The 2007 Turkish Grand Prix (officially the 2007 Formula 1 Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix) 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.

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.

Report

Race 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

Qualifying Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 15 Felipe MassaFerrari1:27.4881:27.0391:27.329122 Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1:27.5131:26.9361:27.373236 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:27.2941:26.9021:27.546341 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Mercedes1:27.3281:26.8411:27.5744510 Robert KubicaBMW Sauber1:27.9971:27.2531:27.722569 Nick HeidfeldBMW Sauber1:28.0991:27.2531:28.037674 Heikki KovalainenRenault1:28.1271:27.0391:28.4917816 Nico RosbergWilliams-Toyota1:28.2751:27.7501:28.5018912 Jarno TrulliToyota1:28.3181:27.8011:28.7409103 Giancarlo FisichellaRenault1:28.3131:27.8801:29.322101123 Anthony DavidsonSuper Aguri-Honda1:28.3041:28.002111215 Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1:28.5001:28.013121314 David CoulthardRed Bull-Renault1:28.3951:28.10013148 Rubens BarrichelloHonda1:28.7921:28.18822157 Jenson ButtonHonda1:28.3731:28.220211617 Alexander WurzWilliams-Toyota1:28.3601:28.390141718 Vitantonio LiuzziToro Rosso-Ferrari1:28.798151811 Ralf SchumacherToyota1:28.809161922 Takuma SatoSuper Aguri-Honda1:28.953172019 Sebastian VettelToro Rosso-Ferrari1:29.408182120 Adrian SutilSpyker-Ferrari1:29.861192221 Sakon YamamotoSpyker-Ferrari1:31.47920

Notes – Rubens Barrichello was given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change before the race. – Jenson Button was given a ten-place grid penalty for an engine change after qualifying.

Race 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 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 9 Hydraulics 12

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton* 84 2 Fernando Alonso* 79 1 3 Felipe Massa* 69 1 4 Kimi Räikkönen* 68 5 Nick Heidfeld* 47Source:

Constructors' Championship standings +/– Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes* 148 2 Ferrari* 137 3 BMW Sauber* 77 4 Renault 36 5 Williams-Toyota 22Source:

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 2007 Istanbul Park GP2 Series round

References

External links