? Seven-times F1 champions without a point after three races
? New rear and front wings and brake duct ready for Turkey
There is nothing European about the Blue Mosque, with its many minarets dancing in a heat haze, or the ridiculously opulent Topkapi Palace. But in Formula One, the Turkish Grand Prix is viewed as the sport's return to Europe, even though the track is on the Asian side of the great city that straddles the Bosphorus and is the meeting place for east and west.
The early fly-aways are over, and this exorbitant circus will not make another long eastern journey until the Singapore race at the end of September. For the summer season, the sport concentrates on Europe. The championship will not be won here but it can be lost. And this is where the failures of early season will have to make up ground quickly to prevent the year ending in ruins.
At the top end, Ferrari and Mercedes must recover from poor starts, even though the German giant gave some signs of stirring in the last outing, in China, when Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished fifth and eighth respectively. For Williams, though, this is crisis point. This, remember, is one of the great teams. Seven times they have won the drivers' championship, and between 1980 and 1997 they won nine constructors' titles; a record, until surpassed by Ferrari in 2000. They have been graced by ? among others ? Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Alan Jones, Nelson Piquet, Jacques Villeneuve and the British pair Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.
But Williams have not won for more than 100 races; they have gone 42 rounds without a podium position and they have just made their worst start to a season, without a point after three outings; the hugely experienced Rubens Barrichello and the new boy Pastor Maldonado have both managed to finished only one race, in China.
Their share value has stalled on the stock market and the pressure is intensifying on the company chairman Adam Parr, the technical director Sam Michael, the aerodynamics head Jon Tomlinson and the chief designer Ed Wood.
Michael is in danger of being made the scapegoat for a wider and deeper malaise. But his optimism before next Sunday's race borders on rhetoric. "I feel we can turn around our season over the next three or four races, through Turkey, Barcelona, Monaco and Canada," he said. "Istanbul is a very good track, a drivers' track, and we are going there with a new front wing, a new rear wing and a new rear brake duct and with a lot more to come. There is no shortage of ideas and there will be a big difference in the coming weeks.
"Some of the gaps between the teams look very big. But I think they will close over the next few races, as the teams gravitate towards the best designs."
In an interview with Autosport week, Parr said: "I'm not happy because I think we can do better. My goal was to make progress. We've finished eighth, seventh and sixth in the last three years and I wanted to take another step. So fifth, minimum would be good. We are only three races in, this is a long season and it's not game over yet.
He added: "I would love to see more progress. The things that we are bringing are not developing so much. The morale in the team is not as high as it should be because we were expecting greater things and it's the same for me. I'm here to drive fast and to motivate people, but I would like to see the team perform better."
The shadow of Adrian Newey flickers over Williams, as it does over McLaren. Every team he leaves, it seems, suffers a dip in form. He had made up his mind to leave McLaren. But, before that, it was within Williams's gift to keep the design wizard, who is the best in the game.
Newey only wanted a bigger role in Sir Frank Williams's organisation. The last Williams car to carry Newey's fingerprints was the 1997 version, and that was the year they last won the drivers' and constructors' titles.
There is no corner in Formula One more exciting than the high-speed, multi-apex T8 at Istanbul Park; it may just be the place, next Sunday, where Williams turn their season around.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/01/williams-f1-turkish-grand-prix
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