Both Istanbul Park and Pirelli have taken action to avoid a repeat of the slippery conditions seen at last year's Turkish Grand Prix this weekend.
The race made an unexpected return to Formula 1 due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, but drivers were left scrambling for grip on the new tarmac which was laid just weeks prior to the event.
As a result, lap times in the dry were actually slower than F1's last visit in 2011, with Lewis Hamilton slating the resurfacing as having ruined the highly-regarded Istanbul layout.
☀️ Günaydın!
— Sarı Bayrak (@saribayrak) November 14, 2020
🇹🇷 #TurkishGP'nin 2. gününe Max Verstappen'in FP1'de attığı en hızlı tur ile başlıyoruz! pic.twitter.com/cumHDXazAW
This year, however, the situation should be very different due to almost 11 months of weathering and because the circuit has been "water-blasted" in an effort to improve grip but opening up the surface.
"[This] is a regular treatment that happens, we’ve seen it regularly used in Singapore as an example where the public roads that are used are resurfaced quite regularly because of the movement," FIA race director Michael Masi explained. "So that’s what’s happened there, along with a few other changes.”
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Furthermore, Pirelli has also changed their tyre allocation for the Turkish GP with the C2, C3 & C4 compounds being used, which is one step softer than last year.
This comes after the Italian supplier admitted being caught out by the resurfacing, which was done after their decision on compound allocation had been made.
