May 11th, 2008. Formula 1 comes to Istanbul Park in Turkey for the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix. A race that has only been won by two men who both now drive for Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen having won the inaugural grand prix in 2005 while driving for McLaren-Mercedes and Massa having dominated in both 2006 and 2007 while wearing Maranello Red. Going off the previous race results of the 2008 season it's hard to imagine a different winner other than Raikkonen or Massa. Chances are one of those men will qualify on pole and dominate from the start... with most bets being on Raikkonen who has had the upper hand on Massa so far this year.

However, Massa has always been able to pull a startling/Champion's performance at this particular venue... he's already done it once as Kimi's team mate and even when he was racing along side Michael Schumacher. So, it's still too early to rule him out for victory. But, maybe it won't play out so predictably this year. Renault F1 was pretty much cast aside this season, but with the jaw dropping performance in Barcelona after a major aerodynamic and mechanical upgrade to the car, we might be in for a Renault resurgence. Most definitely not with the top 3 (Ferrari, McLaren, BMW) but quite interestingly at the front of the midfielder teams (Red Bull Racing, WilliamsF1, Toyota, Honda, Scuderia Toro Rosso) which can hopefully mean some sort of consistent performance from the former two-time champions.

Finally, this grand prix and the following grands prix will be even fielded by less cars as Super Aguri was forced to pull out due to financial difficulties. This leaves Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson out cold with no future drives in the future... assuming two new teams don't pop up for 2009 requiring four new drivers.

Ah cha cha!

Is all the passing at turns 7, 9, and 12?

I think 1 is a pretty good spot too.

I think Massa will be the one to beat. Raikkonen has had the upper hand, but like in Bahrain where Massa dominated, as in previous years, I think he could do it again here.

9 is not a good spot to overtake because 8 is a high speed corner which means your aerodynamic balance will be upset if you follow another car too closely.

So is turn 11, what's the difference?

If I had to guess I would say that turn 11 gives you a passing opportunity if the guy in front of you doesn't handle the corner as well as you. It makes the straight more technical...

Turn 11 is merely a fast bend where you don't need full downforce. From what I've seen during the past GP's there you can easily follow another car without getting into trouble while in turn 8 you are at the limit of adhesion for quite a long time.

It's so fun to watch onboard videos of drivers taking Turn 8.

Yeah, just when think its about over you see more red and white curbing coming around the bend, sheesh.