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.

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.

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.

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