Teams expect 'alternative' Turkey tactics

That is the view of Sauber technical director James Key, who reckons that the challenging Istanbul circuit - which includes the punishing Turn 8 - will make tyre management key to the race.

"It will be another interesting event for the tyres, because the famous turn eight is one of the high speed corners of the year with the highest loading of the tyres," he explained. "Although we have seen some high speed corners at the last two events, I think this is by far another step beyond that.

"It will be interesting to see how well the tyres cope with that in terms of wear and degradation. This could result in some alternative strategies in the race, but we will not know until we get there... Tyre management could be the key to the weekend of the Turkish Grand Prix."

Sauber plans to evaluate some new developments to its car in Friday practice in Istanbul, but these are aimed for introduction later in the season rather than straightaway.

Kamui Kobayashi reckons that it is hard to predict just how tough tyre management is going to be before the teams do some running.

"Regarding tyre management, I find it difficult to predict how the situation will develop," said the Japanese. "The grip level at this circuit is normally very low, which means the cars tend to slide a lot. I believe it will be crucial to save the front tyres in particular so the wear is as low as possible."