Turkey matched record for most overtaking moves

The Turkish grand prix last weekend set a new record for the most overtaking moves during a single formula one race.

It was already known that the Istanbul Park race broke the previous record for the most number of pitstops.

Finland’s Turun Sanomat now reports that Sunday’s 79 overtaking manoeuvres was the highest number recorded since 1983, when John Watson and Niki Lauda carved through the Long Beach field from the rear in their McLarens to finish one-two.

It brings the 2011 tally past 200 overtakes in four races, almost half the total of the entire 2010 season.

Virgin driver Timo Glock admits the ‘DRS’ overtaking system made passing arguably too easy in Turkey.

“When you get within one second to the guy in front (to use the rear wing), the chances to overtake are very big,” the German told Sport1.  “In Istanbul it was almost guaranteed.

“Perhaps it would have been a bit more exciting if the zone in which you can use the wing was a little smaller,” added Glock.

Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne, however, has labelled those complaining about the ease of overtaking in 2011 as “whingers”.

“There are complaints about too much overtaking, which is actually great to hear,” he wrote in his Telegraph column.  “You can’t please all the people all the time but we are here to race and, most importantly, we have had some cracking races.”

© RIF | GMM