[SPOILER ALERT] Turkish Grand Prix was dog gone good
Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix
The real story coming out of this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix should be the fact that Ferrari won again and Lewis Hamilton is driving better than any other driver in F1, but a stray dog that was struck and killed on track during a GP2 Series by Bruno Senna - nephew of Ayrton, yes that Ayrton - has dominated much of the F1 headlines. There's video of it after the jump for those with hardy stomachs.
But back to the racing. After having dominated the prior week's Spanish Grand Prix by finishing one-two, Ferrari once again crowded the podium stand with two top-three finishers, though not in order this time. Felipe Massa, whose performance the last three races has marked an impressive turnaround, captured the checkered flag - his second of the season and third in a row in Turkey - by driving a very clean race. He was, however, passed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton mid-race, who had an impressive race all around. Some say Hamilton drove the race of his career at this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix, but his team's strategy of a three-pit race ultimately did him in, as Massa's two-pit strategy gave him enough lead time to hold off Hamilton. Third place was earned by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who will take the points to pad his slim points lead over teammate Massa and Hamilton.
Gallery: 2008 Turkish Grand Prix
[Source: F1-Live]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Colin Smith 11:44AM (5/12/2008)
Packs of stray dogs are everywhere in Turkey and their constant barking is hardly noticed by the locals.
They cause any number of road accidents, but people seem oddly unwilling to kill them.
At the end of the nineteenth century they rounded up all the strays in Constantinople (as it then was) and put them on one of the islands. The city was quiet for a time, save for the howling from across the water as the dogs tore each other apart and then finally starved.
Sadly, they missed a few and Istanbul seems to have as many dogs as ever.
Shooting would be kinder.
Reply
LoneWolf 11:56AM (5/12/2008)
Wikipedia says something different, but I don't know who's right:
In 1911 the governor of Istanbul ordered the stray dogs in the streets to be gathered and deposited to Sivriada, but a severe earthquake which immediately followed the event was perceived as "a punishment by God for abandoning the dogs" and they were transported back to the city.
Reply
Colin Smith 12:46PM (5/12/2008)
There are differing accounts: one says the government of the young turks had them removed from the city in 1910, and they then starved to death, another that the Sultan Abdulmecid (1839-1861) had them removed but public outcry was such that they had to be returned.
Either way, the Turks, and Muslims in general, are ill disposed towards killing dogs, even though they are considered unclean.
Apparently there is an Arab proverb that considers a city without the barking of dogs to be a dead city.
I can tell you that no Turkish city is a dead city!
Vetmstr 11:59AM (5/12/2008)
This was an incredible race especially for Lewis H. and McLaren. The two clearly demonstrated that they are equal to Ferrari
Reply
Franz 12:18PM (5/12/2008)
+1. Brilliant drive considering their pit strategy was forced due to tire concerns.
tankd0g 12:02PM (5/12/2008)
Unless Charlie wants to provide dog catching equipment to the marshalls he can STFU. It's an OUTDOOR event, wildlife is going to make it's way in from time to time as we've seen in the past.
Reply
Noidor 12:33PM (5/12/2008)
Yeah but in an open-wheel car if driver's head hits something at 200mph then it's certain death for the animal and the driver. So GPDA has every right to be concerned. They must put up fences all over the track to make sure that no stray animals get on the track.
Reply
George 12:34PM (5/12/2008)
I felt bad about the dog thing til I found out what a huge problem strays are in Turkey. Now it just makes the media that was covering the event look sensationalist by focusing on it. Typical, though, for the circus that is F1.
Reply
Karan Shah 1:04PM (5/12/2008)
Bruno killed the dog during a GP2 race, not an F1 race.
Reply
Richard 1:14PM (5/12/2008)
I don't see that Hamilton's drive was that great. He carried far less weight than either Ferrari. If he had done those laps - and pulled that pass - on a similar amount of fuel it would have been a fantastic drive.
As such, it was a low-fuel blitz car necessitated by tyre delamination concerns in what is currently the second fastest F1 car.
Reply
Franz 1:54PM (5/12/2008)
True, but it was an impressive drive nonetheless IMO. Yes he was running light, but he was also on the harder compound tire until he switched to the softs in his last stint. The Ferraris ran on the grippier soft compound tires for the bulk of the race and seemed to be in perfect harmony with the track. The McLarens were also consistently losing ground to the Ferraris in both the second and third sector: I always watch F1 with the live timing up, and it paints a more complete picture on just how well the cars handle the different parts of the circuit. I dunno why McLaren has so much trouble getting the car to work on the softer tire, while Ferrari makes it look so easy. They'll have to figure it out if they want to be serious contenders for the championship.
Also, Kovalainen would've had a much better result if he and Kimi never had that little incident in turn 1. To me, he put in a better drive than Lewis, but was just unfortunate. But you know what they say: that's racing.
Ian 1:42PM (5/12/2008)
Massa was the best driver on track (IMHO) ALL weekend. He qualified upfront and lead the race easily and likely had a lot in hand which he didn't bother to show.
HK also qualified faster than LH, but hisrace was ruined by LH clipping his rear wheel,causing s slow puncture, necessitating an early stop under green.
LH's race was very very professional and he managed to see off KR impressively. BUT the reason why he was put on a 3 pit stop sequence b4 the race (and he carried less fuel than his faster team mate in qualifying) was that his particular driving style caused sidewall tire delamination issues. Thus he had the choice of changing his style into the mid/slow paced corners, or McLaren mandating the shorter stints to replace his quickly worn tires. This indicates that while LH is a superb FAST driver he cannot yet change style, as and when a particular course mandates it.
Meantime I am wondering why KR was so far off the pace of his team mate in this race.
Reply
Brett 2:10PM (5/12/2008)
How was Kimi off the pace? He recorded fastest lap.
Ian 5:10PM (5/12/2008)
Brett,
Kimi was off the race leaders pace as he finished third. Massa looked to have lots in reserve, so why bother to put down a one off fast lap? Massa anyway beat KR in qualifying. Hamilton on a 3 stopper convincingly drove aropund Kimi and the latter could not respond.
In summary it's about race pace that KR seems to lack versus the top 2 finishers and most specifically his team mate. I am searching for the reason for this.
Shawn 1:49PM (5/12/2008)
Third didn't pad Raikonnen's points lead, he lost two points to Hamilton and 4 to Massa.
Reply
Kyle 2:23PM (5/12/2008)
Massa is a beast right now but I still think Hamilton has the means to compete for top spot.
And I recorded the Istanbul GP2 on speed. It came on right before the GP. Why did I not see this happen on lap 11? Did this happen during the sprint or qualifying?
halogenrepublic 2:38PM (5/12/2008)
Why do country like Turkey get world-class F1 racing and we, the US, don't? At least one of the many metropolitan cities in the US should step up and woe for a US F1 race. Instead of trying to taylor itself to the middle America that already has the NASCAR racing, F1 would be appealing to big city like San Francisco or New York.
Reply
Richard 6:14PM (5/12/2008)
Because Turkey will pay Bernie and Tony George won't. It is very straight forward.
I went to all of the USGP's in Indy. It was great to meet some folks in the profession, get to mix with fans over from across the pond and to get within arms length of the only man on the planet commanding more $ than the Pope (Ecclestone). OK! He's not THAT rich.
But - truth be told - I see more and get a better feel for the proceedings watching Varsha on the telly and live timing on the laptop.
Noidor 4:53PM (5/12/2008)
Because every F1 USGP race was done half-assed. Whether it was the Phoenix fiasco, Vegas, Detroit, and yes mickey mouse at Indy. What a horrid race track that is.
I don't think that US culture is against F1, quite the opposite; there is a huge number of open-wheel fans who would love to see a proper F1 race held at a proper race track. I think California would be the place to do it, but in my mind it would require a new race track. It absolutely cannot be a street course because they allow no passing whatsoever.
Unfortunately, costs of building a new race track, organizing, promoting, and hosting an F1 race are sky high. Most US entities don't have the cash (or more likely credit line) to make (finance) event happen. And bang for buck - US just isn't all that important to F1.
Look at all the other countries, the all have built world-class facilities, and did all they could to make FIA happy.
Surely there are lame ducks and those are: Silverstone, Indy, and Sydney. From tough, but fair perspective, those three are not worthy of an F1 event. Definitely not Sydney and its pathetic attitude to a night race (or anything else F1 related for that matter), Indy management is worthless, only Silverstone is perhaps upping its game. Then again UK is an exception because majority of successful F1 teams are from there. For that UK deserves tons of respect.
Reply
Billy 6:29PM (5/12/2008)
Third-world countries are getting all the races because their governments are accustomed to doing business Bernie's way - put tens of millions of dollars into Bernie's pocket and you get a F1 race that year.
Countries in which motorsport developped, including GB, USA, and France, are either being axed, will be axed, or are threatened with it because those countries don't have that kind of tradition, and the race circuits themselves don't have that kind of dough.