Once again the F1 outing at Istanbul was fairly sanguine… With Scuderia Ferrari putting on another clinique, as Felipe Massa scored his third Pole and Victory in a row in Turkey, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Michael Schumacher did so at, aghast, the USGP. (2003-04-05*-06) Well, actually Herr Schumacher WON the USGP four straight years in a row, including the infamous 2005 Michelin tyre DEBACLE… While also becoming the very first driver to ever WIN FIVE times at the Speedway, (2000, 2003-06) but I digress…
Perhaps I’m just trying to watch too bleepin’ muchoe race coverage, since with the euphoria of Indy Pole Day along with the Turkish GP, I seem to be having trouble remembering exactly what grabbed my fancy from Istanbul…
Although I found it ironic to hear Bob Varsha describing Massa’s domination as an Istanbul Massacre, or was that deliberate by Mr. Varsha?
As I’ve previously mentioned, the Turk’s have been busy bombing the buh-jesus outta the Kurd’s (Can you say higher crude oil prices?) and to date REFUSE to recognize the word Genocide in regards to the savage butchery or acknowledge the Armenian Massacre (Holocaust) of 1.0-1.5 million Armenian’s (Approx.) between 1915-17, with the anniversary being considered April 4, 1915.
But once again I digress, so back to the racing action, as impressively Heikki Kovalainen secured his very first front row starting position after his massive shunt two weeks ago at Barcelona, while row two saw the potential 2008 World Champion protagonists lining up, with Hamilton getting the nod over the Iceman. Even more impressive? Was the fact that both Red Bull runners made it into Q3, albeit by the time it came around, Coulthard had already used up his allotment of “soft” option tires and both drivers made only last minute runs with Webber grabbing 6th place behind the Heavy Hitters…
I did enjoy the comments between Professor Matchett and Peter Winsor over the slickness of their past race teams, when Matchett was discussing the mistakes of Toyota crew members using the radio to tell Jarno to pit at Barcelona when nothing was wrong with his car.
This led to Winsor telling a story about Patrick Head screaming into the radio for Nelson Piquet to PIT- PIT- PIT… F%%KING BLOODY PIT!!! As Peter noted that Messer Head got so enraged that he threw off his headset in disgust, before it was discovered he was NOT pushing the transmit button…
Which segways nicely with the best (Only?) Radio intercept of the race
Toyota Engineer to Jar no; “You’re 3 seconds behind DC and NICO’s a further +1 seconds, try to catch up to them…
Truly: “I’m pushing like HELL!” (YOU BLEEPIN’ IDIOT!)
Another excellent comment came from Messer Winsor in regards to the very KOOL thermal imaging camera that was used for the very first time during qualifying and then again during the race…
As the House of Winsor asked during qualifying; What colour is it showing for Nico Rosberg’s head? As there’s smoke pouring out of his helmet right now after not being able to make it into the Q3 final “Qualie” session…
And according to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa upon his Turkish hat trick, during the post race interview hosted by none other than SPEED’s Peter Winsor;
Q: Felipe, you like winning from pole. The Turkish Grand Prix always results in a winner from pole and everything delivered for you today.
Felipe Massa: It is just fantastic. Today was a very difficult race actually and Lewis was pushing me hard a lot for the whole race. Then when I did my pit-stop he was there straight away, so I thought maybe he had put less fuel in or something. I then realised and my team told me straight away he was on three stops. For sure, that was a little bit of help as he was very strong and I couldn't hold him on the track and he passed me. But then I knew I still had a good chance to win the race as three stops were a little bit optimistic. But anyway I created a reasonable gap to be at the front after the pit stops. It was difficult, but we made it three times in Turkey which is just fantastic…
“I think I can get a passport here already!”
Qualifying Results
Pole: F. Massa; 2. H. Kovalainen; 3. L. Hamilton; 4. K. Raikkonen;
5. R. Kubica; 6. M. Webber; 7. F. Alonso; 8. J. Trulli; 9. N. Heidfeld;
10. D. Coulthard
Race Results
Winner: F. Massa; 2. L. Hamilton; 3. K. Raikkonen; 4. R. Kubica;
5. N. Heidfeld; 6. F. Alonso; 7. M. Webber; 8. N. Rosberg
2008 F1 Point Standings
(Round 5 of 18)
Driver’s
K. Raikkonen 35
F. Massa 28
L. Hamilton 28
R. Kubica 24
N. Heidfeld 20
Constructors
Ferrari 63
BMW Sauber 44
McLaren 42
Williams 13
Red Bull 10
