JENSON DOES IN AGAIN
The Turkish Grand Prix is another of the more recent additions to the F1 calender, and yet one of the corners on the Istanbul Park circuit has already picked up a reputation. Other than that, well I don't think there's been a classic race there yet. This time around, it's been shifted to midseason, with the conflict between the teams still not quite resolved. Also not resolved was whether McLaren would ever be able to provide Lewis with a winning car, though practice results again looked promising. Also, could the Brawn, and particularly Jenson, be beaten anywhere? The theory was that the competition may have gotten it's act together at last, though Jenson could certainly afford an off day.
Lewis couldn't afford an off day though, particularly not in qualifying, but his car looked messy as hell and he was forced to start P16. Jenson survived to Q2 though and from there made it to Q3. Kovalainen dropped out in Q2 though. Raikoen was first to set a time but he then found himself outgunned by Trulli. That looked good enough for a while untill Vettel grabbed provisional pole for himself. Webber then outgunned his teammate only to get beaten by Jenson...only this time it was Jenson's turn to get outgunned at the last second by Vettel! It was the Red Bull driver's second pole of the season. Jenson had to settle for P2.
In the race itself, well Lewis was heavy with fuel and originally slipped back to 17th. Using his one stop strategy, he eventually made his way up to 10th before finally having to pit and change to the dodgier softer tyres in the process. Coming out 16th, he was quickly overtaken by Piquet and was unable to make as much progress after that. He did make some progress though but was ultimately only able to finish 13th, the joint-worst finish of his career! The reigning world champion's response? "when the team gives me a car that can win, I will win". Bottom line, he's written off 2009 already and is focussing on developing next year's car.
As for Jenson, well he couldn't do anything from the start so winning this race looked harder than usual. Luck certainly helps though and Vettel went wide before the end of the first lap, allowing Jenson to take the lead. For a while it looked as though Jenson was going to cruise home but Red Bull had other ideas. Their problem though was that Vettel's car couldn't hack the dirty air coming out of the Brawn and the threat proved relatively short lived. There was no further challenge to the championship leader's position in the latter stages of the race though. Jenson went on to win his fourth race in a row, becoming the first Brit to achieve that feat since Nigel Mansell in the early stages of 1992!
So Jenson, now with 61 points, continues to lead the world championship, and has in fact increased his lead to twenty six points! Further down, Lewis has dropped down to 11th with 9 points(and technically no podiums).
Comments go here
Click here to return to sports homepage
Click here to return to Matt G's homepage