Brawn GP goes for another victory at Turkey

F1 Grand Prix, GP Turkey, Istanbul Park

Round seven of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship takes Brawn GP to Istanbul Park for the Turkish Grand Prix. Located 90kms from the Turkish capital and on the Asian side of the Bosphorus channel, the Istanbul Park circuit was designed by renowned Formula One architect Hermann Tilke and hosted its first Grand Prix in 2005. The 5.338km track, one of only two anti-clockwise laps on this year’s calendar, is technically challenging and physically demanding.

A well-balanced car is essential around the 14-turn circuit which is built on undulating ground and combines a variety of corner speeds and grip levels. The stand-out features of the lap are the fast changes of direction at the start, the long triple-apex turn eight and a slower section through the last three turns, all of which combine to make car set-up an intriguing challenge.

“After a week back at the factory in Brackley to reflect on our successes in Monaco, the team is now looking forward to our next challenge at the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul this weekend. The Monaco Grand Prix was a wonderful weekend with Jenson and Rubens, the team and our engine partner Mercedes-Benz, performing at the top of their game to bring home our third one-two finish of the season. However Monaco is a unique track and we know that our competitors will be very strong in Turkey this weekend. Development work on the BGP 001 car has continued apace at the factory and we will be bringing a new front wing to Turkey along with some aerodynamic updates and new rear suspension elements. Istanbul Park is a thoroughly modern race track which presents an interesting engineering challenge to get the best out of the car through the high-speed sections and the slower turns at the end of the lap. It’s hard to believe that we are already over a third of the way through this season and it’s been a very intense but immensely rewarding start for the Brawn GP team.”

“The Turkish Grand Prix is always a race that I look forward to as I really enjoy driving the Istanbul Park circuit and have been quite competitive there in the past. Hermann Tilke did a great job with the layout of the track here and the changes in gradient are great fun and quite challenging for the drivers. We’ve seen some excellent racing at Istanbul Park with good overtaking opportunities at turns one and three. You can also pass down the hill into turn nine and at turns twelve and thirteen if you brake late enough and get it just right. Turn eight is obviously the corner that everyone talks about and it’s probably the longest corner that I’ve ever driven. It’s quite high G-force, up to 5G for seven seconds, which puts a lot of stress on your neck. You have to be as smooth as possible through the triple apex and if you get it right and take it flat, then it is one of those corners where you exit with a huge smile having made up a lot of time.”

“Istanbul Park is quite a challenging circuit as it is one of very few tracks which runs anti-clockwise, just like my home circuit of Interlagos in Sao Paulo. It’s tough driving an anti-clockwise track as the muscles on that side of your neck aren’t used as much throughout the year so we do some extra training to prepare as some of the quickest corners at Istanbul Park are also left-handers. The lap itself has a nice flow allowing you to find a good rhythm and the highlight is the high-speed turn eight which is a quick and blind triple apex corner with the additional challenge of some very bumpy tarmac. The circuit is one of the best modern tracks on the calendar and I have been very impressed since we started racing here in 2005. The facilities are fantastic but most importantly from a drivers’ point of view the track has produced some really good races.”