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The results are up for round 7 of the f1buzz prediction game and they show once again that practice times are not necessarily a good indicator of race performance.

Everyone except Sergio wanted to see Felipe Massa, if not winning his fourth Turkish GP in a row, then at least on the podium.  In the end it seems Ferrari just have a lot more work to do before they can win races again.

Andrew scored the most points, correctly picking Button and Vettel for a podium.  He maintains his lead with a 10 point gap over Sergio while Mark had another good week picking up 5 points for Button’s fastest lap.

The next race is the British Grand Prix in two weeks time and there are plenty of points left so anyone still can win!

Image: Getty / Red Bull

After the glamour of Monaco, Formula One heads east to Istanbul Park for the Turkish Grand Prix.

Despite not having a great motor sport tradition, the Hermann Tilke designed circuit became an instant favourite with drivers when the first race was run there in 2005.  Bernie Ecclestone called it “the best race track in the world.”

One of the few races to be run in an anti-clockwise direction (the others being Brazil and Singapore) the circuit has a varied mix of low and high-speed sections but the corner everyone talks about is the un-named turn 8, a high-speed, four-apex left-hander.  It generates the most friction of any corner on the calendar and exerts up to 5Gs on the driver’s neck.

Fernando Alonso:

Turn Eight is one of the quickest and longest left hand corners of the year. It’s really a series of corners with four apexes, although we treat it as one apex and try to be as smooth as possible with the steering inputs. We don’t touch the brake at any stage through the corner, and simply lift the throttle slightly to keep the car online. In the middle of the corner we’re doing about 260km/h and you can really feel the g-forces on your body.

Renault will be bringing small updates to the front wing and Director of Engineering, Pat Symonds, thinks that the R29’s performance in medium to fast high-speed corners means Turkey could be a chance for a podium finish.

The Istanbul circuit is unlikely to favour McLaren, though.  Lewis Hamilton finished second last year but, as in Spain, Turkey is likely to expose the downforce problems of the MP4-24 and although the McLaren’s KERS should help, the team is expecting a tough race.

Ferrari on the other hand can look forward to Turkey with some confidence.  Felipe Massa has won the last three Turkish Grands Prix and after setting the fastest lap around Monaco he is hoping to continue the Scuderia’s good progress and fight for a podium finish:

I can’t wait for Friday to see if the progress seen in Spain and Monaco will continue in Turkey.

Although Toro Rosso have never done well in Turkey Sebastien Buemi finished on the podium in GP2 last year and likes the circuit:

I think that with what we learned about the car in Monaco, we should be able to use all its potential now and Istanbul should provide a clearer picture of where we really are in the order. We definitely need to do better than at the last three races!

Another team that needs a good result is Toro Rosso’s sister team Red Bull.  They are 43.5 points behind Brawn GP and if they are to stand any chance of narrowing that gap and fending off Ferrari’s rise they need a strong race from both drivers.  Sebastian Vettel is 28 points behind Button and the next couple of races will be critical for his Championship hopes.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal:

This is an important race in the Championship and our target is to challenge the Brawns who have had a remarkable run so far. It was also clear at the last two races that Ferrari have made a significant step forward and I think we can expect them to play a key role this weekend, especially as it’s a race they’ve won for the past three years.

To make your predictions in round 7 of the f1buzz prediction game (and be in with a chance to win some nice prizes), just leave a comment on this post with your driver predictions for the race in the following format:

Pole:
First:
Second:
Third:
Fastest lap:

Remember, the deadline for entries is start of qualifying on Saturday, that’s 13:00 GMT.

Good luck!

Image: Ferrari

It seems like you can’t go wrong with backing Brawn GP this year.  Everybody in the f1buzz prediction game expected either Jenson Button or Rubens Barrichello to be on the podium in Monaco and that’s exactly what happened.

The biggest winner was Mark who correctly predicted a Button-Barrichello 1-2 and moves up to third place, but in the one race where Ferrari looked reasonable, nobody picked the Red Cars for anything.  Andrew maintains his 7 point lead in the standings.

It was a fairly unusual Monaco Grand Prix in that there were no safety car periods so the race was over quite quickly.  The sunny conditions and lack of any big accidents also had the effect of spreading the field out.  But there is still no other race like Monaco and I was lucky enough to be there this year.

If you are thinking of going, I can definitely recommend it.  No other track gets you so close to the cars and the atmosphere in Monte Carlo is fantastic.  I had tickets in grandstand K at Tabac and could see all the way from the tunnel to the swimming pool.  These tickets also gave access to the pit lane on Friday.

There are a few of my pictures in the Facebook group already and I’ll be adding more soon.

The next race is Turkey in 10 days time at the fatastic Istanbul Park.

Image: Brawn GP

80 years ago, H.S.H. Prince Pierre of Monaco, grandfather of H.S.H. Prince Rainier III, formally opened the circuit of the 1st Grand Prix de Monaco.  That race was won by Englishman (and special agent) William Grover-Williams, driving a 2.3 litre supercharged Bugatti 35.

This Sunday, two more Englishmen will be fancying their chances at winning the world’s most glamourous motor race on a track that has remained largely unchanged since 1929.

Jenson Button has won four of the first five races this year so he remains a favourite but Lewis Hamilton has a much better chance of finishing on the podium in Monte Carlo than he did in Barcelona.  McLaren have won at Monaco 15 times – more than any other team and it is Hamilton’s favourite circuit:

The sensation you get from racing up the hill at 175mph, trying to make as straight a line as possible between the barriers while just shaving them with the walls of the tyres is unbelievable – the best sensation you could ever have in a Formula 1 car.  There’s an expectation that Monaco will be another good circuit for our car package because the combination of low-speed corners and absence of any really fast stuff should suit MP4-24.

But the uniqueness of Monaco means that any of a number of drivers could score a the podium.

Adrian Sutil managed to drive his Force India up to fourth last year before an out of control Kimi Raikkonen ploughed into him.  A podium is unlikely but could Force India score their first points on Sunday?

Ferrari, like McLaren, are keeping the KERS on their car, although its effectiveness on the tight circuit remains to be seen.  Their pace looked good in Spain so if there are no more tactical screwups in qualifying the Red Cars might do well.

Red Bull is also a threat.  Sebastian Vettel is the only driver apart from Button to have stood on the top step this year and Mark Webber has done well on the streets of Monte Carlo in the past, finishing third for Williams in 2005.  If they can get the new double diffuser fitted to the RB5 in time it will only increase their chances of a good result this weekend.

Who do you think will win?

To make your predictions in round 6 of the f1buzz prediction game (and be in with a chance to win some nice prizes), just leave a comment on this post with your driver predictions for the race in the following format:

Pole:
First:
Second:
Third:
Fastest lap:

Remember, practice is on Thursday in Monaco and the deadline for entries is start of qualifying on Saturday.  Good luck!

Image: BMW AG

The Spanish Grand Prix has a reputation for being a bit processional.  Although the Circuit de Catalunya is one of the most technical circuits on the calendar, all the teams test there so the drivers know it inside out and the race engineers know just how to set their car up.

This year, however, was anything but processional.  Thanks to a big incident on the first lap, the safety-car was deployed for only the fifth time in the race’s eighteen year history and the combination of KERS and new aerodynamics allowed for a bit more overtaking.

In the f1buzz prediction game, most people correctly picked Button to win or at least a Brawn GP podium but Correa’s last-minute change of heart netted him a huge 23 points to jump up to third place in the standings.

To make things a bit more interesting, I’ve decided to award prizes to the first three places in the prediction game (my scores won’t be included.)  First prize is a 1:43 scale Minichamps replica of the winning car/driver.  Second and third will each receive a copy of the 2009 Formula One Season Review DVD.

The next Grand Prix is Monaco in two weeks time, and I’ll be there!

Image: Brawn GP