2007 TURKISH GRAND PRIX
Istanbul Park,
Fernando Alonso, MP4-22 06
Lewis Hamilton, MP4-22 01
T-car, MP4-22 03
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso finished
the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul in third place achieving
his 45th podium finish in his 100th Grand Prix. After 58 laps,
309.396 km and a total race time of 1h26m42.161, Fernando
came home 26.1 seconds behind winner Felipe Massa. Lewis suffered
from a puncture to his front right tyre on lap 43, the cause
of which is still being investigated and ended up fifth. Both
drivers were on two-stop strategies. Lewis pitted on laps
20 (9.4 seconds) and 43 (10.2 seconds). Fernando made his
pitstops on laps 18 (9.1 seconds) and 43 (6.6 seconds). Lewis
maintains his lead in the Drivers’ Championship with
84 points followed by Fernando in second position with 79
points. After 12 out of 17 races, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
maintained the lead in the Constructors' table with 148 points
ahead of Ferrari on 137.
FERNANDO ALONSO
“It was not the plan to lose two places at the start,
and so my race was pretty much over when I came into the first
corner in sixth place. I was following Nick Heidfeld for 17
laps at the start, and it was very difficult to overtake him.
Fortunately we were able to do this in the first round of
pitstops and that was when my race could really start. Unfortunately
I was 30 seconds down at that point, so third was a good result
considering. I was told by the team to take it easy after
Lewis’s puncture to avoid the same thing happening to
me, but as I was already quite far back it did not make too
much of a difference to my race.”
LEWIS HAMILTON
“A little bit unfortunate but still we did a good job,
and the team was fantastic all weekend. We had the pace of
the Ferraris, but when you are behind you lose a little bit
of downforce; we were just matching them for most of the race.
I saw some bits fly off the tyre and then it just blew on
braking into Turn Nine. It was lucky that I didn’t put
the car in the gravel and managed to control it back to the
pits, as this meant that in the end I only lost two places.
We still got some good points and I remain in the lead of
the championship by five points, so it is not all bad.”
RON DENNIS
“This was always a race we expected to be challenging,
so all in all we are not too upset with today’s result.
Our pace was good and Fernando and Lewis both put in strong
performances. Lewis's tyre failure came at an unfortunate
time as he had enough fuel to go a few laps longer than the
Ferraris, so we may have challenged them at the end. Anyway
we now look forward to the next race at Monza where we expect
to be stronger than we have been this weekend."
NORBERT HAUG
“It’s a shame -.the puncture on Lewis’s
car prevented him from finishing on the podium, but Fernando
did it with a very good drive. However Lewis saved four important
points under very difficult conditions following the failure
of his right front tyre 15 laps from the finish. These points
could be decisive in the end. Important is that with Fernando
and Lewis, who finished third and fifth today, we retain the
one-two lead in the Drivers’ World Championship and
stay ahead as well in the Constructors’ rankings.”
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