A little under a year ago, Red Bull was looking good. Mark Webber was fresh off his first career Monaco victory, with teammate Sebastian Vettel right in tow. The drivers were tied atop the Formula One championship standings heading to Turkey, and the early laps at Istanbul suggested that it would be Red Bull's day yet again.
But midway through, everything went horribly wrong. In one of the most defining moments of last season, Webber and Vettel made contact while battling for the top spot, and as a result, Vettel was out of the race while Webber limped home in third behind both McLarens. The retirement would cost Vettel dearly, as it took the rest of the season for the eventual champion to make up the points he lost.
Turkey now serves as a strong reminder to teams and drivers that things can change in an instant in this sport.
This year's race likely will look very similar to the first half of last year, with Red Bull and McLaren dominating the top four positions. Before that accident on Lap 39, those two squads were the clear front-runners, having claimed the top four spots on the grid, and it will be very surprising if that is not the case again this year.
Istanbul Park is the second circuit this season where Red Bull enters without a victory. At Australia, the team had no troubles collecting its first win at the track, but Turkey is a very different venue. The circuit, on the calendar since 2005, features many elevation changes as well as one of the most harrowing corners on the schedule.
The infamous Turn 8 has multiple apexes and is taken at nearly full throttle. Norbert Haug, vice president of Mercedes, described it recently to reporters: "It is a demanding circuit for both cars and drivers, and Turn 8 is the longest corner of the entire season. Nearly 70 percent of the 5.338-kilometer lap is spent at wide-open throttle, which means that, in addition to the chassis and tires, the engine is under considerable load."
It could very well be the final race in Turkey for some time, as rising race fees threaten to cancel any prospect of future events there.
This is also a track that has the potential to reveal just how serious a problem Ferrari may have this year. The duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are the only active drivers to score three or more podium finishes at Istanbul Park, so if the team struggles here, it likely won't be the fault of the pilots.
Massa also has taken three of the six available poles at this track in addition to his three victories here, so this may be the place he turns his 2011 fortunes around.
Another driver seeking a good run will be Williams rookie Pastor Maldonado. Coming off his first race completion in Formula One, this could be a venue where he finishes among the top 15. He dominated the first GP2 race here last year, winning by nearly 20 seconds, and will no doubt have confidence heading in. The FW33 he'll be driving will have several upgrades, including new front and rear wings, so look for Williams to be far more competitive than it has been thus far. Nevertheless, it was recently announced that technical director Sam Michael and chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson will step down at the end of this season.
One man can increase a personal streak before the race even begins. Vettel is seeking his fifth straight pole overall, a feat that has been accomplished only three times since the turn of the century, and hasn't been done since 2006 by Alonso. Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya are the others to amass that many straight poles in that span, so it would make for impressive company.
Vettel is halfway to tying the record of eight, set by Ayrton Senna during his dominant days at McLaren in the late 1980s.
