Mat Coch writes:

While they may have been at the top of the timing sheets after Friday practice, both McLaren drivers are worried about the threat posed by those behind. Heading in to tomorrow's Turkish Grand Prix it has been revealed that planned updates for the MP4-26 haven't yet found their way on to the cars.

Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon, Lewis Hamiton confessed that the car he has this weekend is the same as the one he drove to victory three weeks ago in China. "The car is exactly the same as it was in the last race," he admitted. "If anyone's got just one upgrade then they're doing a little better."

Hamilton's car may be the same however, teammate Jenson Button has revealed his car has some updates. "We haven't got everything that we wanted to put on the car here for certain reasons," he revealed, "which is disappointing, but we do have some updates on the car."

While the drivers appear to be running to different development programs there is at least consistency in the message they're relaying to the team. Despite being competitive, both drivers claim the balance of the car is still not right, Button pointing to the new bumps at Turn 12 as a particular concern. "My feet are hurting a little bit from turn twelve on the bumps," admitted the 2009 World Champion. "It's like they've put a motocross jump in just before the corner.

"It was a real shock first lap out because I braked exactly on the bumps," he continued. "That's something we've had to work with as well, as the car is moving around a hell of a lot on the bumps."

Both Button and Hamilton however are confident that set-up changes overnight will resolve their balance problems, resulting in a car that's much gentler on its tyres.

With tyres again expected to be instrumental in the outcome of the race, Hamilton, in particular, was keen to find out just how much he'd taken from his Pirellis. "I just saw the Pirelli guy just now and I was saying 'how do my tyres look?' He just said 'you killed it, they're dead!'"

Cooler conditions this weekend are expected to see wear rates return to levels seen during winter testing, Pirelli having acknowledged that their tyres prefer warmer conditions. Drivers will therefore have to manage their tyres in lieu of the infamous turn eight.

"We always say that you should never set your car up just for turn eight here, but this year I think you're going to have to take it into consideration because of the tyres," explained Button.

"It's very difficult to get a balance through there because the car's hitting the ground; the front's hitting the ground, the back's hitting the ground. You don't want understeer, you don't want oversteer because you lose a lot of time."

Having saved a set of tyres during qualifying in China, a move which went some way to helping him win the race, Hamilton is mindful that tyre strategy will be a deciding factor during the race on Sunday. "What people probably don't realise is we saved a set of tyres (in China), but we didn't actually really use them. We put on the new tyres that I saved for the second stint, and it was so short it didn't make any difference. In hindsight you would maybe use it for the third stint to really get the benefit."

Learning those lessons quickly will be key for both drivers come the chequered flag. While chasing Red Bull, the McLaren duo are concerned others may have made gains, most notably Mercedes. "I'm just a little bit worried about a few other teams out there," admits Button. "You can look at Red Bull and they're going to have a good upgrade here, but you've also got to look behind at the Mercedes, at the Ferrari's, the Renaults. I think a few of them have brought quite a big upgrade, possibly bigger than ours."

Hamilton is equally wary. "Mercedes are very fast on the straight, they were very quick in the last race. Maybe when they have some more fuel in their car they'll be even better, that's what Norbert (Haug) tells me, so we have our work cut out, that's for sure.

"It's really going to be interesting to see how big a step the others have made, and you have to look at the team that's in the lead… it'll be interesting to see how big a step they've made this weekend."

For the moment Red Bull remains the team to beat, despite Hamilton relegating Sebastian Vettel to second spot last time out. "In the race I was able to close up as I had a different strategy to the guys in front, and their tyres dropped off towards the end of the race," says Hamilton. "In terms of pure pace they are still quite a bit ahead of us."