Stat Attack: Turkey

Turkey personal scoreboard

• Jenson Button's victory in Turkey last year marked the end of a hot spell of six wins from seven races, which gave the Briton a cushion that allowed him to capitalize on that initial advantage and win the championship. Jenson had to wait until this year's Australian Grand Prix to climb on the top step of the podium again. In previous Turkish GP he was fifth and fourth in 2005 and 2006, while he finished outside the points in the two following years.

• Lewis Hamilton had tyre issues both in 2007 and 2008. He suffered a puncture in 2007 and the following year he had to choose an unusual three-stop strategy to ease the pressure on the tyres. He finished eventually second behind Massa, last year he was only thirteenth.

• Michael Schumacher has raced in two Turkish Grands Prix - he clashed with Webber in 2005 when he was in the middle of the pack, and finished third in 2006. It turned out to be a bitter result, as he had to win in order to keep his championship hopes alive, but when the safety car came out he had to wait behind Felipe Massa in the pits, losing second place to his rival Fernando Alonso.

• Nico Rosberg retired in his first Turkish Grand Prix, then he finished in the points three times, his best result came last year with a fifth. He climbed on the podium in the sprint GP2 race in 2005 behind Kovalainen and Adam Carroll.

• Sebastian Vettel made his F1 race weekend debut as a tester for BMW Sauber in 2006 and he hit the headlines immediately - eighth in the first free session and first in the second. That's where the good memories come to an end, as two anonymous races with Toro Rosso followed (19th and 17th). Then there was last year's disappointment: he started from pole, but a mistake in the first lap favoured Button's breakaway. The team adopted a three-stop strategy, it didn't work and he ended up third behind team-mate Webber. Sebastian also celebrates in Turkey his 50th Grand Prix start.

• Mark Webber's two retirements out of five races don't show the true value of his performances - four times out of five he was able to qualify inside the top 10. Last year saw him score his best results: fourth in grid and second at the end of the race. It will be interesting to see if Webber will start from pole as he posted the pole position both in Spain and Monaco, the last driver to record three straight poles was Massa in 2007 from Malaysia to Spain.

• Felipe Massa is the most successful driver in Istanbul: three straight wins from pole from 2006 to 2008. Last year he had to endure a difficult race, starting seventh and finishing sixth. In 2006 the pole and wins were his maiden ones in Formula 1.

• Fernando Alonso's first two races here gave him his best results in Turkey, twice second, in 2005 behind Kimi Raikkonen and in 2006 behind Massa. He was also third in 2007, then in his second stint with Renault a sixth and a tenth last year. He has never qualified on the front row in Istanbul.

• Rubens Barrichello has finished in the points in Turkey only once, in 2006 when he finished eighth. In 2005 he endured a difficult race with Ferrari, finishing tenth, and in his Honda years a seventeenth and a fourteenth. Last year he started third, but endured a problematic race: he nearly stalled at the start and fell back to the middle of the pack. Overtakes and mistakes followed, with the additional issue that his Brawn hit the rev-limiter on the straights. He eventually retired for a gearbox failure.

• Nico Hulkenberg tested at the track last year, obtained his maiden GP2 pole and finished fifth and fourth in the races.

Robert Kubica, 2008 Turkish GP © LAT

• Robert Kubica finished in the points his last three Turkish Grand Prix, obtaining his best result in 2008: fourth. He twice qualified fifth, in 2007 and 2008, his best qualifying efforts there.

• Vitaly Petrov ran eight GP2 races in Istanbul and his results improved constantly: in his first three races his best result was a sixteenth, then from his fourth participation he never finished lower than fifth, winning the feature race last year and finishing second in the sprint race in 2008.

• Adrian Sutil could obtain his best results in the Turkish Grand Prix this year, as his best performances up to now are a fifteenth in qualifying last year and a sixteenth in the race in 2008.

• Vitantonio Liuzzi was present as a tester in 2005, then he started two races in Turkey: in 2006 he started well, up in eighth from seventeenth on the grid, but after a few laps he spun at the first corner, causing the safety car intervention which probably cost Michael Schumacher his race chances. In 2007 he was fifteenth both in qualifying and in the race.

• Sebastien Buemi finished fifteenth last year. He has raced here four times in GP2, finishing third in the 2008 sprint race behind Romain Grosjean and Vitaly Petrov. He also raced here in 2006, in Formula Renault, finishing fourth and eighth.

• Jaime Alguersuari raced once here in 2006, in Formula Renault. The Spaniard finished sixteenth and ninth. Both races were won by Daniel Clos, a current GP2 driver for Racing Engineering;

• Jarno Trulli has finished in the points only twice out of five starts, at his first and and most recent races run here. He was sixth in 2005 and fourth last year, his best result. In the same years he recorded his best qualifying results, fifth in both races.

• Heikki Kovalainen was sixth in 2007, he finished twelfth and fourteenth in his last two races here. In GP2 he won the sprint race in 2005 from Adam Carroll and Nico Rosberg.

• Karun Chandhok raced six times in GP2 here, finishing fourth in the 2008 feature race. In the 2007 sprint race he started from pole, retiring from the lead after he was hit by Kazuki Nakajima.

• Four GP2 races for Bruno Senna in Istanbul, but only one points finish, in 2007 in the sprint race, sixth.

Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren, 2005 Turkish GP © LAT

• Pedro de la Rosa tested for McLaren in 2005 and was first and second in the free practice sessions. He then raced here in 2006 as a replacement for Juan Pablo Montoya, climbing from the eleventh grid spot to fifth by the chequered flag.

• Kamui Kobayashi's GP2 experience in Istanbul amounts to four races, never in the points and suffering three retirements. His best qualifying result was a sixteenth in 2009.

• Timo Glock finished eighth last year, starting from fifteenth on the grid. He obtained good results in GP2: finishing fourth in his first three races here, he managed to win the sprint race in 2007 in front of Alexandre Negrao and Adam Carroll. At the time Glock was running third and took advantage of a Nakajima-Chandhok collision to take the lead.

• Lucas di Grassi won twice in GP2 at Istanbul, in the 2007 feature race starting sixth and in the 2009 sprint race starting from pole. The Turkish ones were the first and last wins of di Grassi's GP2 career.

Team performances in Turkey

• Ferrari won here from 2006 to 2008, while in 2005 and 2009 the team didn't manage to climb on the podium.

• Force India's best results in Turkey are a fifteenth place in last year's race and sixteenth in qualifying in 2008.

• McLaren won the first grand prix held here in 2005 with Kimi Raikkonen, last year it didn't score a point.

• Red Bull managed to climb on the podium last year with both drivers, Webber and Vettel. These are the only podium appearances for Red Bull on the Turkish rostrum.

• Renault managed to finish on the podium in the first two Turkish events with Alonso in second place.

• Toro Rosso is looking for a top-10 result in Istanbul, both in qualifying and in the races, as the team's best results are a fourteenth place on the grid in 2008 and a thirteenth in the race in 2006.

• Williams and BMW Sauber managed to finish in the points in the last three Turkish Grands Prix with at least one car.