Mark Webber, Red Bull
2010 Qualifying - 1st, 2010 Race - 3rd
“I hope you all had a good Easter. I caught up with some friends and had some good downtime. It’s a bit odd in the UK at the moment with all the bank holidays, but the weather has been sensational. And, of course, I ate a few Easter eggs… Looking to Turkey, I like Istanbul Park - there are a lot of undulations, which makes the track a little bit more challenging in places. The circuit includes Turn Eight, which is a very, very long corner with multiple apexes and is very high speed, which puts added strain on the tyres and the drivers’ necks. It’s also a corner that rewards accuracy with your racing line if you get it right early in the corner.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
2010 Qualifying - 2nd, 2010 Race - 1st
“I won this race last year and Istanbul Park is a circuit I really enjoy. It’s a great modern track, with a real variety of corners, plenty of high-speed stuff and a place where you really feel the benefit of having the car properly hooked up beneath you. Of course, everyone talks about Turn Eight, which is a fantastic corner, but I also love late-braking into Turns Nine and 12, because you can get the car into the corner while still carrying quite a bit of speed; and getting it right is really satisfying.
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F1 Standings Ahead of Turkish Grand Prix
“For this race, I think we’ll be seeing drivers working quite hard to look after their tyres throughout the race, particularly in Turn Eight, which is fast and bumpy; it’s one of the most demanding corners for tyres anywhere on the calendar. This is also a circuit where KERS Hybrid will be a major benefit - most of the straights come after low-speed corners, so there’s plenty of scope for using the KERS Hybrid - most notably out of Turn 10, but also out of the final corner. There’s always quite a big chance for passing into Turn 12, because it’s quite easy to stay with a leading car out of Turn 10 and duck into the tow.
“There’s every reason to believe that the run of interesting and exciting races will continue next weekend.”
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2010 Qualifying - 3rd, 2010 Race - DNF
“I hope you all had a good weekend; I relaxed a bit with my family and friends, as I haven’t seen them all for a long time and also did some training to be fit for Turkey. After being on the road for such a long time it was good to do normal things again. I like the Turkish circuit, it has all types of corners, slow and fast, like Turn Eight. It’s an awesome corner, we try to take it flat year by year. It’s fast and extremely bumpy, so you can hardly see where you’re going - you turn in and hope for the best. Turkey is a hard track on tyres and it’s usually quite hot there - but I especially like the place as it’s where I had my first F1 test drive. Our car should be strong there, but of course we have to respect our competitors and can never take anything for granted. People are pushing hard, but we are pushing very hard too to maintain our strengths.”
Jenson Button, McLaren
2010 Qualifying - 4th, 2010 Race - 2nd
“After the race in China, I think there’ll once again be a lot of focus on tyre durability and drop-off next weekend. Looking at the track configuration, our simulations suggest that Turkey will be a critical test for the tyres - particularly the front-right, which will be placed under considerable load through Turn Eight. It’s a high-speed, multi-apex turn with a lot of loading, so I think we’ll spend part of Friday monitoring the loads through the tyres to make sure we can achieve a safe and achievable balance for the race before we head into qualifying on Saturday.
“I don’t think it’s an under-estimation to say that tyre wear will probably determine every team’s race strategy. It will be important to run the tyre within a safe operating window, and that’s likely to determine when and how often we stop during the Grand Prix. The weather also looks like it’s going to be a bit colder than we’re used to in Turkey - the race is three weeks earlier in the season than it was last year, and that might also have an effect on how the tyre operates. It’s going to be another interesting race.”
Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP
2010 Qualifying - 5th, 2010 Race - 4th
“It is always exciting when the calendar returns to Europe and the racing schedule becomes more intense. After returning from the first three races, I have enjoyed spending some time with my family in the short break, and I am now really looking forward to the action getting underway again. The venue for our next race, Istanbul Park, is a great track and provides a good challenge for the drivers. It’s anti-clockwise, has a lot of gradient changes and different corner layouts, so it’s quite nice to drive. I know that the team have been working very hard to continue the progress that we made during the last race weekend in China and, with the help of some developments planned for Istanbul, I am confident that we can enjoy an equally positive weekend.”
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP
2010 Qualifying - 6th, 2010 Race - 5th
“We had a more difficult start to 2011 than we had expected, and the first three races felt a little like a rollercoaster of emotions. We were all disappointed in Melbourne and Malaysia but, after leading the race in Shanghai, we have confirmed the potential of our car. The team did a very good job to take a step forward and we learned a lot from the weekend. Hopefully we can now make a further step for Turkey and produce another positive performance. After spending time with my family during Easter, I am really looking forward to the race at Istanbul Park. Turn Eight is one of the most challenging corners of the year: it’s taken at full throttle for over eight seconds, with forces of up to 5G. If I had to create a fantasy Formula One circuit, this corner would definitely be included.”
Felipe Massa, Ferrari
2010 Qualifying - 8th, 2010 Race - 7th
“Istanbul is a very special place for me, as it was here in 2006 that I took my first ever Formula One victory, which is something no driver can ever forget. I remember it as an incredible win from pole position and also I recall the fact I finished ahead of Michael and Fernando who were fighting for the championship that year, which all added to making it a great achievement. And after that, I made it a hat-trick, winning for the next two years, when I was definitely the fastest man on track.
“Everyone in Maranello has been working very hard to produce some aero updates for this race, so hopefully we can be a bit stronger, even though these new elements cannot be considered to be a major upgrade. That is the story for this weekend, but we can expect more improvements to follow at the races immediately after this one. If you look at our positions in qualifying at the last race, we did not have the performance to deliver a podium result, but during the race itself our pace was such that we were actually fighting for a top three finish. We cannot say now what the situation will be in Turkey, because if we have been working hard, then so have the other teams, but it is not impossible that we will find ourselves with a car capable of fighting for a podium. It is true that the tyre situation is the same for everyone, but it is equally true that this could again be the key factor in deciding what happens in the race. The famous Turn Eight will be very important, because you really put a very heavy load on the tyres at this corner so we need to think carefully about the car set-up to deal with it and control the degradation. One element that could make this a completely different situation is that, currently, the weather forecast predicts some rain on nearly every day of the race weekend, which means we and especially our strategists, have to be very concentrated and ready for anything. I can’t remember rain in Istanbul, so it could make life interesting.”
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