Definitely A Bad Weekend in Istanbul Park!!

Just what I have been worried for before the race, last week in Istanbul Park wasn’t a good week at all for Kimi! Three bad days in a row, problem in practice session, bad qualifying laps, and bad start on the race! The only good thing from last week was 7 points that Kimi have now ahead of other competitors. Well…what can I say? I am really disappointed, but that’s racing! Sometimes you win and sometimes you lost.

But, anyway, what was really happening back there in Istanbul Park race ? As I watched from TV, I could see that Kimi didn’t have a good start, rather slow actually which allows Kubica to overtake him. Later on I learned that Kimi actually had an incident which involved Heikki Kovalainen on the start which caused Kimi to break the front wing of his F2008. For the detailed explanation, I have quoted Kimi’s version at the official Press Conference after the race :

“I didn’t have a very good start. I got to the side of him on the braking. Then I got a little bit squeezed on the inside and I tried to slow down and get behind him, but he just turned in a little bit. The unfortunate thing for both of us is that I broke the front wing and he had a puncture. It didn’t help for either of us. We chose to use the front wing for the whole race because it takes too long to change it and it wasn’t too bad. I knew pretty much what had happened. I hit the rear wheel of Heikki and the bottom of the end plate came off.”

Ferrari had also a bad choice of tyres. “Yeah, if I’d chosen now I would go onto the harder tyres at the first pit stop but it’s too late. I think the first set of soft worked pretty well for me, but the second set, when it was new, was quite difficult and it was at a point when we needed to be faster, so that’s one of the reasons that we lost second place”

Despite all the above problems, Kimi could actually score fastest lap in the last laps of the race. That means F2008 still have its strong speed Kimi needs to catch more win at the next races. I just can’t wait to see Kimi fight back at my favorite race : Monaco GP in 2 weeks…

Don't Make Mistake Again, Kimi!

On the contrary to Barcelona GP, this week seems to be a hard week for Kimi at the Istanbul Park GP. After gearbox problem during Friday practice season, Kimi made a mistake that forced him to start from front row in P4, behind his main contender Lewis Hamilton who will start from P3. Kimi was disappointed on this position, although he admitted it to be his mistake to make a poor lap on the final qualification session (Q3). "I am a bit disappointed but I made mistakes on my second lap in Q3 and I have to accept that," said the world champion. "I didn't go into the final corner before the pit straight quite right and lost a lot of speed."

But, apart from the bad start position (on the second row plus on the ‘dirty’ track at the anti-clockwise circuit of Istanbul Park), Kimi is still positive about getting as much point as he can to save his leading in the championship. It is not easy, but with a car as strong as F2008, I believe Kimi’s chance to win this race is still big. I put a big hope on McLaren’s fuel strategy, as Kimi said : “Of course, there's a question mark over fuel loads and we won't get an answer to that until the first pit stops tomorrow afternoon."

Well, 2 bad days are more than enough! Go get a victory Kimi, and close this weekend with a sweet win !

Gearbox Problem at Istanbul Practice

Another F1 GP week has started this Friday at Turkey, the Istanbul Park GP. Another chance of victory for our reigning world champion, Kimi Raikkonen! Starting the first practice session, Kimi has a grearbox problem in his F2008, forced him to do only one lap time. Massa reached the top speed in the other F2008 at the end of 1st practice session. At the 2nd session, Ferrari has to find the perfect setting between the car and the Bridgestone tyres. And finally, with the standard grooved slick tyres, Kimi could record a best time of 1:27.543s.

When we are looking at the competitors, McLaren seems not quit far from Ferrari (at the practice session). Lewis Hamilton record a time lap of just 0.036s behind Kimi. So, the main contender of this race would still be McLaren and BMW Sauber. Let’s see what Kimi can do at the qualifying session this afternoon, as like he said, starting position will much affect the race, just like what we have seen at Barcelona last week.

Keep the pace, Kimi !