F1: Turkish GP Results

O.k., this is getting ridiculous—unless you happen to be a Jenson Button fan. He's won six of the seven Formula 1 races this year and the championship is nearly a foregone conclusion. And this is coming from a driver who couldn't buy a top-five last year with a best of sixth in Spain and only a handful of top-10s. That just goes to show you how much difference strong equipment makes.

The biggest story was the failure to finish by Rubens Barrichello. He has been the wingman of Button all year and has also swept the top five with three runner-up finishes to this credit. He spun after making contact with Heikki Kovalainen and damaged his nose with contact from Adrian Sutil.

Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel finished second and third, which puts tem in a position to pounce in the unlikely event that Button stumbles.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	2	Jenson Button	58	Running	6.80
2	4	Mark Webber	58	Running	12.20
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	58	Running	13.00
4	5	Jarno Trulli	58	Running	9.00
5	9	Nico Rosberg	58	Running	9.50
6	7	Felipe Massa	58	Running	5.60
7	10	Robert Kubica	58	Running	7.75
8	13	Timo Glock	58	Running	10.50
9	6	Kimi Raikkonen	58	Running	7.20
10	8	Fernando Alonso	58	Running	4.60
11	11	Nick Heidfeld	58	Running	10.40
12	12	Kazuki Nakajima	58	Running	15.50
13	16	Lewis Hamilton	58	Running	6.67
14	14	Heikki Kovalainen	57	Running	10.67
15	18	Sebastian Buemi	57	Running	15.00
16	17	Nelson Piquet Jr	57	Running	15.50
17	15	Adrian Sutil	57	Running	18.00
18	20	Sebastian Bourdais	57	Running	18.00
19	3	Rubens Barrichello	47	Retired	13.60
20	19	Giancarlo Fisichella	4	Retired	11.80

More Formula 1 Newsbreakers

F1: Turkish GP Lineup, with avg. start/fin

For the second time in 2009, Sebastian Vettel wrestled the pole from Jenson Button, and just like the site of his previous pole the Chinese Grand Prix, he took the top spot after Button won the honor in back-to-back weeks. This is Vettel's first time to start near the lead in Turkey, however. His two previous attempts there have started 18th and 14th and ended 19th and 17th respectively.

Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to make a mockery of the sport by starting second and third. There is absolutely no reason to think they are going to finish anywhere but at the front.

Lineup, with average start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Sebastian Vettel	18.00	16.00	2
2	Jenson Button	8.25	13.25	4
3	Rubens Barrichello	12.25	14.50	4
4	Mark Webber	14.75	8.50	4
5	Jarno Trulli	10.25	8.50	4
6	Kimi Raikkonen	6.75	3.75	4
7	Felipe Massa	5.50	2.75	4
8	Fernando Alonso	3.25	4.25	4
9	Nico Rosberg	11.00	11.00	3
10	Robert Kubica	8.00	6.00	3
11	Nick Heidfeld	10.25	6.50	4
12	Kazuki Nakajima	19.00	16.00	1
13	Timo Glock	13.00	15.00	1
14	Heikki Kovalainen	9.00	4.50	2
15	Adrian Sutil	18.50	19.00	2
16	Lewis Hamilton	3.50	2.50	2
17	Nelson Piquet Jr	15.00	17.00	1
18	Sebastian Buemi
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	9.75	9.00	4
20	Sebastian Bourdais	18.00	18.00	1

F1: Kovalainen tops Turkey's second practice

The second practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix featured an entirely different cast of characters at the front of the field. With a lap of one minute, 28.841 seconds, Heikki Kovalainen narrowly edged Fernando Alonso who was six/thousandths of a second slower.

Our View: Meanwhile, Rosberg was only seventh quick and Hamilton was 13th. Fantasy Players will need to watch for Saturday's practice to see if a consensus is reached.

Complete Practice Results

F1: Rosberg fastest in Turkey's first practice

Nico Rosberg posted the fastest single lap in the first practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix, with a lap of one minute, 28.952 seconds.

Our View: That's great, but better news might be found a little further back. Lewis Hamilton has had a terrible start to the season, but he was second quick in this session.

Complete Practice Results

F1: Turkey's last four races

To date, there have been only four Turkish Grand Prixs, as Formula 1 continues to expand into the Middle and Near East and so far, this has been Felipe Massa's personal playground. He's won the last three editions of this race, and if not for a failure to finish in the inaugural race of 2005—he might have been absolutely perfect.

Kimi Raikkonen is the only other winner this track has seen, and of course he took that first event. He hasn't been bad lately either with a second in 2007 and an eighth last year.

Average finish, last four races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	Inaugural 2005
Juan Montoya	3.00				3
Fernando Alonso	3.25	6	3	2	2
Lewis Hamilton	3.50	2	5
Pedro de la Rosa	5.00			5
Felipe Massa	5.50	1	1	1	19
Kimi Raikkonen	6.75	3	2	21	1
Robert Kubica	8.00	4	8	12
Jenson Button	8.25	11	13	4	5
Heikki Kovalainen	9.00	12	6
Christian Klien	9.50			11	8
Giancarlo Fisichella	9.75	20	9	6	4
Michael Schumacher	10.00			3	17
Jarno Trulli	10.25	10	16	9	6
Nick Heidfeld	10.25	5	4	14	18
David Coulthard	10.25	9	10	15	7
Ralf Schumacher	10.33		12	7	12
Alexander Wurz	11.00		11
Jacques Villeneuve Jr	11.00				11
Nico Rosberg	11.00	8	7	18
Rubens Barrichello	12.25	14	17	8	10
Timo Glock	13.00	13
Robert Doornbos	13.00				13
Scott Speed	13.00			13
Anthony Davidson	14.00		14
Narain Karthikeyan	14.00				14
Takuma Sato	14.67		18	17	9
Mark Webber	14.75	7	22	10	20
Nelson Piquet Jr	15.00	15
Christijan Albers	16.00			16	16
Vitantonio Liuzzi	17.50		15	20
Sebastian Bourdais	18.00	18
Sebastian Vettel	18.00	17	19
Tiago Monteiro	18.50			22	15
Adrian Sutil	18.50	16	21
Kazuki Nakajima	19.00	19
Sakon Yamamoto	19.50		20	19

F1: No KERS for BMW / Sauber

BMW / Sauber will not utilize the KERS system this week in the Turkish Grand Prix, according to Formula1.com. Team principal Mario Theissen said, "there are only two free practice sessions to check out the new aero package and we think that the risk of getting off track by trying out a new KERS configuration at the same time is higher than the potential gained."

Our View: Nick Heidfeld needs some help. He finished second on the Sepang Circuit and was seventh at the Circuit de Catalunya, but the remainder of his 2009 results has been outside the points.

F1: Sauber's making progress

BMW Sauber earned their first two points of the season in the Spanish Grand Prix when Nick Heidfeld finished seventh, but team principal Mario Theissen believes the team is making notable progress, according to Formula1.com.

Our View: The team hopes to have a "modified KERS" system in place for the Turkish Grand Prix in June. The added boost could help in the long straights between turns 10 and 12.