2008 Turkish GP preview: predictions

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Are we set for another red-wash in Turkey? It’s a brave man that bets against the might of Ferrari with the streak of success they’re riding at the moment.

Who do you think will win in Turkey? Can I predict the podium correctly for the second race in a row? How did you get on last time? Read on to find out.

An important change this year sees the Turkish Grand Prix in May rather than September, meaning track temperatures should be lower. However, Bridgestone are bringing the same tyre compounds as they did last year.

Getting the most performance out of the tyres is fundamentally important and Ferrari have been the best team at doing that so far this year, partly thanks to their history with tyre supplier Bridgestone which runs longer than any of their immediate rivals.

So who will do the best here? With lower temperatures and hard tyres it might just play into McLaren’s hands, as they have been working their tyres much harder than their rivals. That worked to their detriment in the heat of Bahrain and Sepang but at Istanbul it might just work the other way.

Add to that the fact that Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen both have new engines for this race and Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are both on their second race with theirs.

BMW have not brought any significant updates to Istanbul so I don’t expect them to move ahead of McLaren – although they do reckon they have gotten to the bottom of their start line problems.

I think we’ll see a McLaren split the Ferraris at this race and I also think we’ll see more of Raikkonen exerting his leadership over Massa. Here’s my podium prediction:

1. Kimi Raikkonen
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Felipe Massa

Congratulations to Journeyer, Schumacherthegreatestever (no way am I typing all those capitals) and Trish who join me in the smug corner having predicted the podium correctly last time out. But can we do it again?

It’s over to you…

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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31 comments on “2008 Turkish GP preview: predictions”

  1. My bets :)
    1. Massa
    2. Kimi
    3. Heikki

  2. sajonaraman
    9th May 2008, 10:50

    Kimi
    Kubica
    Hamilton

  3. 1.Massa
    2.Hamilton
    3.Kovalainen

  4. I reckon that BMW will sneak onto the podium and McLaren will continue the slide for this race.

    1.Massa
    2.Kimi
    3.Kubica

    On another note when does this one tyre supplier deal run out? It seems that Ferrari have an incredibly unfair advantage with everyone having to run on Bridgestone.

  5. I’ll reserve my comments till Saturday practice

  6. 1. Massa
    2. Hamiton
    3. Kubica.

    Button to come 5th

  7. my original bet was Sato to win, but as he is not racing now, have to go with Ferrari:

    Massa
    Kimi
    Kovalainen

  8. LOL @ Milos

    1 Kimi
    2 Massa
    3 Heidfield

    anyone watch practise this morning?. Heikki’s on the warpath and Hamilton suffered a right rear puncture. While fast the MClaren’s look “wobbly*” which is probably suspension issues, might hinder them in the long stints.

    *sorry for the technical jargon

  9. Whewbacca the Cookie
    9th May 2008, 11:34

    Cooler temps and lack of TC will make it a little different (and more interesting) than before. Less heat is certainly good news for the drivers but might be tougher on the soft compounds. Nevertheless I think the Ferrari team knows Bridgestone tyres just too well…

    Hence my prediction:

    1. Raikkonen
    2. Massa
    3. Kubica

    (Massa will have the pole but lose the lead to Kimi during his pitstops)

  10. 1. Raikkonen
    2. Hamilton
    3. Button

  11. Schumacherthegreatestever
    9th May 2008, 13:22

    i thinki exactly the same as spain cant see hamilton splitting the feraris because he can get past them in qualifying and if alonso goes light again he could hold him up for the 1st stint.

    kimi
    massa
    hamilton

  12. Hmmm… I’ll disagree with Keith on this one – ever so slightly.

    Raikkonen
    Massa
    Kubica

  13. Massa
    Hamilton
    Kubica

  14. 1. Massa
    2. Raikkonen
    3. Kovalainen

    And just for the sake for it: Heidfeld will come 5th, Webber 7th, Button 8th :)

  15. QUALIFYING:
    1º)Lewis
    2º)Massa
    3º)Kimi

    RACE:
    1º)Lewis
    2º)Kimi
    3º)Massa

  16. Slightly off-topic question: why do some people refer to some drivers by their first names, and others by their last names?

  17. In my case, it depends on how I’m feeling, whether I’ve mentioned that particular driver in the last few minutes (or earlier in the comment) and on the particular driver. For instance, I always refer to the Sebs in Toro Rosso by their last names because otherwise I’m liable to confuse myself, but Heikki and Kimi, for instance generally get referred to by their first name. A few of them (notably Coulthard and Fisichella) get referred to by nicknames – I can’t explain why I end up nicknaming specific ones, but once it starts happening, I have considerable trouble not using the nicknames.

    Just to complicate matters, I also try to make my comments internally consistent, which means that (at least on the first mention) I generally refer to every driver in a long comment the same way round (most often the surname).

  18. Depends how difficult it is to spell their respective name’s.

    Kimi and Heikki are much easier on our fingers than Raikkenoun and Kovilinen.

  19. I’ll try to pin it this time:

    1. Raikkonen
    2. Hamilton
    3. Massa

  20. does anyone know why Kimi didn’t do a practise run this morning?. apparently it was to save his tyres, but why? its practise, I thought you were allowed unlimited tyres in practise.

  21. No he had gearbox trouble in the first session.

  22. Kimi was very very disapoinnted to his car in friday practice, but said it should be good in qualifying. Never know…Kimi takes pole if he can make his car good for him, otherwise Massa takes pole before Kimi and Alonso.

    So…

    Qualifying: 1. Massa
    2. Kimi
    3. Alonso

    GP: 1. Kimi
    2. Massa
    3. hmmmmmmm……Kubica

  23. 1. Kimi
    2. Kovy
    3. Kuby

  24. 1-Massa
    2-Kimi
    3-Ham

  25. Same as Toncho…

    1. Massa
    2. Kimi
    3. Hamilton

  26. 1. Massa
    2. Kubica
    3. Hamilton

    DNF – Raikkonen (breakdown)

  27. 1. Hamilton
    2. Kubica
    3. Massa

  28. 1. Kimi
    2. Heiki
    3. Heidfeld

    pole. kimi
    fastest lap. kimi

    DNF. massa

    Alonso, ends out of points

  29. 1. Sebastian
    2. Sebastien
    3. Timo

    Call it a hunch…

  30. Whewbacca the Cookie
    10th May 2008, 15:50

    Such a hunch would put Quasimodo to shame :)

  31. So no-one got it right?
    Strange, considering it was the usual suspects….

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