Setup
F1 2021
Round 16
#TurkishGP Race Setup
Istanbul ParkThe battle continues in Turkey, with just two points separating Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship.
Last year’s race at Istanbul Park was a jam-packed affair, filled with spins and thrills. F1’s return to Turkey didn’t see the result we wanted that weekend, with wet weather playing it’s part and us not able to capitalise as well as we’d hoped.
The famous track is home to some iconic twists and turns, with an interlagos-esque opening segment and a renowned turn 8 that is now a sweeping flat-out blast downhill.
Last time out in Russia saw Max go from P20 to P2 at a dramatic race in Sochi, this weekend we’ll be hoping to keep our performance up and bring home a good haul of points with all four cars.
Toyoharu Tanabe
After the last round in Russia, Formula 1 now starts to travel further from its mainly European base for the final races of the year, starting with this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, an event that returned to the calendar last year. The Istanbul Park circuit is situated in the suburbs of the Asian side of the city and is located in a hilly setting. The track itself has a good mix of all corner types from low to high speed, the most famous of which is the long multi-apex Turn 8 which places a lot of stress on the driver’s neck. At the last race, Max took his grid penalty and although he lost the championship lead, the gap to Hamilton is very small and now we can simply focus on getting the best possible result at each remaining race, starting this weekend in Turkey.On the original calendar, this weekend should have seen us racing in the Japanese Grand Prix and it’s a real shame we cannot do so, because of concerns over the pandemic. Everyone at Honda was very much looking forward to racing competitively at our home track, with our Japanese driver Yuki in his F1 debut season, which is also our last one in the sport. We know the Japanese fans are also disappointed and so we have prepared various on-line events specifically for them, as well as something special at the Istanbul track. We are keen to get a good result with all four drivers across both teams in Turkey and we have been working hard and studying last year’s data to be as well prepared as possible.
After the last round in Russia, Formula 1 now starts to travel further from its mainly European base for the final races of the year, starting with this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, an event that returned to the calendar last year. The Istanbul Park circuit is situated in the suburbs of the Asian side of the city and is located in a hilly setting. The track itself has a good mix of all corner types from low to high speed, the most famous of which is the long multi-apex Turn 8 which places a lot of stress on the driver’s neck. At the last race, Max took his grid penalty and although he lost the championship lead, the gap to Hamilton is very small and now we can simply focus on getting the best possible result at each remaining race, starting this weekend in Turkey.On the original calendar, this weekend should have seen us racing in the Japanese Grand Prix and it’s a real shame we cannot do so, because of concerns over the pandemic. Everyone at Honda was very much looking forward to racing competitively at our home track, with our Japanese driver Yuki in his F1 debut season, which is also our last one in the sport. We know the Japanese fans are also disappointed and so we have prepared various on-line events specifically for them, as well as something special at the Istanbul track. We are keen to get a good result with all four drivers across both teams in Turkey and we have been working hard and studying last year’s data to be as well prepared as possible.