In terms of the expected and climactic showdown for the world championship, Sunday's Turkish GP provided the perfect result - the four contenders finishing in reverse championship order, with each closing the gap incrementally to those in front.
For Lewis Hamilton, the second right-front tyre failure in three race weekends must have seemed like purgatory, and payback for the outstanding mechanical reliability that he has benefited from all season.
Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen lead the start of the Turkish Grand Prix © LAT |
After the traditional summer three-week break, Turkey served not just as a resumption of battle among the championship front-runners, but also as a postscript to the controversy in Hungary.
The key point of interest was to see which of the McLaren rivals had recovered composure from the negative aftermath of Hungary.