualifying sessions due to car troubles is the last man on the grid.
The five lights illuminates...
The race is off to a brilliant start and the dirty side of the track forced Mark Webber back to 3rd. Lewis is victim two as he he slips back to 6th. Sergio Perez loses his front wing and is on his way to the pits. It is Vettel with the race lead. Behind him are Rosberg, Webber, Alonso, Button, Hamilton, Schumacher, Petrov, Heidfeld and Massa.
Lap 3
The DRS is enabled. Schumacher and Petrov begin their battle for position and the German turns in too early causing a slight collision with the Lotus Renault. Schumi dives into the pits with damage
Lap 6
Hamilton struggles to get past his teammate and finally succeeds at turn 12. If it weren't for the DRS, Hamilton would have had to be content with sixth. Alonso has his eye on third as he moves in on Rosberg
Lap 11
The last few laps saw almost all the drivers get a new set of tyres. Race leader is yet to pit and can be expected to do so in the coming laps. Felipe Massa exit from the pits seems rather unsafe and is sure to get the stewards' attention.
Lap 16
Schumacher makes another clumsy move. This time he clips di Resta and debris is seen flying.
Lap 24
Massa locks his tyres up under braking into turn 12. He dives into the pits soon after to get rid of his flat-spotted tyres.
Lap 29
Webber has been told to push his car and widen the gap between him and Alonso. Alonso is radioed in informing of Red Bull's plans.
Vettel is close to nine seconds ahead of Webber. Alonso uses DRS to get past Webber to claim second.
Lap 33
Rosberg is radioed requesting him to be easier on the tyres than he previously was. His previous set of tyres was excessively blistered and he will need to nurse the tyres more if he wanted them to last till the end of the race. He is in his second set of hard tyres already.
Lap 43
Hamilton is having a bit of bad luck. His pitstop has lasted far longer than the team would have liked it to. A troublesome front right tyre is to blame. The McLaren is over 40 seconds behind the race leader.
Maldonado is being penalised for speeding in the pit lane. He has been handed out a drive through penalty
Lap 48
Drivers have been busy posting the fastest lap. Mark Webber has clocked the best time so far- 1:29.703.
Lap 51
Webber is on Alonso's tail. He is less than a second behind Alonso meaning his DRS will be activated post turn 11. Webber uses the DRS to slingshot his Red Bull past the Ferrari. Alonso isn't one to make the manoeuvre easy. He gives Webber a run for the money but the Rd Bull emerges victorious in the end
Lap 54
It's a three way battle as Schumacher, Massa and Alguesuari fights for position. Massa gets past Schumi and forces the Mercedes to run wide giving Alguesuari a chance to get ahead. Schumacher fights the Toro Rosso back.
Final Lap
Alonso is just outside the one second gap needed to activate DRS. This means he will have to earn second the old fashioned way. Sebastian Vettel led the race from the start and has the looks of taking the chequered flag unchallenged.
At the end of the race, it is Vettel who took the chequered flag. Mark Webber came second making it a Red Bull 1-2. Fernando Alonso came third claiming his first podium of the season. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov, Sebastien Buemi and Kamui kobayashi who finished tenth after starting from the back of the grid.
It is races like this that make a three week wait tolerable. Join us in two weeks for the Spanish GP at Barcelona.
