Decent enough track I thought, with the longest quadruple apex left hander in GP racing. It even goes up and down. Decent crowd too and traffic problems, so it must be a proper place.

All four cars from this year's leading teams, McLaren and Renault, were the front two rows of the grid for the first time this year. Perhaps we could look forward to a good race. We could also keep an eye open for Feilipe Massa who has been confirmed at Ferrari for next year. Masa qualified 8th in the Sauber, three places ahead of the outgoing Barrichello. One suspects that Rubens will be somewhat excluded from the heart of the team from now on, which is a shame for such a loyal servant. With the home race at Monza next up Schumi will be looking for a decent result from the back of the grid – new engine installed. BAR clearly had a good race car this weekend so with Button 13th on the grid and Sato at the back they too had improvement in mind.

From the off Fisichella’s Renault got ahead of poleman Raikkonen with Alonso and Montoya tucking in behind. Massa had his nose chopped off at corner one but all others seemed to get through OK. The two Red Bull cars had a good first lap getting to 7th & 8th. Later on lap one Raikkonen got past Fischicella and Alonso was looking racy too. Fourth was Montoya, fifth was Trulli in the Toyota and six was Heidfeld. “Fernando you’re faster than Fisi, overtake him” was the call on the Renault radio and so it came to pass with a simple “after you” pass down the straight. Thought that was illegal ? Oh well, it did make sense.

By lap 4 Rubens was in P11 having been passed by Button and Michael was just behind him making decent progress. The two Williams cars were going quite well, particularly Webber, but on lap 6 his team mate Heidfeld pitted with a right rear puncture. This was a repeat of free practice for Williams and with three further punctures later in the race both cars were finally withdrawn on safety grounds. This must have been really frustrating for the team. By lap 11 the front four had spaced out a little with Montoya in particular dropping back. Button was going really well – now P6. The Ferraris were really slow at this time, Michael seemingly stuck behind Rubens.

First to go for a pit stop was Alonso on lap 13. He rejoined just ahead of Button. Fisichella was next in one lap later but there was a fuel rig problem delaying him considerably. Also on this lap Schumi and Webber had a touchy-feely moment taking the Williams nose cone away and causing them both to pit – a stop the red team were not expecting. There followed a pit stop by committee which is never a good idea. When things go wrong things go wrong. Michael did rejoin but clearly something was not right and the car was retired – at least for now. Watching the replay I was surprised that Michael didn’t feel the Webber lunge coming and make some room, but it is really easy from the settee. The Button/Alonso battle was fun at this time (Alonso having pitted) with some interesting in-car footage and informative graphics. The Button pass when it happened was good racing and when clear of the Renault he scampered off in an impressive fashion.

The first of the McLarens to pit was Montoya on lap 21 who at the time was 12 seconds behind his team mate. Even with a fuel hose problem he managed to rejoin in the same position. Button pitted on this lap and Raikkonen was next in on lap 22.

With 25 laps to go Schumi rejoined to improve his qualifying order position at Monza. The car’s power steering had been fixed we were told, which seemed odd for a nearside rear impact. Alonso’s 2nd stop was on this lap also and he rejoined still in 4th place. Trulli was P5 and Button P6. Barrichello was a totally invisible P9.

22 laps to go and Fisichella stops for the second time rejoining in 6th. Montoya’s 2nd stop was on lap 41 with 17 to go. He had been closing down on Raikkonen and had got to within 7 seconds of the leader. Button was hard on the heels of Trulli in what was a great drive from the Brit. Trulli then pitted with 14 to go. Raikkonen pitted next lap with no problem and it looked like a cruise to the end for the first McLaren one-two of the year. Button was the last of the group to stop and he managed to rejoin ahead of Trulli to 4th position. With ten laps to go then, Raikkonen, Montoya, Alonso, Fisichella, Button, Trulli, Coulthard, Klien. Button was chasing Fisi hard at this time for 4th. Michael finally retired his car with seven laps to go having achieved his objective.

With three to go Montoya got tagged by a Jordan under brakes which seemed a very strange incident at the time. Pablo spun and continued but Alonso was suddenly quite large in his mirrors. In the middle of turn 8 (the long left) Montoya ran wide allowing Alonso through to second position. It seemed a simple error but his tyres were seriously flat spotted from a previous incident causing him real difficulties. He had also suffered some rear diffuser damage in the Jordan incident. The two extra points for Alonso could be important at the end of the year however and I doubt if Raikkonen or Dennis were particularly impressed.

The ITV driver of the day was race winner Raikkonen, but even though he didn’t quite get to Fisichella at the end my driver of the day was Jenson Button – super stuff.

So we look forward to Monza and Spa in the hope of a serious improvement from our team, which I have to say I am confident we will see.

Oh, and best of luck to Rubens at BAR.

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Istanbul is the best Tilkedrome by far

McLaren were the class of the field again...

...whereas Ferrari didn't have anything to smile about

Massa got his nose chopped in Turn 1

Kimi soon blasted past the Renaults

Rubens was soon passed by Button - team mates next year?

Renault applied team orders to release Alonso

The troubled Williams team suffered multiple tyre failures...

...then Webber tangled with Schumi

MS rejoined and then retired when he'd got a better Q spot for Monza

The hapless Montoya was fast but flawed again

Kimi sailed serenely to another win

The Turkish tifosi were disappointed, let's hope the Italians won't be

pics by Ferrari Media, Schlegelmilch, XPB, LAT, & Sutton