Grand Prix Special. Turkey – Practice 1 and 2

F1
- Last updated: September 19th 2019

So here we are in Istanbul, Turkey. The sun isn’t quite shining, but it certainly looks like we’ll be in for a good race on Sunday – this being one of the Formula 1 tracks where it is actually possible to overtake.

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As expected the Ferraris seem to be roughly half a second quicker than the McLarens. Although the times are much closer than that, the long runs suggest that the Scuderia’s cars do hold a clear advantage. As for Hamilton‘s time in P2, well… he went out right at the end and completed just the one flying lap so who knows how much fuel he had in.

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The Renaults showed that their pace in Barcelona wasn’t a one-off with two strong sessions from Alonso and it’s good to see Red Bull up in the top 5. Webber clipped the grass early on in the second session which sent his car spinning into the barrier. The Australian was unhurt but the armco certainly did a pretty good job of short-wheel basing the car.

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As for the rest, Kovalainen seemed to have left his sense of self-preservation in the hospital, as he was straight back on the pace. A quite remarkable feat considering he suffered a 26G crash less than two weeks ago. The BMWs don’t seem to be as close to McLaren as they have been promising but, as I said before, the practice times can be a little misleading.

So predictions for the Grand Prix on Sunday? Short of a breakdown or moment of madness from Raikkonen or Massa, the Ferraris look as though they could take another 1-2. As for the last place on the podium, I would have thought that both Hamilton and Kovalainen have the pace to take it.

Having bad mouthed the ITV F1 live feed the other week, I am pleased to say that it is vastly improved. Last time I watched something on there I spent an hour and a half staring at a frozen screen with snippets of flying laps sped up a hundred times so that the ‘feed’ could catch up again. However, its gremlins seem to be cured and you can now sit back and soak up the sound of the V8s. Whether this was down to me and my blog, I very much doubt, but it is now a pretty good place to catch the practice sessions.

Practice 1

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Massa Ferrari 1:27.323 16
2. Kovalainen McLaren 1:27.456 +0.133 17
3. Hamilton McLaren 1:27.752 +0.429 15
4. Alonso Renault 1:28.284 +0.961 16
5. Button Honda 1:28.919 +1.596 12
6. Nakajima Williams 1:29.002 +1.679 19
7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:29.024 +1.701 21
8. Barrichello Honda 1:29.068 +1.745 11
9. Piquet Renault 1:29.082 +1.759 23
10. Glock Toyota 1:29.103 +1.780 19
11. Trulli Toyota 1:29.329 +2.006 24
12. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:29.330 +2.007 7
13. Rosberg Williams 1:29.367 +2.044 20
14. Sutil Force India 1:29.756 +2.433 23
15. Fisichella Force India 1:29.811 +2.488 23
16. Webber Red Bull 1:30.088 +2.765 21
17. Coulthard Red Bull 1:30.340 +3.017 13
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso 1:30.388 +3.065 19
19. Vettel Toro Rosso 1:30.426 +3.103 21
20. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:30.732 +3.409 3

Practice 2

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrrari 1:27.543 30
2. Hamilton McLaren 1:27.579 +0.036 31
3. Massa Ferrari 1:27.682 +0.139 29
4. Coulthard Red Bull 1:27.763 +0.220 24
5. Kovalainen McLaren 1:27.954 +0.411 27
6. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:28.431 +0.888 29
7. Trulli Toyota 1:28.619 +1.076 29
8. Nakajima Williams 1:28.664 +1.121 27
9. Alonso Renault 1:28.681 +1.138 26
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:28.817 +1.274 31
11. Button Honda 1:28.826 +1.283 28
12. Glock Toyota 1:28.849 +1.306 26
13. Rosberg Williams 1:28.907 +1.364 29
14. Fisichella Force India 1:29.008 +1.465 35
15. Barrichello Honda 1:29.024 +1.481 22
16. Piquet Renault 1:29.212 +1.669 26
17. Vettel Toro Rosso 1:29.462 +1.919 30
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso 1:29.630 +2.087 32
19. Webber Red Bull 1:29.633 +2.090 4
20. Sutil Force India 1:30.832 +3.289 9

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