The Tops and Flops of Istanbul

Tops

McLaren
The Woking team is to be congratulated for several reasons. First, McLaren demonstrated its clear improvement during the Turkish Grand Prix. In terms of pure performance, the MP4-25 is catching up with the RB6 of Red Bull Racing. In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton even managed to worry Mark Webber for a few seconds. In the race, this same Hamilton kept the pace set by Webber, before taking advantage of the Webber accident.Hag to impose itself. As the finish approached, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were able to challenge each other without making a mistake, unlike their rivals. A double and an excellent weekend for McLaren, which has won as many races (3) as Red Bull this season, and which moves to the top of the Manufacturers' standings.

Michael Schumacher
After a difficult start to the season, Michael Schumacher sees the end of the tunnel. The seven-time World Champion managed to regularly beat Nico Rosberg and, for the second time this season, he finished fourth. Although, in Istanbul, he quickly lost ground on the four leading cars (Webber, Hamilton, Vettel, Button), Schumi still got ahead of the rest of the field, putting in a solid race. Her car will perhaps not allow him to win in the next races but he is now able to stand up to his competitors, having assimilated the standards of a F1 which he rediscovered four months ago.

Vitaly Petrov
The Russian finished fifteenth but had a very good race. For the first time in his career, on Saturday, he managed to advance to Q3, the third phase of the qualifying session. He allowed Renault to count his two cars in the Top 10 in qualifying for the first time in a long time (Silverstone 2008, 32 consecutive Grands Prix). In racing, he stood up to Fernando Alonso, before being caught by the Spaniard a few laps from the finish. Switched to soft tires after the pit stop following the collision, he set the best lap in the race. A consolation.

Clean
The Swiss team sees the light. After a very complicated start to the season, the teamHinwil brought his two cars back to Turkey. Better still, Peter Sauber's team scored its first point of the season thanks to tenth place in Kamui Kobayashi, who managed to climb into the Top 10 in qualifying for the third time this season. Pedro de la Rosa finished eleventh in the wake of his teammate. Encouraging.

The Flops

Red Bull Racing
The Milton Keynes team leaves Istanbul keeping a low profile. This season, Red Bull Racing has already missed such opportunities but more due to reliability problems (Bahrain, Australia, Spain). This time, the vice-World Champion team let slip a double which held out its arms, by failing to “control” its drivers. Following poor management of instructions, Mark Webber slowed down to save fuel, Sebastian Vettel joined him, wanted to overtake him and hooked him. If the two men are a little at fault, it is especially Red Bull who can blame themselves for not having “held” their drivers. One thing is certain, Christian Horner will not want this to happen again and, next time, will have to make himself heard more by two drivers who must ride for the good of their team.

Ferrari
At the start of the season, many observers saw Ferrari at the top. From favorite team, the Scuderia became challenger to Red Bull, then today third or even fourth team in the field. Race after race, Ferrari seems to be sliding down the hierarchy. On Saturday, in qualifying, Fernando Alonso did not even manage to reach Q3. In the race, the F10s were content to follow the pace set by Mercedes and Renault. Stefano Domenicali is really not happy, knowing that the F10 has shortcomings in the aero sector.

Lotus Racing
After a promising start to the season, Lotus Racing experienced a more frustrating Turkish Grand Prix. Tony Fernandes? team did not bring any of its cars to the finish, the two T127s having suffered from hydraulic problems.