Whitmarsh and Haug expect challenging Turkish race for McLaren

The Turkish Grand Prix at the Istanbul Speed Park marks the next stop on the 2008 Formula 1 calendar. The race was introduced to the sport in 2005, with the inaugural race won by the team. The event takes place at the Istanbul Speed Park in the Tepeören - Tuzla area near Istanbul, on the Asian side of the Bosporus river.

"Heikki is fighting fit. Our team doctor has kept an eye on him during the week both in Spain and then at the Kuortane Sports Institute in Finland and there has been no development of any secondary symptoms so everything is positive on that front. Before traveling to Istanbul, we will organise a full neurological examination for Heikki with our specialists in Finland as a matter of course. He will then have the mandatory FIA evaluation on Thursday at the circuit, which is a routine neuro and physiological test completed after any concussion. Of course we have a plan in place should the FIA request Heikki sits this race out, as at all Grands Prix, but we have a race driver who is naturally impatient to get back out there and this is the aim of the team. That said, we will fully respect the decision of the medical professionals, they are the specialists. On the car front, Heikki’s car from Spain was transferred back to the McLaren Technology Centre arriving lunchtime on the Monday following the race. Every part was immediately quarantined whilst the forensic analysis into the cause of the incident is completed. This is usual practice and some components may be salvaged in due course. In the meantime, the spare chassis that was in Spain is in the process of being built into a complete MP4-23, which Heikki will race, all being well, in Turkey. Some of this work took place in Spain, some back at base and some more in Turkey. Istanbul is a very challenging location for the team, as it is not a traditional European race or a flyaway. The majority of the equipment travels to the event by ship, taking much longer to get there and, naturally, to come back. The race team equipment, including the cars departed for Turkey directly from Spain, this includes the spare chassis just mentioned. A new spare chassis will be sent to Turkey directly from the McLaren Technology Centre."

"The circuit has actually some terrifically demanding corners, and it is therefore positive that we are coming away from Barcelona where the MP4-23 was very strong in high speed corners. If you can have a well balanced car through high speed corners then you can be kinder to the tyres. So we have every reason to be optimistic that we will be able to preserve our Bridgestone Potenzas at this track. A key part of the practice sessions is understanding the conditions we find when we get to the track, we will be very careful in these sessions to analyse, working together with Bridgestone, tyre wear and degradation with representative race fuel loads".

"Given the challenging nature of the circuit, we have come away from Barcelona with some confidence for the high speed corners, but we also come away knowing that we have areas where we need to strengthen the car. The tighter, more twisty parts of the Circuit de Catalunya were certainly our Achilles heel during the race weekend, and there has been a lot of analysis and study of that as we endeavour to strengthen our car in that area."

“Heikki was really lucky, and we were too of course. The MP4-23’s safety cell prevented the outcome from being worse, as did the safety barriers at the race track. This accident might have had more serious consequences, had it not been for the FIA and the teams working intensively and continuously on improved safety standards over the past 14 years. The medical teams at the racetrack and in the hospital did exemplary jobs as well as the marshals. Heikki and the team want to thank all of them. Heikki didn’t have any injuries; however, he did have a headache. One day after the accident, he was released from the hospital in Barcelona. First he took time to recover, and now he is preparing for the next Grand Prix in Istanbul. Before that he of course has to undergo the medical check by the FIA. It is not so important that Heikki will take part in the next race; it is important that he will be racing again when he will have fully recovered.”

“Barcelona as the first Grand Prix of the European season and, with its challenging track layout, is definitely a yardstick for the following races. In qualifying, we missed pole position by less than three tenths of a second; however, we carried a little more fuel and therefore more weight. Anyway, even with the same fuel load we wouldn’t have been fast enough to beat Ferrari. Since winning the season opener in Melbourne, our car has improved gradually and has become significantly faster. Unfortunately, we didn’t score all possible points, neither in Melbourne, Malaysia, Bahrain or Barcelona, mostly due to self-induced mistakes and this is the reason for the gap to the top of the rankings, after Ferrari had scored only one point in Melbourne. Our aim is to improve further over the next few races, however it is possible the Turkish Grand Prix might be a challenging race for the team.”

“We didn’t really shine here in the past, and also this time we are not the current benchmark. The team wants to score as many points as possible, but after three consecutive wins Ferrari obviously arrive here as the favourites.”