Paul Hembery: “Turkey is one of the most important events of the year for us, as we have had our production facility at Izmit for more than 50 years now. As well as hosting some very important guests this weekend, we’re also looking forward to what should be a spectacular race on a stunning circuit. Istanbul Park should provide the tyres with one of their toughest tests of the year, because of the high-speed corners, abrasive and bumpy surfaces, and huge forces that act on the cars. The fearsome reputation of Turn Eight is in every way justified, and this should contribute to relatively high levels of tyre wear. I expect us to see three pit stops per car, but of course it will depend on the individual strategies that the teams choose to adopt, which have become an important feature of the races so far. While temperatures in Turkey are normally warm, the initial forecasts that we have received suggest slightly cooler conditions than usual, so I think we’re all in for another very intriguing and exciting weekend.”
The men behind the steering wheel say:
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber): “We’ve had no problems with tyre management so far with the Sauber C30-Ferrari: in fact we have been quite good in getting the new P Zero Pirelli tyres to last for a long time. Nevertheless I find it quite difficult to predict how the situation in Istanbul Park will develop. The grip level at this circuit normally is very low which means the cars tend to slide a lot. I believe it will be crucial to save the front tyres in particular as much as possible. The corner I like most, which is at the same time the one that is most challenging for the tyres, is the triple left hander: Turn Eight.”
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