Ferrari travel to Istanbul with a multitude of questions to ask – can they take the championship fight to Red Bull, and can Felipe Massa prove he really hasn’t gone cold Turkey?

Istanbul is Massa’s track – no driver in F1 holds a better record since the introduction of the race to the 2005 calendar. In 2006 he managed both his first ever pole and first ever win, a feat he repeated for the next two seasons. Being able to outclass drivers over a three year period speaks volumes for Massa’s abilities, displaying a period of dominance that even mentor Michael Schumacher would be proud of. Last year’s dud of a car ended this glorious run, but Felipe still gave it 100% to secure a 6th placed finish, when teammate Raikkonen couldn’t muster up a points paying position. Massa has been solid but unusually quiet this year – but there is no better place to judge whether he’s just suffering a loss of form or is genuinely being outclassed than at this Turkish delight.

For Fernando Alonso, Monaco ended up being business as usual for the 2010 season, with early troubles overcome to complete a useful damage limitation exercise. Suffering a first corner knock at Australia, a rain hampered qualifying at Malaysia, and a poor pit call at China would normally hurt a championship charge enough; then throw in starting from the pitlane at the one place where you don’t want to start from the pitlane, and it’s a testament both to Alonso’s skills and the dropped points of the Red Bulls that he only lies three points off of the championship lead. A normal raceday weekend is needed to tell just where the Ferrari’s lie compared with the rapidly improving McLarens, to see which team is ready to fight for race wins in the completely dry races.

On pure pace alone, the team can hardly expect to stop the Red Bull domination that has continued into the European races; their car is light years faster over one lap runs and has a decent race pace to boot. But the Turkey track is regarded as one of the hardest on the calendar, and with Ferrari’s line-up having an impeccable track record, they’ll be right in the fray should we see any repeats of Sebastian Vettel blowing a first lap lead like last year. My verdict: not fast enough to win, but beating at least one Red Bull is a genuine possibility.

Don’t forget to follow Formula1FanCast.com on Twitter for all the latest Formula 1 News and Blogs and you’re sure to Like our Facebook Page as well!

Related posts: