The Turkish Grand Prix is one of the more recent events to join the calendar, having first been staged in 2005 and the construction of the Istanbul Park circuit was promoted by the government of the country in a bid to boost its tourist industry.

Turkey does not have a great tradition of motor sport, but it did not stop them from producing one of the best facilities on the calendar. The track, designed by Hermann Tilke has met with almost unanimous enthusiasm from all the drivers, who enjoy the varied and demanding corners, many of them similar to famous turns at other tracks and the way the circuit rises and falls throughout its 5.3 kilometres.

The outstanding corner is Turn 8, which is effectively four corners put together, which exerts very high G-forces on the drivers. It is also unusual, being one of only two – with Sao Paulo – anti-clockwise circuits on the calendar.

Running through the city of Istanbul is the Bosporus river, regarded also as the dividing line between Europe and Asia and, while the majority of hotels are located in the European side of the city, the race track is on the Asian side, making for a long trip through the bridge toll station every morning and afternoon.

Why the hurry to return to the city? To visit such famous landmarks as the Blue Mosque or to take a night time boat trip down the Bosphorus. The Turkish Grand Prix can therefore claim to be the only race outside Europe where teams use their trucks and hospitality units, so the paddock has a similar feel to all the European races.

Another peculiarity is the means of transport used to get the race cars and equipment to the venue. If races outside Europe are referred to as ‘flyaways’ then the Turkish Grand Prix can be called the only ‘floataway’ as everything required for the race is transported by ship, through the Corinth Canal from Trieste, in Italy.

Last year the Red Bull Racing team had a reasonable result here, gaining valuable points through Mark Webber’s seventh place while David Coulthard was unlucky not to chalk up an extra point, coming over the line in ninth.

However, this was a better result than in 2007 when David still finished outside the points in tenth, but the biggest disappointment was Webber’s hydraulic problem, which caused him to drop out on lap nine. Over the last three years, it’s fair to say that the Milton Keynes based squad has been frustrated by mid-field finishes in Turkey.

In 2006 Christian Klien came eleventh, while DC came in fifteenth. The fifteenth place classification wasn’t too bad, considering his gearbox failed three laps from the end, but overall it was the kind of race they come away from feeling like they have gained very little. It was actually in 2005, their debut season, that they saw their best result in Turkey. Points finishes for both drivers was a great boost for their Championship fight with Klien pipping DC to seventh and the two points that accompany it, whilst DC bagged eighth and the extra point.

Hopefully this year they can get two cars in the points again, but they will be expecting to improve on the result of five years ago.

Red Bull