2007 Turkish Grand Prix

The 2007 Turkish Grand Prix (officially the 2007 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix)[1] was the twelfth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Won by Felipe Massa, it was held on 26 August 2007 at the Istanbul Park in Tuzla. It was the third time a Formula One race had been held here. The two previous winners of the race were Kimi Räikkönen in 2005 and Massa in 2006, both of whom race for Ferrari in 2007.

2007 Turkish Grand Prix
Race 12 of 17 in the 2007 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 26 August 2007
Official name 2007 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix
Location Istanbul Racing Circuit, Tuzla, Turkey
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.338 km (3.317 miles)
Distance 58 laps, 309.396 km (192.250 miles)
Weather Sunny
Attendance 65,000
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:27.329
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
Time 1:27.295 on lap 57
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

It came following considerable controversy after the 2006 event, where the organisers were fined $5,000,000 for political bias, due to their choice of Mehmet Ali Talat to present the winner's trophy. Talat is President of the Turkish Cypriot state, which is not an internationally recognised government. This was seen by the governing body of Formula One as having compromised their neutrality.

Lewis Hamilton came into the race with a 7-point lead over McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso after Hamilton's controversial victory in the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren led Ferrari in the constructors' championship by 19 points despite not being allowed to score points in Hungary. However, the Ferrari had looked strong in recent weeks, and their two cars ultimately dominated the race from start to finish, Massa and Räikkönen taking first and second places respectively. A late puncture dropped Hamilton to fifth place and cut his championship lead over Alonso to five points.

During the press conference following the race, Massa commented that "the Istanbul Park was the track where he made his career turn-around, and finally began winning races." He also praised the track as well as the city.[2]

Report

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Race

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Felipe Massa's Ferrari led from pole from teammate Kimi Räikkönen who had jumped McLaren's Lewis Hamilton off the grid to take second place. Reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso's start from fourth was even worse than teammate Hamilton's as he fell behind both BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld into sixth. However, BMW's early stopping strategy led to Alonso taking both places back after the first round of pit-stops. At the first round of stops it seemed that Räikkönen could pass Massa if he stopped later, as he did at the French Grand Prix. However, Massa stopped after Räikkönen to retain the lead. Hamilton stopped later than both Ferraris and caught several seconds up to them, but could not pass Räikkönen for second, as he gradually fell away. Meanwhile, Kubica's strategy had not only dropped him behind Heidfeld and Alonso, but Renault's Heikki Kovalainen too. Massa stopped later than Räikkönen again at the second pit stop, and therefore retained the lead as Ferrari called the race between teammates off at this point. Hamilton may have emerged ahead of Räikkönen, but a puncture in his front tyre dropped him to fifth behind Heidfeld and Alonso. Damage to his front wing led to Kovalainen catching him, but the Finn was unable to pass Hamilton. Kubica lost a place to Nico Rosberg through strategy finishing eighth. Massa eventually won his second consecutive Turkish Grand Prix, and his fifth Grand Prix win overall, all of which came from pole position. He had secured his eighth pole in qualifying. Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing was the only non-classified car, with a hydraulic failure. All the rest were classified including Adrian Sutil who retired with a fuel pressure problem. Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi ended a run of 9 consecutive retirements stretching back to the Bahrain Grand Prix in April.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 5   Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:27.488 1:27.039 1:27.329 1
2 2   Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.513 1:26.936 1:27.373 2
3 6   Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:27.294 1:26.902 1:27.546 3
4 1   Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.328 1:26.841 1:27.574 4
5 10   Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:27.997 1:27.253 1:27.722 5
6 9   Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:28.099 1:27.253 1:28.037 6
7 4   Heikki Kovalainen Renault 1:28.127 1:27.039 1:28.491 7
8 16   Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:28.275 1:27.750 1:28.501 8
9 12   Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:28.318 1:27.801 1:28.740 9
10 3   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:28.313 1:27.880 1:29.322 10
11 23   Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:28.304 1:28.002 11
12 15   Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:28.500 1:28.013 12
13 14   David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:28.395 1:28.100 13
14 8   Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:28.792 1:28.188 221
15 7   Jenson Button Honda 1:28.373 1:28.220 212
16 17   Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 1:28.360 1:28.390 14
17 18   Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.798 15
18 11   Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:28.809 16
19 22   Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:28.953 17
20 19   Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:29.408 18
21 20   Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:29.861 19
22 21   Sakon Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari 1:31.479 20
Source:[3]
Notes
  • ^1Rubens Barrichello was given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change before the race.[4]
  • ^2Jenson Button was given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change after qualifying.[5]

Race

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Felipe Massa Ferrari 58 1:26:42.161 1 10
2 6   Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 58 2.275 3 8
3 1   Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 58 26.181 4 6
4 9   Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 58 39.674 6 5
5 2   Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 45.085 2 4
6 4   Heikki Kovalainen Renault 58 46.169 7 3
7 16   Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 58 55.778 8 2
8 10   Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 58 56.707 5 1
9 3   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 58 59.491 10
10 14   David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 58 1:11.009 13
11 17   Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 58 1:19.628 14
12 11   Ralf Schumacher Toyota 57 1 Lap 16
13 7   Jenson Button Honda 57 1 Lap 21
14 23   Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 57 1 Lap 11
15 18   Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 57 1 Lap 15
16 12   Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 1 Lap 9
17 8   Rubens Barrichello Honda 57 1 Lap 22
18 22   Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 57 1 Lap 17
19 19   Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 57 1 Lap 18
20 21   Sakon Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari 56 2 Laps 20
21 20   Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 53 Fuel pressure 19
Ret 15   Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 9 Hydraulics 12
Source:[6]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Turkish". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2007-11-04. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Turkish Grand Prix - selected driver quotes". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  3. ^ "2007 FORMULA 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix - Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Barrichello also changes engine". autosport.com. 2007-08-26. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  5. ^ "Button to start last after engine change". ITV F1. 2007-08-25. Archived from the original on 2007-08-27. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
  6. ^ "2007 FORMULA 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix - Race". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Turkey 2007 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
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Previous race:
2007 Hungarian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2007 season
Next race:
2007 Italian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2006 Turkish Grand Prix
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2008 Turkish Grand Prix

40°57′20.5″N 29°24′29.7″E / 40.955694°N 29.408250°E / 40.955694; 29.408250