The Red Bull – Renault cars of Sebastian Vettel & Mark Webber were once again too strong for the rest of the field.  There was never any doubt that Vettel & ebber were going to win the race.  Vettel said after the race that he was confident they were always in control.

“Throughout this race we had this cushion and were able to act, rather than react,” Vettel said in the post-match press conference “We never really had anybody close behind, which would have been a different situation.”

Turkish Grand Prix Results:

1.    Sebastian Vettel        1:30:17.558
2.    Mark Webber        +8.8 sec
3.    Fernando Alonso        +10 sec
4.    Lewis Hamilton        +40.2 sec
5.    Nico Rosberg        +47.5 sec
6.    Jenson Button        +59.4 sec
7.    Nick Heidfeld        +60.8 sec
8.    Vitaly Petrov        +68.1 sec

Sebastian Vettel has now won three races this season and leads McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by 34 points.

2011 F1 Drivers World Championship:

1 S Vettel         93 points
2 L Hamilton     59
3 M Webber     55
4 J Button     46
5 F Alonso     41
6 F Massa     24
7 N Heidfeld     21
8 V Petrov     21
9 N Rosberg     20
10 K Kobayashi     8

The next Formula One race is the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday 22 May.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton won his first Grand Prix of the season this weekend as he crossed the line ahead of his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.

The Red Bull driver Mark Webber had dominated the race until lap 41 when his team-mate Sebastian Vettel turned his car into the side of Webber causing both drivers to run off track.

Vettel began chasing Webber down on lap 38 while under threat from the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.  Webber had turned his engine down in a bid to reserve fuel but Vettel saw the chance to pass his team-mate through turn 9 and moved to the left to go around the outside of Webber.  Webber was holding his position while Vettel moved to the right resulting in contact between the two and ended the chance of a win for Webber and the end of the race for Vettel.

It appeared that the McLaren duo had been handed the race on a plate despite both drivers being told to reserve fuel as the rain began to fall onto the circuit.  On lap 48, Button was challenging Hamilton for the lead but the front man was holding his position as Button attempted a move on the outside and the two touched wheels.

Hamilton crossed the line to take his first win of the season with his team-mate close behind while Webber had enough time to return to the pits for a new front wing and nose cone and still get out in front of Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes for the third step of the podium.

Nico Rosberg followed in fifth position close behind his team-mate with the Renault driver Robert Kubica finishing in sixth place ahead of Felipe Massa in the Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso finished in eighth place after touching wheels with the Renault of Vitaly Petrov on lap 54 resulted in a puncture for the Russian and moved him back to fifteenth place.  In ninth place was the Force India of Adrian Sutil ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in the BMW Sauber for tenth.

Here are the results;

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	ENTRANT	LAPS	TIME/RETIRE
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	58	1h28m47.620
2.	Jenson Button	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	58	2.645
3.	Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull-Renault	58	24.285
4.	Michael Schumacher	Germany	Mercedes GP	58	31.110
5.	Nico Rosberg	Germany	Mercedes GP	58	32.266
6.	Robert Kubica	Poland	Renault	58	32.824
7.	Felipe Massa	Brazil	Ferrari	58	36.635
8.	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Ferrari	58	46.544
9.	Adrian Sutil	Germany	Force India-Mercedes	58	49.029
10.	Kamui Kobayashi	Japan	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	58	1m05.650
11.	Pedro de la Rosa	Spain	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	58	1m05.944
12.	Jaime Alguersuari	Spain	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	58	1m07.800
13.	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italy	Force India-Mercedes	57	1 Lap
14.	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	Williams-Cosworth	57	1 Lap
15.	Vitaly Petrov	Russia	Renault	57	1 Lap
16.	Sebastien Buemi	Switzerland	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	57	1 Lap
17.	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany	Williams-Cosworth	57	1 Lap
18.	Timo Glock	Germany	Virgin-Cosworth	55	3 Laps
19.	Lucas di Grassi	Brazil	Virgin-Cosworth	55	3 Laps
20.	Karun Chandhok	India	HRT-Cosworth	52	6 Laps, Fuel Pump
R	Bruno Senna	Brazil	HRT-Cosworth	46	Fuel Pressure
R	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Red Bull-Renault	39	Accident
R	Heikki Kovalainen	Finland	Lotus-Cosworth	33	Hydraulics
R	Jarno Trulli	Italy	Lotus-Cosworth	32	Hydraulics
FASTEST LAP:
	Vitaly Petrov	Russia	Renault	57	1:29.165

Button reveals that he has stepped up his training schedule to increase his fitness, but knows that it is the effort on the track that makes the difference and having slipped down the leader board he will be keener than ever to put some points on the board at Istanbul, a track where he won last year.

Australia has now been chosen as the second round, allowing the race to begin at 5pm to fit in with the television broadcasters who favour racing in ‘twilight’ rather than the dark.  However, the Singapore round will still be under full floodlights when it takes place in late September.

Although as yet no contract has been signed, the Canadian Grand Prix has been pencilled in for the 13 June, if the contract fails again this year the Turkey Grand Prix will be held later to compensate.

South Korea is a new circuit on the calendar, set to take place in mid-October with the final round being held in Brazil as usual but it will be held in November.

Here is the calendar;

Australia          March 28
Malaysia           April 4
China              April 18
Spain              May 9
Monaco             May 23
Turkey             May 30
Canada*            June 13
Europe (Valencia)  June 27
Great Britain      July 11
Germany            July 25
Hungary            August 1
Belgium            August 29
Italy              September 12
Singapore          September 26
Japan              October 3
Korea              October 17
Abu Dhabi          October 31
Brazil             November 14

*Subject to the completion of contract negotiations with Formula One Management. If these are not completed then the Turkish Grand Prix will be moved to 6 June.

Note: The race in Australia will start at 1700 local time, in Malaysia at 1600 local time, in Singapore at 2000 local time, and in Abu Dhabi at 1700 local time.

Brawn GP 2009

Last weekend the Grand Prix of Turkey took place with Jenson Button in the Brawn GP car taking his sixth win of the season followed by the two Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel had claimed pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session as the chequered flag was raised at the end of the session ahead of Button.

Barrichello qualified in third followed by Webber in fourth and Toyota driver Jarno Trulli in fifth.  The two Ferrari drivers of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were in sixth and seventh place ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Renault in eighth.  Nico Rosberg in the Williams started from ninth followed by Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber completing the top ten.

As the lights went out Vettel took the lead as Trulli moved into third place while Barrichello suffered some sort of problem and almost stalled on the grid, dropping him back several places.

Button passed Vettel exiting turn 10 of the first lap after the German hit the kerb and ran wide at turn 9, meanwhile Webber passed Trulli to take the third place.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India was one of the first drivers to pit on lap 5 while in eighteenth place.  He had been suffering from some sort of brake problem during qualifying and seems it had not been rectified as he retired from the race.

On lap 7, Barrichello made a pass on Heikki Kovalainen but couldn’t make it stick as Kovalainen re-passed the Brawn GP driver using his KERS system.  On lap 9, Barrichello tried again but this time there was contact between the two drivers and Barrichello’s car span on the track, dropping him back to seventeenth and behind the second McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.

Barrichello passed Hamilton on lap 9 and then went onto pass the Renault of Nelson Piquet easily on lap 11 before hunting down the Force India of Adrian Sutil.  On lap13, however, the Brazilian once again made contact, this time with Sutil, losing part of his front wing and seeing him pit on the following lap, moving him back to fifteenth position.

By lap 15, Button had created a gap of six seconds from Vettel, as Alonso entered the pits for his first stop from seventh place and Vettel pitted from second.

Vettel rejoined in sixth place as Trulli pitted from third.  Button then entered the pits for his first stop on lap 17, along with Massa, Webber, and Rosberg, leaving Button to return to the track in first place.

Button led the race followed by Vettel, Kubica and Webber, until Kubica pitted on lap 21 and Vettel began closing in on the Brawn GP driver.  The gap became less and less between the front two cars until Vettel once again pitted confirming he was on a three-stop strategy.

Vettel rejoined in third place behind Button and Webber.  Rosberg was now in fourth ahead of Trulli, Massa and team-mate Kazuki Nakajima.

Lewis Hamilton, who had qualified the McLaren in sixteenth place, was in tenth by lap 33 and all over the back of Alonso. He then pitted and rejoined ahead of Piquet until the Renault driver passed him going into turn 13 and 14.  On lap 28, Hamilton was also passed by Sebastian Buemi in the Toro Rosso.

Button made his final pit stop on lap 43, with Webber doing the same on the following lap from second.  Button once again rejoined to take the lead followed by Vettel, who had yet to stop for the third time which he finally did on lap 49.

Barrichello entered the pits for the third time of lap 49, but this time he retired the Brawn GP car after suffering clutch trouble at the start and then a problem with the gearbox.

It was another dismal weekend for the Ferrari team, although both drivers finished inside the top ten at the Istanbul circuit.  Raikkonen had a bad start, losing ground at the off and then tangled with Alonso, damaging his front wing.

The Williams driver Nico Rosberg, claimed his best result of the season so far with a fifth place, although he could have had a possible fourth had he not been held up by his team-mate.  Nakajima ran well until his mechanics suffered problems fitting his front-left wheel during his final pit stop, putting him out of the points.

Button now lead the championship by 26 points over his team-mate Barrichello, winning six out of the seven rounds so far this season.  Mark Webber finished in second place only 7 seconds behind Button ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel in third.

Jarno Trulli finished in fourth followed by Nico Rosberg in fifth, Felipe Massa in sixth, Robert Kubica in seventh, Timo Glock in eighth, Kimi Raikkonen in ninth and Fernando Alonso completing the top ten drivers of the day.

Here are the results;

1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 26m 24.848s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 06.7s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 07.4s
4. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +00m 27.8s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota +00m 31.5s
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 39.9s
7. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber +00m 46.2s
8. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota +00m 46.9s

9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 50.2s
10. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 62.4s
11. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber +00m 64.3s
12. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota +00m 66.3s
13. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 80.4s
14. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
15. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault +1 lap
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
18. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap

Rtd Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 47 laps completed mechanical
Rtd Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 4 laps completed mechanical

Fastest lap:

Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 27.579s lap 40

The race got underway on a dry track today, and after a delay with the lights, Massa held his pole position to take the lead with Lewis Hamilton moving into second place.

The safety car was on the track before the end of the first lap, after the back runners had a tangle and Giancarlo Fisichella’s car went over the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima, putting Fishichella out of the race and Nakajima into the pits for a new rear wing ,although he was out of the race by lap five.

After the first set of pit stops, Massa was still leading followed by Hamilton and Raikkonen with Kubica in fourth place.

Hamilton took the lead after out-braking Massa at the tight left-hander but had to pit on lap thirty-three. However, it was for such a short fuel load that it was obvious he was on a three-stop strategy.

Massa pitted on lap thirty-seven and rejoined in third place but Hamilton still had to come into the pits for his third and final stop.

Kimi Raikkonen pitted on lap forty-one and rejoined in third and on lap forty-five, Hamilton pitted and slotted back in to the Ferrari sandwich for second place.

Massa took the victory and is now in second place in the Formula One Championship, moving up from fourth place, and on equal points with Lewis Hamilton but, Raikkonen still leads.

Hamilton finished in second ahead of the Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikkonen with Robert Kubica, seventeen seconds behind him in fourth place.

Nick Heidfeld finished in a respectable fifth with Fernando Alonso in the Renault finishing in sixth place after an uneventful race for him.

Mark Webber took seventh place and earned more points for the Red Bull Renault team. The Williams driver, Nico Rosberg worked hard today to take the final points for his team after a disappointing qualifying session.

The BMW Sauber team continued to impress with Robert Kubica finishing in fourth and Nick Heidfeld in fifth and are running in second place in the Constructor’s Championship.

Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren Mercedes, started in second place on the grid but nothing went his way today and he finished the race in twelfth position.

Sebastien Bourdais in the second Toro Rosso was the only other driver not to complete the Grand Prix after developing a mechanical problem that saw him into the gravel trap and out of the race.

Here are the results for the Turkish Grand Prix;

1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1min 26:49.451sec

2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 3.779sec

3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 4.271

4. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 21.945

5. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 38.741

6. Fernando Alonso (Renault) 53.724

7. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:04.229

8. Nico Rosberg (Williams) 1:11.406

9. David Coulthard (Red Bull) 1:15.270

10. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:16.344

11. Jenson Button (Honda) 1 lap

12. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 1 lap

13. Timo Glock (Toyota) 1 lap

14. Rubens Barrichello (Honda) 1 lap

15. Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault) 1 lap

16. Adrian Sutil (Force India) 1 lap

17. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) 1 lap

In second place is Heikki Kovalainen for McLaren Mercedes but only just ahead of his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton.

The reigning World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen starts in fourth position followed by Robert Kubica in the outstanding BMW Sauber in fifth.

Mark Webber was impressive again, to qualify in sixth position for the Red Bull Renault team and ahead of  Fernando Alonso who will start in seventh.

In eighth position is Jarno Trulli for Toyota ahead of the second BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld in ninth and David Coulthard, at last, back in the top ten drivers.

The Williams driver, Nico Rosberg will start in eleventh place alongside Rubens Barrichello, who will be starting his 257th Grand Prix from twelfth on the grid.

Jenson Button in just behind his Honda team-mate in thirteenth with Sebastian Vettel in fourteenth in the Toro Rosso Ferrari.

Fifteenth place went to Timo Glock, well behind his team-mate,  but ahead of Kazuki Nakajima for Williams. Nakajima had a spin on his first run of the day and never really recovered.

Nelson Piquet was in seventeenth position followed by Sebastien Bourdais, who had earlier had to abandon his qualifying run.

The two Force India drivers line-up at the back of the grid with Adrian Sutil now in nineteenth and Giancarlo Fisichella moved back to twentieth. Fisichella was penalised after going through the pit light while it was showing red.

Here are the Qualifying Results;

Riakkonen had a disastrous first session due to a gear box problem leaving Massa to take the quickest time, but had no trouble in the second free practice and took the top time of 1:27.543.

The Turkish Grand Prix is normally held later in the year and so track temperatures were much cooler than they would be in August.

Lewis Hamilton had been struggling through the session for McLaren but made a late decision to change to softer tyres which worked and moved him from fifth position up into second, only 0.036 behind the leading man.

Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, finished in third place just 0.1 second behind his team-mate and will be aiming to decrease the eleven point difference between himself and Raikkonen.

David Coulthard in the Red Bull, went fourth fastest while his team-mate Mark Webber managed only four laps in the RB4 before crashing.  Webber, who was at the time in ninth place, ran wide exiting turn six when the car span and sent him across the circuit and into the retaining wall.  The front wheels were ripped off the car by the force of the impact but Webber was unhurt.

Heikki Kovalainen, who had been given the all clear to race this weekend after his horrendous crash in Spain when he was trapped in the tyre wall, was in fifth place.

Robert Kubica was in sixth place ahead of  Jarno Trulli in seventh after a late run.  The Williams Toyota driver, Kazuki Nakajima set the eighth fastest time while his team-mate Nico Rosberg was down in thirteenth place after having his fastest time withdrawn as he cut across the grass in the middle of his lap.

Fernando Alonso was in ninth place for Renault with team-mate Nelson Piquet way down the time sheet in sixteenth after a morning with more time off the track than on as he struggled to control the car on the slippery surface.

Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW Sauber finished the top ten fastest drivers of the session ahead of Jenson Button.  Timo Glock followed but was another driver that seemed to struggle on the track and went onto the run off area several times.  Later in the session he ran wide through understeer and while rejoining the circuit caught the kerb with the front wing and had to enter the pits for repairs.

Luck was not with Giancarlo Fisichella today after getting a three position penalty.  The veteran driver exited the pits without noticing that the session hadn’t started and drove through the red light and onto the track.  His team-mate, Adrian Sutil suffered with mechanical problems and only completed nine laps of the session and was also the slowest driver of the day.

Rubens Barrichello was down in fifteenth place ahead of Piquet and the two Toro Rosso drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais.

Bernie Ecclestone, one of the most popular figures in F1! 

It was confirmed by an official Super Aguri source, that the team, their equipment and motor homes have been locked out of the Istanbul circuit and are parked-up outside of the track.

With only a week to go before the Turkish Grand Prix, it was revealed that officials from the circuit owned by Bernie Ecclestone, have denied the Super Aguri team access on their arrival to prepare for Sundays race.

The source claimed that officials had been instructed by Formula One Management (FOM)- Ecclestone’s company – to restrict the teams access to the paddock.  Apparently, after contacting FOM, the Super Aguri management were told that Nick Fry, the Honda CEO, had instructed Ecclestone that the team would not get the agreement they are waiting for.  The lock out is supposedly to prevent embarrassment if the proposed buyout is rejected.

Takumo Sato was said to be “very surprised” that the team had been locked out and is unsure if he will be driving in the Turkish Grand Prix and said “I understood that no decision has been made by Honda yet and another decision will be made in the next few days about whether we will be able to race or not.”