The Hindu : Sport : A slippery and challenging circuit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 21, 2005

Sport

Sport

A slippery and challenging circuit

My practice sessions on Friday were hampered a bit by a gearbox problem

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN

The Istanbul Park circuit is one of the three circuits in the entire F1 season which runs anticlockwise with Brazil and San Marino being the other two. This feature of the circuit puts a lot of pressure on the neck muscles since we drivers are not used to making so many left turns for the corners. The Istanbul Park Circuit is a new generation circuit, which has excellent spectator facilities. Turkey is holding the race for the first time in the history of Formula One.

The circuit is very challenging and also a bit slippery. One very interesting characteristic of this circuit is that there is a lot of elevation change during the course of the lap. The track is built on four different ground levels. Turn 8 is a very demanding and challenging corner, which requires a lot of commitment. There is a lot of banking on this circuit.

It was slightly overcast on Friday for the practice session, but on Saturday it was clear with the temperature rising and we can expect the same for the race day. It will definitely be one of the more demanding races of the season.

Nice place

Turkey is a really nice place and I am really impressed by this country. There is a lot of excitement and buzz throughout Istanbul this weekend. The whole city seems to be geared up for this event. It's a lively, vibrant city and I am sure for Sunday's race we can expect the grandstand to be chock-a-block full.

My practice sessions on Friday were hampered a bit by a gearbox problem but nonetheless we still managed to do some important laps to get accustomed to this circuit. The track was a bit dusty in the first practice session but as more and more cars carried out the laps it seemed to get better in the second one.

In my three weeks off between Hungary and Turkey, I got a chance to come back to India. It is always nice to come back home. I was returning after a long time so I was very busy with all my sponsorship commitments. I was running around from one place to another and was always on the move. I was also very happy with the response I got from the media on my trip back.

I was delighted with my last outing at Hungary. We ran a consistent race and I finished twelfth, and ahead of my teammate. I wasn't too comfortable all weekend at Hungary but we managed to put up a great show on race day to bring both the cars home and that too in strong positions. With Raikkonen scoring maximum points in Hungary and with Alonso failing to score any, I am sure Sunday's race will definitely prove very important in context to the world championship.

TCM

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