Category: Sport

(CNN) — Sebastian Vettel led Red Bull to a one-two in the Turkish Grand Prix Sunday to increase his lead in this year’s Formula One title race.

The defending world champion drove a flawless race from pole position to claim victory from teammate Mark Webber, with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in third place.

Webber completed a superb overtaking maneuver on Ferrari’s Alonso in the closing stages in Istanbul to complete a superb day for the English-based team.

Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, came home fourth, with Germany’s Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, separating the two McLaren drivers as Hamilton’s fellow Briton Jenson Button took sixth.

Button paid the price for a three-stop strategy, while the other leading contenders opted for four.

Germany’s Nick Heidfeld finished seventh for Renault ahead of his Russian teammate Vitaly Petrov.

Swiss Sebastien Buemi for Toro Rosso and promising young Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber completed the points scoring down to 10th.

But there was more disappointment Germany’s seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, who finished adrift of teammate Rosberg in 12th, just behind former teammate Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari.

Schumacher was involved in a tangle with Petrov which resulted in him having a new rear wing fitted.

But it was Vettel, who dominated from start to finish, only led when he went in for pit stops.

“What a race. We controlled it from the beginning to the end. Thank-you,” he said on his team radio.

It was his third win in four races this season and he leads Hamilton by 34 in the drivers’ championship, with Webber four points further adrift.

Red Bull have a big lead in the constructors’ championship with 148 to McLaren’s 105.

via Vettel leads Red Bull one-two in Turkey to stretch title lead – CNN.com.

Michael Schumacher has admitted for the first time that he is not enjoying racing following a disappointing start to the second season of his comeback.

The 42-year-old Mercedes driver finished 12th in the Turkish Grand Prix after another poor weekend.

Schumacher told BBC Sport: “The big joy is not there right now.”

He won a record seven titles and 91 grands prix before retiring in 2006, but has been bettered by Nico Rosberg in 15 of their 23 races as team-mates.

Rosberg, 25, has also out-qualified his fellow German on 19 occasions.

Michael Schumacher

Schumacher admits to joyless F1 experience

Rosberg qualified third in Turkey, more than a second faster than Schumacher, who was eighth on the grid.

Schumacher was not helped by an opening-lap collision with Renault’s Vitaly Petrov, for which he admitted he was at fault. The incident forced him into the pits for a new front wing.

Schumacher made three further stops for fresh tyres but never looked capable of getting close to the front runners.

The result – allied to a retirement in Australia, a ninth-place finish in Malaysia and eighth in China – means he sits 11th in the drivers’ championship with just six points.

Rosberg finds himself 10th on 20 points, while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel lead the way on 93 points following his victory in Turkey.

“I told you before the race there was going to be some action and indeed I had lots of action,” said Schumacher.

“I guess I was responsible myself to have the result that I had. With Petrov I guess it was mostly my mistake what happened there.

“I need to analyse it. It was a bit strange that suddenly we got together and I lost my front wing. The race was a given from there – lots of fighting, lots of action, but for nothing.

“From where we came [on the grid], going forward is better than still having to defend backwards, and mostly I was able to go forward.”

ANDREW BENSON’S BLOG

Continue reading the main story

I’ve known Schumacher for a long time, and he looked and sounded like a man beginning, as Coulthard said, ‘to ask himself some questions’

Read more here

Schumacher signed a three-year contract with Mercedes when he returned to F1 last year, but BBC F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan said it might be time for him to consider his future.

“I felt just a glimmer of sadness that here’s a legendary person who has been magnificent in all the years that he’s raced, winning seven world championships,” Jordan said.

“He’s very human, he’s very, very honest – he’s clearly not enjoying it and the results are showing why he’s not enjoying it. He has a couple of big decisions to make in the next couple of months.”

But BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

“He’s not performing at the same level of his team-mate, that’s a fact,” said the former Williams, McLaren and Red Bull driver, who raced against Schumacher for 12 years.

“The statistics show Nico Rosberg is getting more out of that car than Michael Schumacher.

“I don’t think we should write Michael off by any stretch of the imagination – there’s a lot of talent there – but he must be asking himself questions.

“I think the key thing is he’s not enjoying it and to be perfectly open and honest with you there was an element of that for me at the beginning of 2008.

“I wasn’t as competitive as I felt I should be, I wasn’t enjoying the races as much as I used to and then that’s the moment.

“It slowly builds until you look in the mirror and realise that feeling you’ve been having for a few weeks or months is the internal message. You can’t hold back the clock.”

via BBC Sport – Michael Schumacher admits he is not enjoying racing.

Formula One drivers hope they will not be competing at the Turkish Grand Prix for the last time this weekend.

Doubts were raised that Turkey may not host a race next year, after the head of Istanbul’s Chamber of Commerce Murat Yalcintas – citing an increase in the fee to stage it – last month expressed reservations it could continue.

Turkey joined the F1 calendar in 2005 but the race has attracted poor attendances due to high ticket prices and difficulty of access to the venue on Istanbul’s Asian side.

Although Istanbul’s six-year contract to host the race is due to expire this year, drivers want to keep coming back.

“I would miss it, definitely, as it is a place that you have some better results than you expected. It is a good place, but we will see how it is going to be,” Felipe Massa said.

“It is a track you always like to come (to). You always have a good result, good feeling and we will miss it if we are not coming here next year.”

Massa has a particular fondness for it, as he won three straight races at Istanbul Park from 2006-08, all from pole position.

“It is a very special place for me. I won three times, especially the first time it was a big fight with Fernando (Alonso) and Michael (Schumacher),” Massa said. “In 2008 I had a big fight with Lewis (Hamilton).”

Hamilton won at Istanbul last year and the Briton is hoping more success this Sunday can close the gap on Championship leader Sebastian Vettel. The German F1 Champion leads Hamilton by 21 points after three races.

“It’s got some great high speed corners and quite a nice mixture of corners,” Hamilton said of Istanbul’s track. “Of course it would be a shame to not have the Grand Prix on the calendar.”

Istanbul’s Turn Eight is the longest of the season at 640 meters and is particularly thrilling for drivers to test themselves against.

“We love to race at circuits that are challenging and exciting for us, so fingers crossed it will be here (next year),” Hamilton said.

Yalcintas, who represents the backers of the race, said on his Twitter account last month that Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone doubled the asking fee from $13 million to $26 million, and that Turkey’s Ministry of Finance considered the amount too high.

via Drivers want Istanbul to remain | Planet F1 | Formula One News.