McLaren sets the pace in Turkish GP first practice

[Yeo]

The Otodrom Istanbul may be a new venue on the calendar but it was a familiar face at the top of the times in Friday's first practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix. McLaren third driver Pedro de la Rosa clocked a best of 1:27.882 and teammate Kimi Raikkonen was second fastest, just under six tenths off. The Williams of Mark Webber made a last minute effort for third.



The temperature was in the high twenties at the start of the session, with the track temperature edging close to 40 degrees, as de la Rosa led out for the installation laps. Toyota, Jordan and Red Bull counterparts Ricardo Zonta, Nicolas Kiesa and Tonio Liuzzi followed on, along with several others, but it was the usual quiet start.

After 10 minutes of exploration Zonta set out on a flyer, with de la Rosa tagging along behind, and clocked a tentative 1:33.753. The McLaren shaved a couple of seconds off for 1:31.038 and Zonta closed the gap to seven tenths on his next effort. De la Rosa then stretched it to over two seconds again when he posted 1:29.440 next time around.

Predicted lap times were in the 1:25 area so there was still some improvement to be found. Kiesa took the third spot, 11 seconds astray, and de la Rosa bought his time down a little more to 1:29.070. Liuzzi demoted Kiesa, the Red Bull five seconds off the top, and Zonta once again closed the gap to de la Rosa to seven tenths.

It was short lived as de la Rosa clocked 1:28.585 to extend his lead to over a second. Kiesa lowered his time to within seven seconds of the McLaren, while Liuzzi was just over three seconds adrift. Minardi's Robert Doornbos made it five on the time sheet, initially over 10 seconds down on de la Rosa but he bought it down to eight seconds.

For the second time this season Minardi fielded a third car, with newly signed test driver Enrico Toccacelo behind the wheel. The Italian started out over 14 seconds off the pace then came down to 11 seconds astray. Teammate Christijan Albers arrived in sixth and the Jordan of Tiago Monteiro clocked eighth on his first effort.

Narain Karthikeyan put his Jordan seventh and de la Rosa improved his top time to 1:28.315. Monteiro moved up to take the seventh spot and Karthikeyan did likewise to post fifth. Raikkonen was the first of the front runners put in an appearance, the McLaren taking third fastest, while de la Rosa improved again to 1:27.882.

Sauber's Felipe Massa clocked fifth on his first flyer but immediately lost the place to the McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya. Raikkonen went up to second, 1.6 down on de la Rosa, and the second Sauber of Jacques Villeneuve posted 12th. Montoya improved to fourth and Kiesa to seventh, and Massa made his way back up to fifth.

Fernando Alonso was the first Renault to appear, which meant Massa lost the fifth spot again, while Kiesa and Monteiro improved in tandem to seventh and eighth respectively. Zonta took over the second spot, just over a second down on de la Rosa, and Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault took the popular fifth position on his first flyer.

Michael Schumacher's Ferrari followed into sixth, then Alonso returned to fifth, and Zonta closed the gap to the lead McLaren to nine tenths. Webber was the first Williams out and posted -- go on, guess -- fifth, while Jarno Trulli put in an appearance for Toyota in 10th. Jenson Button put his BAR sixth on his first effort.

Webber improved to fourth and the second BAR of Takuma Sato took eighth. David Coulthard was the first of the Red Bull race drivers on the time sheet, a lowly 17th to start with. Button moved up to fifth and Ralf Schumacher's Toyota crept onto the bottom of the times in 21st. Rubens Barrichello, whose Ferrari had been lurking at the back, improved to 12th.

Coulthard climbed to 12th and teammate Christian Klien started with 21st but the practice was briefly red-flagged when de la Rosa came to a halt on track in the first sector. The McLaren was apparently jammed in gear and had to be removed with a crane. There was a pause for five minutes then the session was restarted.

With the Williams of Nick Heidfeld in 19th, everybody had been out to set a time. Massa climbed to 12th after being shuffled down the order, and Montoya to fifth, while Sato also improved to seventh. Button went up to third, followed by Alonso to fourth, but de la Rosa remained undisturbed at the top. There were a few position changes in the last five minutes but nothing really surprising.

Webber made a last gasp improvement to second but was immediately demoted by Raikkonen, who was six tenths down on teammate de la Rosa. There were a few spins and off track excursions during this first outing on the Istanbul circuit but no major incidents. Final top eight classification: De la Rosa, Raikkonen, Webber, Zonta, Button, Montoya, Alonso, M. Schumacher.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=197814
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[worksux101]

Qualifying Report: Kimi triumphs while others falter
Saturday August 20 2005


After an error-strewn qualifying session, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen will start from pole position in the Turkish Grand Prix.
Renault duo Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso are next on the grid after Jenson Button, Ralf Schumacher and Michael Schumacher all ruined promising laps with off-track excursions.

Biggest winner was Juan Montoya, who despite qualifying early, claimed an impressive P4. The loser was Takuma Sato who ruined both his own lap and slowed Mark Webber's.

Qualifying report: Most of the runners had gone for harder, more durable tyre compounds to cope with the new track and the demands of the high speed and hugely challenging Turn 8, which would put a lot of pressure on the right front tyre in the race.

And so the challenge was to go fast on the outlap to get heat into the tyres. The ambient was 29C and the track was only 42C, much lower than expected by the teams and the tyre companies.

David Coulthard in the Red Bull was cautious through Turn 8 and ended up posting a slow 1:29.764 � his car hampered by the very dusty track conditions.
�It wasn�t wonderful,� said DC afterwards. �I got wide in 8 and 9 and I lost a lot of time there. The really tricky thing is the amount of bumps, when it unloads over those it can get interesting.�

Red Bull team-mate Christian Klien was out next and managed a much better 1:28.963, a massive eight tenths quicker than Coulthard. When qualifying finished, though, there was only one car in the gap between himself and DC.

Robert Dornbos had got the better of Minardi team-mate Cristijan Albers so far but had a couple of lock-ups on his hot lap. There was clearly something off with the braking of the Minardi as he was over six seconds down on Klien�s time before the end of the lap. He dived down the pitlane and his rear brakes promptly caught on fire.

Next up McLaren�s Juan-Pablo Montoya put in a 1:27.352 � (1.6 quicker than Klien) Though he�s been quicker than Raikkonen during the weekend, there have been small errors creeping in.
�The early slot will probably cost me 5 or 6 places on the grid,� said Juan halfway through the session. �It�s tough, but I�m happy I�ve got a good race car.�
As it turned out, it was a lot better than he thought it was going to be.

Jacques Villeneuve lost control of his Sauber on the way through the tricky Turn 8. The car twitched wide onto the bright green run-off, and rather than run all the way along the run-off JV decided to try and get it back on the track straight away. He looked to have successfully regained the track, but then the car twitched again and slewed sideways across the track to a halt. The steering wheel was levered off and Jacques was out of the car � the anti-stall seemingly not working. Ironically earlier in the weekend Jacques had said, �I believe Turn 8 is the best corner in F1�

After Villeneuve�s car was recovered Minardi�s Cristijan Albers was allowed out again and there was no brake problem to be seen. 1:32.186 for the Dutchman.

Felipe Massa in the second Sauber had no problem in Turn 8, but finished a whole second down on Montoya�s time � 1:28.419 for the Brazilian, which would end up as a highly promising P8.

Tiago Monteiro (P15) showed that Jordan have got a distinct edge on Minardi in the back-of-the-grid battle, a 1:30.710 for the Portuguse. Team-mate Narain Karthikeyan had received a new engine and so toured round on a parade lap without setting a time and promptly stopped in the middle of the pitlane.

Renault�s Fernando Alonso was starting qualifying much earlier than he would have liked but despite running slightly wide in Turn 12 got ahead of Montoya�s time to give him provisional pole of 1:27.050. But there were still a lot of drivers to come.

Rubens Barrichello (P11), watched by Jean Todt in his Ferrari jumper (for those taking an interest) was not quick. Bridgestone weren�t able to bring the softer tyres that they used in Hockenheim and Budapest and so Ferrari times have suffered as a result. Rubens� 1:29.369 was back between the two Red Bulls.

Giancarlo Fisichella was behind Renault team-mate Alonso�s time coming into the final sector, but managed the final segment of the race track two-tenths quicker. His 1:27.039 took provisional pole.

Under-pressure Takuma Sato needed a good lap in Turkey, but he didn�t manage to keep his car on the island through Turn 8 and swept onto the run-off. Unlike Villeneuve he went further out wide and regained the track without problem, but his lap was done for. He crossed the line with a 1:30.175. To make matters worse he didn�t get back to the pits quick enough.

BMW-Williams� Mark Webber (P7) looked like he was having a good lap until he came across Takuma Sato in the place on the circuit he wanted to be. It looked like it made Mark take a tighter than he would have wanted and lost him a couple of tenths.
�What was Sato doing, for xxxx�s sake? Mark asked on the radio.

�I didn�t have update on the radio; (of Webber�s position) by the time I realised it was too late,� explained Taku afterwards. Though blaming the team for not telling him is probably not the best tactic for him right now.

Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW-Williams was only a fraction ahead of Webber by the end of his lap 1:27.929 for the German and P6.

Jenson Button (P13) was ahead of everyone in Sector 1 but like his team-mate couldn�t get Turn 8 right. He got through the first part of the corner with a flicked correction, but clipped the inside kerb in the second part, unsettled the car which then ran wide and got his tyres dirty on the verge. He also made a mess of Turn 9. A dreadful 1:30.063 for the Brit.

Jarno Trulli was only fractions behind Fisichella�s fastest time until the last two corners, which he didn�t hook up particularly well. It dropped him to P4 as he crossed the line with a 1:27.501 and P5 when the session finished.

Ralf Schumacher (P9) in the second Toyota made it through the perilous Turn 8 but he missed the apex and ran wide in Turn 9 and onto the run-off. The small detour cost him and he finished with a 1:28.594 - a whole second behind Trulli.

Brother Michael had a task on his hands to qualify well with his underperforming Bridgestone tyres. He�d gone off in Turn 8 in the morning and managed it this time with no problems. However, like his brother he got caught out in Turn 9 when the car suddenly swapped ends much to the amusement of the Turkish crowd. Michael came back into the pits without setting a lap time.

Finally it was time for Kimi Raikkonen to put his McLaren on pole. It seemed to be his for the taking with the fastest car of the weekend and the circuit at its most rubbered-in. The Finn took his car very near to the edges of Turn 8 but held it all together, and took a wary line through Turn 9.

He crossed the line with a 1:26.797, not a country mile ahead of Fisichella in P2, but importantly on the clean line at the start.

It had been a dramatic first qualifying session for the first Turkish Grand Prix. Hermann Tilke had set out to challenge F1 drivers with his new track and he had certainly achieved his aims, with Villeneuve, Sato, Button and both Schumachers all falling victim.

There will surely be more upsets to come in the race on Sunday.

Times
1 K. R�ikk�nen McLaren 1:26.797
2 G. Fisichella Renault 1:27.039
3 F. Alonso Renault 1:27.050
4 JP. Montoya McLaren 1:27.352
5 J. Trulli Toyota 1:27.501
6 N. Heidfeld Williams 1:27.929
7 M. Webber Williams 1:27.944
8 F. Massa Sauber 1:28.419
9 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:28.594
10 C. Klien Red Bull 1:28.963
11 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:29.369
12 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:29.764
13 J. Button BAR 1:30.063
14 T. Sato BAR 1:30.175
15 T. Monteiro Jordan 1:30.710
16 C. Albers Minardi 1:32.186
17 R. Doornbos Minardi no time
18 J. Villeneuve Sauber no time
19 N. Karthikeyan Jordan no time
20 M. Schumacher Ferrari no tim

Taken from planet-f1.com
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Eating meh Zauce doubles...

[worksux101]

Looks like the McLarens are still on form - reliability should be a key issue IMHO as well as JPM's ability to pass the Renaults.
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Eating meh Zauce doubles...

[NarendZORCE]

The track will be a rollercoaster ride for the drivers with several elevations, long straights and six right-hand and eight left-hand corners, all driven in an anti-clockwise direction. At its widest, the circuit measures over 20 metres in diameter while, at its narrowest, the track slims down to just 14 metres. The start / finish straight stretches over 655.5 metres. The Istanbul Otodrom has a crowd capacity of 130,000.

http://h71032.www7.hp.com/gp/us/en/season-2005/turkey/index.aspx
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