Turkish Grand Prix 2008

[slimjim8201]

Martini.

[Miguel]

Is this another new Ferrari nose?

I'd say it's the original F2008 nose, without the upper bridge mounted. I recall that Domenicali said the hollow nose didn't really give benefits on mid-low downforce tracks, which, looking at sectors 2-3 of Istambul Park, seems fitting.

[mx_tifoso]

Thats a very large opening on the end of the F2008's nose cone! And I barely noticed that alcohol related branding is prohibited in Turkey, since Ferrari didn't use the 'Martini' logo last year in this very same GP, and this year it is a 'barcode' type.

Here is a front-view of the F2008 nosecone in Turkey.
http://motorsport.com/photos/f1/2008/tu ... p-0133.jpg

Edit:
Why is Fisichella walking the track all dressed up like this?!

[WhiteBlue]

he may have lost a bet or just came back from the club a bit late

[Tom H]

he may have lost a bet or just came back from the club a bit late

haha. I thought the same

[modbaraban]

Anyone else noticed Fisico's wings of fire revealed on that photo?

[WhiteBlue]

Webber spins out after hitting the curbs and does a 360 into the armco. game over for the 2nd frr practise. Webber is ok.
Fisi ran a red light and will loose 3 positions tomorrow.
some spectacular slides, Piquet seems to be in great trouble.
Heikki going fast after his shunt.

[roost89]

The grid looks interesting. It seems the Red Bull can finally run with the big-boys! Excellent stuff. Renault and RBR look closely matched for speed with Webber and Alonso on almost identical times (i believe 0.005s apart in Q3) I think similar race strategies from them.

(note for the aero folks, are there a new slits in the upper most wing (one that goes over the nose) of the Mclaren front wing?)

what did you make of Glock's 4th and Trulli's 5th in Q2?

[donskar]

Great to see Williams showing some competitiveness. I'm no special fan of Willimas, but F1 needs some successful "little guys."

Could we be seeing another Flying Finn or was Heiki running very light?

[Saribro]

I loved that thermal-cam shot of the FW30, really cool stuff.

[roost89]

I loved that thermal-cam shot of the FW30, really cool stuff.

What Thermal-cam shot?

[FLC]

This thermal image:

[WhiteBlue]

Glock for the first time had Trulli sorted out when his suspension broke in qualifying. a real shame. The Williams car is not going to satisfy Nico for long if we go by his comments. he soldiers on but he is aware that it is a lost cause he is fighting. expect to see him in another car next year. Temperatures played a curious role this time. All the evaluations were run very cold at ambient 15C. In qualifying it suddenly went high to 30 C. some got caught out by this. I recon Hamilton, Nick and both Williams drivers as well as Picquet. It looks like another Massa start finish tomorrow. Be prepared for very different fuel stops. The quick guys on soft tyres will all be relative light. I don't see much sense to take a lot of fuel if you have the soft tyres for starters. the harder tyres will be the quoice for the race so it would make sense to minimise the first stint. Hamilton on harder tyres should have more fuel than Heikki or this wouldn't make sense.

Red Bull have made a big leap in performance and that may be due to the J-dampers finally working correctly in their cars. scarb's write up at autosport suggests that they were behind with the introduction. I wonder what Alonso thinks of his decision not to race for them.

[axle]

I'm starting to think that Williams are going to fade into the background this year...pre-season promised much but in reality the midfield seem to have developed faster and passed them, well definately in quali trim.

They seem to suffer when it's anything but a hot track temp, and they can't deal with cross winds...

I note their new front wing doesn't feature the small curve up at the leading edge end which is to reduce sensitivity to pitch ala McLaren and others nor does the rear wing, infact both items appear fairly basic. Am I wrong or are they missing these tricks?

Do they have a CFD supercomp to run these simulations? After all Lenovo sponsor them and you'd expect them to have provided something...

I certainly don't want them to fade into the background again as I don't want them to lose Nico...but it seems that way

- Axle (Williams Fan)

[roost89]

that is a nice shot! I saw the thermo-cam in the race aswell. Quite interesting!

I'm with you Axle, I also think Willims is fading, slowly. Nico does seem to be able to race well though. Unlucky on Nakajimas part today Fisico flying into the back of him..then saying it wasn't his fault.
Williams need to up the R&D to catch up to RBR, Renault and Toyota seem to be on the move aswell.

It was good to see that Webber was nearly on the pace of Alonso for most of the race. It was better to see some actual passing! But it does show the difference between the teams with Heikki was getting back up the grid. Toyota and Renault engines nowhere near as powerful as the Mercedes.