2006 Turkish GP

[mazdamazda]

Massa takes his first ever pole position! Good driving!

It's a Ferrari 1-2... while the Renaults take 3-4.

[silhouette]

it's going to be an exciting race, again!

[niky]

What time (Philippine Local) does it start?

[diesoline]

8pm bro. http://formula1.com has a countdown timer for every race event.

[diesoline]

and live timing too.

[niky]

All right!

[konde]

18 laps. alonso now in 2nd place behind massa.

[niky]

Damnit, Schumi, leave Alonso alone!

Nice to see that Alonso is still competitive, but I don't think he can keep Michael at bay much longer... Massa still leading.

[niky]

Panalo si Massa. Alonso steals second from Schumacher, who was hounding him for a whole lot of laps. but if there's one thing Alonso knows how to do, it's block.

Great driving from Jenson Button... I actually thought he was going to catch Alonso and Schumi before the last lap!

[Gumusut_Amige]

Alonso hold his ground to keep the 2nd spot... indeed an interesting race. Ferrari's 2nd pitstop strategy for Schumi cost him the 1st place, granting that Massa will give way for him if he managed to passed Alonso.

[number001]

Wow, I couldnt imagine Massa winning so soon. It seems that Ferrari made a good choice in bringing him to Formula 1 despite being very rough on the edges at first. He'll definitely make a good teammate for Raikkonen (if he ever signs up for Ferrari). Both of them will push each other to the limit.

It is quite disappointing Schumi did not score more points than Alonso. Four more races to go and if only Schumi can score more wins and Alonso more DNFs, then all would be fine. :D

Kimi in the barricades again, with all the bad luck and unreliability, I dont expect him to be back in a Mclaren next year.

I dont know what happened to all the talent that Fisichella used to have? Even on a world champion car, he is out of pace and tripping all over the track (like in first corner of today's GP).

[bbt]

i was wondering though, why did ferrari decide to bing both cars into the pit simultaneously? naka lead tuloy si alonso... couldn't they have left one car out to gain track position while alonso was in the pit too? i dont think the cars suffered any damage and i'd think that the tires coud've taken another lap or so

[BoyFerrari]

Kimi in the barricades again, with all the bad luck and unreliability, I dont expect him to be back in a Mclaren next year.

Why does it have to be Kimi all the time? In this Turkish GP he may have had a good car, then somebody hits him from behind. Perfect!

[k2tingx]

alonso is now leading shumi by 12 pts...mathematically speaking, alonso is beatable..but with few race remaining..do you think it is still possible???

[CVT]

alonso is now leading shumi by 12 pts...mathematically speaking, alonso is beatable..but with few race remaining..do you think it is still possible???

This Turkish GP demonstrated that FA is indeed championship caliber, and that MS is still very very competitive. Also, it showed that the mass damper does not really matter (for Renault), if you're in front...

That spin of Luizzi proved to be the turning point in the race....

[Kanut]

man!!! i was waiting for schumi to make his move on the final 12 laps.even thought alonso had no chance of defending hi post.

looks like renault's straight line speed did the trick.

[empy]

go Alonso!! anybody but Michael!!

[Mguy]

You've notice the speed of the Renault through the long left hand turn that has the triple apex. Na-i-iwan talaga si MS doon, but he gets to catch up FA at the slow corners.

I've noticed at the start of the curve, MS lifts the throttle. Di kaya yun ang dahilan bakit ang bilis ng Renault doon sa long left hand turn?

[mazdamazda]

The SC deployment did hit Schumi the hardest. Ferrari could have pulled a 1-2 win if not for Luizzi's stranded car. Oh well... that's just racing.

The Ferraris are a solid package with Alonso unable to chip Massa's lead. Though it was strong enough for Alonso to block Schumi and for Fisi to climb from last spot to 6th. Schumi & Alonso were just a meter apart in the finish line!

Kubica had a strong 1st half but I think he was hounded by mechanical problems later on.

Lots of mini battles going on even in the middle of the pack.

[jeff1101]

i was wondering though, why did ferrari decide to bing both cars into the pit simultaneously? naka lead tuloy si alonso... couldn't they have left one car out to gain track position while alonso was in the pit too? i dont think the cars suffered any damage and i'd think that the tires coud've taken another lap or so

Good question. I dont think Ferrari would have gambled for a seperate pit stop for their 2 cars. The safety car period was the oppurtune time for them to have pitted both cars. I think they just didnt realized that FA's pits stop would have been faster or timed perfectly so that FA went ahead of Schumi leaving the pits. The thing with the safety car is, basically everybody is starting from their current positions all over again so the leads accumulated by each car at the start of the race is now gone. I think pitting Schumi after the safety car period would have ruined Schumachers race timing and pace.

Anyway this race conclusively demonstrated Ferrari has by now the quicker car compared to Renault, but not by much. Renault is winning from Schumacher purely on strategies alone and not sheer pace.

If this goes on and Fisichella is unable to deliver, Renault might win the driver's championship but lose the constructors. They must somehow make the car faster before Monza if they have a chance of equaling Ferrari's pace.

On a side note, after the race although Schumacher was very happy for his teammate Massa, you could plainly see the dissapointment in his eyes.