The Istanbul Park circuit is one of the most challenging modern circuits, for both teams and drivers.

Heikki Kovalainen on the Turkish Formula One Grand Prix:

"Turkey is one of the modern circuits, it has got some great corners and turn eight is the most famous. It is a four apex left hand corner.

Four apexes one after each other and its very high speed. It has a positive camber as well so you feel the car compressing through the corner, and on a good day in qualifying it is a flat out corner.

   

It’s a pretty good feeling when you go there, I don’t know exactly the speed, 250–260kph and you have to hang in there, and if you do it flat out it is a good feeling.    It is very important to look after your tyres in turn eight, it is very hard on the front tyres especially; you put a lot of load through them.    If you have an opportunity during the race, it is wise to look after your tyres through here if possible. I think the best overtaking place in Turkey is the third to last corner, at the end of the long back straight.    There is a slight kink to the right on the back straight, but it is flat out so it is the best place to slip stream, follow the other car, get a good tow."    LEWIS HAMILTON   2009 championship position 9th (9pts)  2008 Turkish GP Qual 3rd Race 2nd Fastest lap 2nd  “I love racing in Turkey: it’s a real challenge because you need to attack the lap to get a good time, but you also need to be careful with your tyres, if you push too much, particularly through Turn Eight, then your tyres are going to suffer. It’s all about finding the perfect balance in practice and being disciplined in the race so you don’t overdo it. I also love the fact that it’s a new circuit that has really captured the flavour of some of the older, classic tracks, it’s got a bit of everything and is fantastic to drive. Also, as it’s anti clockwise, it gives your neck a bit of a workout, but you just need to make sure you’ve exercised the left side of your neck a little more than usual before getting in the car.”    HEIKKI KOVALAINEN   2009 championship position 13th (4pts)  2008 Turkish GP Qual 2nd Race 12th Fastest lap 8th  “Turkey is all about Turn Eight, the high speed, four apex left hander. On a good day in qualifying, it’s flat out, and that’s a pretty good feeling when you get it right. It’s also very important to look after your tyres through Turn Eight, you put a lot of load through the tyres, particularly the fronts, so it’s a good idea to look after them during the race. The best place to overtake here is into Turn 12, the corner at the end of the back straight. You can get a good tow and slipstream past, with KERS we should hopefully see some exciting racing.”    MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes   “The Istanbul Park circuit is one of the most challenging modern circuits, for both teams and drivers. Firstly, it’s a real set-up challenge, you need to find a handling balance between the high speed corners, the slower, infield section and the long straights. In addition, tyre wear, particularly to the heavily loaded front right through Turn Eight, is a crucial factor in determining overall strategy. For the drivers, a combination of multi apex and blind corners adds to the challenge. We go to Turkey in the knowledge that the track characteristics are a bit less likely to suit our package than Monaco, but we are improving all the time, have several minor upgrades for MP4-24 and look forward to assessing our competitiveness against our rivals.”    NORBERT HAUG - Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport  “The layout of the circuit is challenging and, in Turn Eight, comprises the longest and fastest corner on the calendar as well as very slow corners where good braking stability and good traction are needed. KERS should again be a good support to improve our lap times, but nevertheless the Turkish Grand Prix will be a demanding challenge for us.”