That said, it is still Hamilton who holds the advantage, and just nine points more than his Brazilian rival this weekend will net the young Briton the title at his very first attempt. However, as Hungary showed, Hamilton is very much human, and anything could happen in Turkey as the pressure builds.
Behind the leading pair, the battle for third place overall is still raging. Hamilton's ART Grand Prix team-mate, Alex Premat, currently heads the fight on 56 points, but has Glock - fourth on 50 - and the second iSport driver, Ernesto Viso - fifth on 42 - breathing down his neck - jut as they were at the chequered flag in Hungary. With the maximum 40 points from the next two races, it isn’t out of the realms of possibility that any of those drivers - and, indeed, Gimmi Bruni, Jose Maria Lopez, Giorgio Pantano and ninth-placed Adam Carroll - could still take third place. All seven drivers are GP2 race winners - albeit without Lopez or Carroll seeing the chequer first this season - so there is still all to play for.
Of course, there will always be those who want to make their mark and stick a potential brake on a rival's championship ambitions, with the likes of Arden duo Michael Ammermuller and Nicolas Lapierre, plus Clivio Piccione, Franck Perera, Lucas di Grassi, Andreas Zuber and Alex Negrao all suggesting front-running pace during the season. Hiroki Yoshimoto will want to erase memories of a lost Istanbul podium from twelve months ago with a strong run for BCN this weekend, while local favourite Jason Tahinci will be looking to upset the formbook with his own best showing.
