The Turkish Grand Prix is held at the Intercity Istanbul Park (also known as Istanbul Racing Circuit) in the Tuzla distract of Istanbul, Turkey, hence the track's colloquial name of Tuzla. The Turkish GP was held from 2005-2011 before being removed from the calendar for financial reasons, but made its return the last two years to accommodate for other races being cancelled due to the pandemic.
Track Breakdown:
Number of Laps: 58
Circuit Length: 5.338 km
Race Distance: 309.396 km
In preparation for last year's return to the calendar, the track was resurfaced with fresh asphalt. Unfortunately for drivers, this resulted in an extremely low grip situation for tyres and led to difficulty managing cars through the track. To mitigate this, the track has been treated to a high pressure cleaning method used at Singapore to improve grip levels ahead of this weekend's race. Pirelli is also bringing its softer tyre compounds to aid with grip.
Istanbul Park features 2 DRS zones, one after another spanning through Sector 1, going from just before Turn 11 to Turn 12, and from Turn 14 to Turn 1. We can expect most of the overtaking to come from these regions.
Turn 8 is a notable curve, with four apexes in anticlockwise direction, and high speed throughout. This turn is both a skill to navigate through and a massive wear on tires.
As last year was Istanbul Park's first appearance in the hybrid era, teams had minimal data for making strategy decisions. As most sessions last year were run in wet conditions, teams still have limited data collections for how their cars will run in dry conditions at Istanbul Park. Team's will likely be making the most of all practice sessions to gather as much data about race strategy as possible.
Fast 5s:
2020: Hamilton, Perez, Vettel, Leclerc, Sainz
The fastest lap at last year's GP was Lando Norris in the McLaren with a time of 1:36.806. The track record for all of Formula 1 was set in 2005 by Juan Pablo Montoya, also of McLaren, with a time of 1:24.770
Fun Facts:
The Turns have various nicknames inspired by other tracks such as "Diabolica" from Monza's Parabolica, and "Faux Rouge" from Spa.
It is one of 7 anti-clockwise circuits on the 2021 calendar
Turn 8 has been used as the basis for newer tracks such as turns 17 and 18 at Circuit of the Americas, Turn 3 in Sochi, and Buddh International Circuit's turns 10 and 11.
Technical Talk:
The high loads exerted through corners, in part due to the anti-clockwise rotation, contribute to the circuit's reputation for rapid tyre wear. High downforce tracks reward constructors with aerodynamic set ups like Red Bull, and drivers with the skills to balance late breaking into corners with earlier throttles on turn exits. The anticlockwise nature of the circuit leads to increased strain on the opposite side of the driver's neck than they would experience on standard circuits. This is especially bad through Turn 8 due to its length and speed. The pit
lane returns to the regular 80 kph for ~20s pit lane times, opening up the possibility of multi-stop strategies.
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