19/08/2005
NEWS STORY
Istanbul Park, the location of this weekend's inaugural Turkish Grand Prix, hosted its first two Formula One practice sessions today. Both Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber enjoyed a productive day and were impressed by the circuit and its facilities.
Mark Webber: A pretty good Friday for us, during which we managed to work through everything we had planned. First of all, I have to say well done to everyone involved in making this event happen. They've done such a good job with the track, the layout is fantastic, and it's very, very demanding for the driver. It's definitely a track I'm enjoying at the moment. We've done our on track tyre comparisons so now we can go through the data with Michelin. Like all the other teams, it's the first time we've been here so we'll have to work carefully with Michelin to make sure we choose the right tyre. Today was mostly about tyre selection, but we also worked on some smaller things like gear ratios and the suspension.
Nick Heidfeld: As predicted, this is a nice, challenging circuit. It just has a lot more bumps than we expected, especially in the high speed sections, which is a bit unusual for a new circuit. In this morning's session, I had a problem with the traction control which was not working properly and I wasn't particularly happy with the grip or balance. This is normal though because we are at a brand new circuit and we still have to learn it and find the right set-up, which I hope we will do by tomorrow.
Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): We have had a productive first day in Istanbul on this new circuit. We worked through our programme on tyres, brakes and cooling. The new circuit looks good and is close to simulation. The surface was quite clean for an unused track. We have brought some new aerodynamic parts here to the race and they have all worked fine.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Of course, the most important impression about the circuit is that it is a true driver's track. For the teams, the large and impressively built facilities provide excellent working conditions. The weather is a surprise. We were prepared for the heat, but with not much more than 25 degrees of ambient temperature we almost feel at home here. In the two free practice sessions this morning we collected a good amount of data about the circuit and the set-up which will now be evaluated by the engineers.