A lap of Istanbul park with Kimi

After the three week long summer break, next weekend the F1 engines will roar again and this time at Istanbul Speed Park for the Turkish Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen, the McLaren Mercedes star takes us for a ride along Istanbul Park in his MP4-21.

"A lap of the Istanbul Speed Park begins on the long start-finish straight, before braking hard for Turn 1 which is a 90º sharp left hander. The track then drops steeply downhill on a short run before flicking you right through turn two, which sees you reaching speeds of 310km/h before reaching a slow left-right-left. Through turns 3 to 5 the speed goes down to 100km/h and second gear as the middle right hander is very tight, slow and it drops very steeply on its apex.

Accelerating out, there is a short straight where we reach speeds of 250km/h in fifth gear and this leads to a wide right hand hairpin, Turn 7. After this corner there is another short straight before entering, the most difficult corner of this track, already popular with most of the drivers, which is the triple apex left hander of Turn 8. This is extremely fast with speeds reaching over 300km/h by the exit and will see us under load for a long time.

This swings you round onto another straight and sees you accelerate up to 320km/h in sixth gear before coming up to a slow left right chicane at turns nine and ten where you drop down to 95km/h and second gear, which takes you onto the back section of the circuit. This comprises of two long straights punctuated in the middle by a sweeping right bend which will easily be taken flat at speeds of 314km/h.

We reach the highest speeds on the circuit along here and it is the best overtaking area of the whole circuit. You will need to brake very hard at the end of this long straight cutting your speed to 93km/h in second gear for the tight left-right-left complex at the end of the track that will bring you back onto the start-finish straight."