Formula One / Thomas Cowie / 04 June 2009 /

Round seven of the World Championship takes us to Istanbul for the Turkish Grand Prix. This ultra modern facility sandwiches the historic venues of Monaco and Silverstone on the calendar, but new or old, no track will be holding any fear for Jenson Button, writes Tom Cowie.

The fourth Hermann Tilke designed circuit the 2009 Championship has come to, Istanbul is widely regarded as the German architect's finest work. Whereas the Chinese, Malaysian and Bahranian tracks are essentially flat, Istanbul is anything but - the dramatic undulations are more akin to corrugated iron than to the billiard table smoothness of Tilke's other creations.

This puts enormous stress on the aerodynamics, with the car constantly pitching and falling. The drivers will be feeling the car go light as it ascends, and heavy as it descends so good aero stability is essential.

Another feature of the circuit is that it is one of only four circuits on the 2009 schedule to run anti-clockwise. While seemingly insignificant, this makes a big difference to the drivers - their necks being forced to take the enormous G forces on the opposite side to which they are accustomed.

Nowhere will this strain be more in evidence than at the infamous and originally named 'Turn 8' corner. This is effectively a quadruple apex corner, comprising of four seconds of constant steering input, during which the drivers will be exposed to 5G - five times the force of gravity.

If this wasn't enough, they will also be braking from 170mph down to 80mph mid-corner. It catches at least one driver out every year - memorably relieving Juan Pablo Montoya of a podium finish in 2005 with just two laps of the race remaining.

Istanbul may prove to be the catalyst that kick-starts Ferrari's season into life. Their third and fourth finish in Monaco proved they are on the move, and if they could have hand picked the next race, Istanbul would have been top of their list.

In the four races held in Turkey, only two men have won - Kimi Raikkonen, who won the inaugural race in 2005 for McLaren, and Felipe Massa, who has won the three subsequent races, all from pole position. At [7.2] for the win, Massa is a great bet, as is Raikkonen, currently at [10.0].

Lewis Hamilton shared the podium with Massa and Raikkonen last year, and the McLaren seemed much quicker in practice in Monaco. Unfortunately, a shunt in qualifying followed by a poor race strategy meant it was impossible to determine how genuine the improvement was. However, if he goes well in practice here, Hamilton's price of [28.0] could fall rapidly.

Winner in China, Sebastian Vettel has subsequently been slightly inconsistent. His Red Bull destroyed its tyres in Monaco - and the young German then went one better by destroying the front end against the barrier at St Devote. He will be desperate to return to his early season form and, at [6.4], the market backs him to do just that.

Jenson Button has only dropped four points all season, and is therefore once again the odds on favourite at [2.5]. At some point however, Rubens Barrachello in the sister car must shine. The Brazilian's fury at the alleged team orders in Spain proved he is still as hungry as ever, and it surely can't be long before he displaces his team-mate on the top step of the podium. At [9.4], he is one to watch.

Turkey may prove to be the race when the 'Big Two' finally come good - their record here coupled in recent performances certainly stands them in good stead. They will have to be on top of their game to topple Button and Brawn however, who will be looking to make it six from seven heading in to their home grand prix in two weeks time.

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