It has been some time since we last watched such an exciting Formula 1 race as the one held on Sunday at the Istanbul Park circuit. Even though the weather did not play any role and the winner's position was not threatened at any time, it was an eventful race. Behind Sebastian Vettel, who has won three out of four GP’s this year, anything was possible.
Mark Webber crossed the finish line in second place, with the Australian managing to overtake Ferrari's Alonso with seven laps to go, after the Spaniard held the second position for a large part of the race. Still, for Alonso and Ferrari, this is the best result so far this season.
The spectacular track, combined with the fact that drivers took full advantage of their KERS and DRS systems, made overtaking very common, right from the beginning of the race. Rosberg took a great start from third, managing to pass Webber before the first corner, but the German couldn't keep the Australian behind him for long, with the Red Bull driver regaining second place after five laps. He kept the position until the middle of the race, when Alonso overtook him as well.
The most exciting racing moments involved the race between the two McLarens, Rosberg and Massa, with continuous changes in the hierarchy. Hamilton managed to finish fourth, ahead of Rosberg and Button, with Lotus Renault's Heidfeld and Petrov taking seventh and eighth place respectively. The last drivers to score points were Toro Rosso's Buemi and Sauber's Kobayashi, with the Japanese benefitting from his three-stop strategy to climb from 23rd to 10th place.
Felipe Massa finished eleventh after losing valuable time at his fourth pitstop because of a problem with one of his rear wheels. Michael Schumacher had a poor race as well, finishing only 12th after breaking his front wing at the beginning of the race following a contact with Petrov. After the Turkish GP win, Vettel consolidates his advance in the overall standings, with a total of 93 points, followed by Hamilton (59 p) and Webber (55 p). Team standings are dominated by Red Bull, with 148 points, followed by McLaren (105 p) and Ferrari (65 p).
By Dan Mihalascu
Photos: Red Bull
