page_title: 2010 Turkish Grand Prix
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Turkish Grand Prix / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of Istanbul Park (racing circuit) situated in Akfırat, a village east of Istanbul, Turkey.
context_page_description: The 2010 Turkish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 30 May 2010 at the Istanbul Park, Tuzla, Turkey. It was the seventh round of the 2010 Formula One season and the sixth Turkish Grand Prix. The 58-lap race was won by McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton who started from second position. His teammate Jenson Button finished second, and Red Bull driver Mark Webber took third.
  Webber clinched the pole position and maintained his lead at the start of the race with Hamilton in second who fended off a challenge from Sebastian Vettel in the other Red Bull. The order was maintained until the first sequence of pit stops when Hamilton lost second place after his crew had trouble with fitting one of his tyres correctly. Webber conserved fuel on lap 40 which allowed Vettel to challenge him for the lead but the two collided. Vettel retired and the crash promoted Hamilton and Button to first and second.
context_section_description: The 2010 Turkish Grand Prix was the seventh scheduled round of the 2010 Formula One season after taking a two-week break from the previous race of the season in Monaco. It was held on 30 May 2010 at the Istanbul Park circuit in Tuzla, near Istanbul, Turkey. The Grand Prix was contested by twelve teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known as constructors) were Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, Williams, Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Lotus, Hispania and Virgin. Tyre supplier Bridgestone brought four different tyre types to the race: two dry compounds (soft "options" and hard "primes") and two wet-weather compounds (intermediate and full wet).
  Before the race Red Bull drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were tied for the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 78 points each, with Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso in third with 75 points. Jenson Button was fourth on 70 points and Felipe Massa was fifth on 61 points. In the Constructors' Champions Red Bull were leading with 156 points, Ferrari and McLaren were second and third with 136 and 129 points respectively, while Mercedes (78 points) and Renault (65) contended for fourth place. Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull had so far clinched the six previous victories of the season. Championship competitors Massa and Robert Kubica had both secured second place podium finishes with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg having both achieved third place podium finishes.
  Webber dominated the previous two rounds in Spain and Monaco and clinched the pole position in both events. Despite the form, Webber said Red Bull were still wary of their rivals, saying that they had a good foundation and position but no person knew who would be challenging for the title late in the season, but did not feel it would between two people. Ferrari came into the event with a long series of success at the track, having won three of the last five races held at Istanbul Park. The team identified the event as their 800th Grand Prix and their cars carried a logo celebrating the achievement on their engine covers. Alonso was upbeat about their chances in the race, saying that compared to the Spanish Grand Prix, he felt their situation was a little better due to the fact Istanbul Park's characteristics are different and did not require the maximum amount of aerodynamic downforce, but a lower level which was suited to the F10. Alonso also believed it would be a "surprise" if the Red Bull team finished behind him. Hamilton claimed that McLaren would be competitive in Turkey and hoped that he would secure his first victory of the season.
  Several teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Red Bull introduced a revised version of its RB6 chassis for Vettel as his previous monocoque had a small defect which created handling difficulties in Monaco. The team tested a version of McLaren's F-duct system (which increases the top speed of a car) during the Friday practice sessions but removed it for qualifying and the race because both of McLaren's drivers found the device difficult to operate. Ferrari modified their F-duct system so that it would allow their drivers to operate the system by using their left leg. Mercedes arrived at the circuit by reverting to a previous specification of suspension and introduced a longer wheelbase on both their cars as well as a new version of their F-duct system. Williams decided to revert to an old specification of their front wing following accidents involving their drivers in Monaco, though the team brought new brake ducts. Lotus débuted a new rear wing specification which improved forward balance of their chassis. Virgin managed to procure a longer-wheelbase version of the VR-01 for Lucas di Grassi after the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull prevented them from having two cars prepared in time for the previous race.
caption: Istanbul Park, where the race was held.
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