Brits on Pole

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David Coulthard has hailed a breakthrough in Istanbul after he got to the chequered flag for the first time this season with no failures, collisions or crashes. Writing in his column on the ITV F1 website, he says: “I feel like I got a monkey off my back in Turkey.”

Sunday’s GP2 race in Turkey brought scenes that few fans will have enjoyed watching - the sight of stray dogs venturing onto the Istanbul track and, in one case, being run down by Bruno Senna’s car.

Part of being a top-flight sports star is presumably learning when to say no - and that’s a lesson which has come home to Lewis Hamilton after a stunt for sponsors left him red-faced and tongue-tied.

Lewis Hamilton’s been getting a fair bit of stick recently, so it was nice to read this analysis of his Turkish Grand Prix performance from Mark Blundell in The Telegraph.

Lewis Hamilton tried a sneaky three-stop strategy, Kimi Raikkonen fuelled up and ran a long first stint, but neither of them could find an answer to Felipe Massa who won the Turkish Grand Prix by the simple tactic of driving very fast from the front.

The perfect antidote to processional racing - today the lead swapped hands and raw speed was traded against strategy for a gripping race at the Istanbul circuit. You’d venture out to put the kettle on at your peril - but at least no drivers were felled by hitting stray dogs, as happened to Bruno Senna in the GP2 race…

On the surface it looks like more of the same - Ferrari’s Felipe Massa on pole for the third year running and seemingly on his way to another big stack of points for Ferrari. But look a little deeper and this has the potential to be a really interesting race.

Wondering what time to get yourself in front of the telly or radio for the latest round in the F1 championship? Here are the broadcast times for the stations covering the Turkish Grand Prix in the UK.

Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren team-mate will find out on Friday whether or not he will be taking part in the Turkish Grand Prix. Plus race previews from Honda and Red Bull.

British driver Anthony Davidson is facing the suspension of his Formula One driving career after his Super Aguri team announced it was withdrawing from the series. The Japanese outfit is ceasing racing with immediate effect and will not be at the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend.