"Demanding" Istanbul a challenge for Pirelli tyres - Tost

AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost believes Formula 1's return to Turkey will be a "challenge for all of us" with tyre wear expected to be critical across the weekend.

Istanbul Park hasn't featured on the calendar since 2011 but was added to this year's schedule in the aftermath of the Covid-19 affected first-half of the season.

With the infamous high-speed quadruple-apex turn eight - coupled with the extreme levels of downforce on this year's cars - expected to cause stress to the Pirelli tyres, Tost believes teams will be under pressure to look after their compounds despite the manufacturer bringing the hardest options available.

"It’s a very demanding track [in Turkey], especially for the tyres," he explained.

"You must be careful, there is a long and very fast corner as we all know and temperatures are quite low. Looking at the weather forecast it could be that it is also wet.

"We will see, it will not become an easy exercise. I also don’t know how the track is, as I haven’t seen it in nine years. Is it bumpy or not? I have no idea. It will become a challenge for all of us.

AlphaTauri is in a rich vein of form with three top-six finishes in the last three races, Daniil Kvyat's maintaining this record with fourth-place at Imola last time out.

"We have quite a competitive car," he said. "We were fast in Spa, we were fast in Monza, we had a good race at the Nürburgring where we finished sixth, we did a good race in Portimão and we also had a competitive car in Imola.

"These tracks have different characteristics, so I am positive that we will also have a competitive car in Istanbul, but first we must go there and after FP2 I can tell you more."

Before you go...

Five things to expect from the Turkish Grand Prix

McLaren can’t afford mistakes in Turkey – Sainz

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