Hamilton earns record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship with come from behind win in Turkey; Perez P2 & Vettel P3 after masterful wet weather drives

In typical Lewis Hamilton fashion the Mercedes ace battled back from a mediocre qualifying effort and extraordinarily difficult track conditions to take a storming victory in the return of the  Turkish Grand Prix at Intercity Istanbul Park on Sunday. Starting from P6 on the grid and with his Silver Arrow struggling to heat up the wet weather tires necessitated by both a wet and unaturally smooth track, Hamilton survived the treacherous early portion of the race, biding his time and steadily improving his track position until by Lap 37 of this 58-lap contest he passed Racing Point’s Sergio Perez to take the lead. It was a lead he would somewhat astoundingly never relinquish, as Ham the Man hung on to his aging Intermiediate Pirelli tires for so long they eventually turned into slicks and actually benefitted his performance by dint of their baldness on what was a rapidly drying circuit during the closing laps. Keeping his head down and waving off a potential late safety stop for fresh Inters floated by his team braintrust, Hamilton not only went on to win the race by a massive 31.6 seconds, thereby locking up this year’s Drivers’ Championship, but with that accomplishment tied the great Michael Schumacher’s record of seven overall Formula 1 titles. With his nearest rival, teammate Valtteri Bottas, having a disastrous day that featured multiple spins and saw the Finn finish well out of the points in P14, the only thing that might have kept Lewis from clinching this year’s crown was a last lap squall that could have proven difficult to navigate on his well worn, 50-lap old Inters. But more rain never came and so Lewis Hamilton drove his way to victory and into the Formula 1 firmament with a terrific drive that showed yet again why he is not only the greatest driver of this era but also now firmly in the argument for greatest F1 pilot of all time.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Perez also drove a superb race, outlasting his pole-sitting Racing Point teammate Lance Stroll by matching Hamilton’s one-stop strategy and holding off a brace of hard-charging Ferraris on the treacherous final corner to secure a highly impressive P2 finish. The veteran Mexican driver, who used all his guile and experience to collect the third P2 finish of his career, also did himself a world of good in his quest to remain in F1 next year after being unceremoniously sacked by Racing Point earlier in the year. Conversely, Stroll had a hard luck day after making his first-ever start from pole. The young Canadian led much of the first half of the race but a second stop for fresh Inters on Lap 36 proved to be his undoing, as the circuit had evolved into a very strange condition where it’s freshly laid asphalt was still too wet for slick Pirellis but also too dry for the Intermediates to work effectively. That swung the advantage to drivers like Hamilton and Perez, who stayed out on their old Inters and worked off most of the tread to a better performance effects. As a result, Stroll lost a ton of positions over the final twenty laps and had to settle for P9. Combined with Perez’s superb P2 it was still a great day for the Racing Point team and their quest for third in the Constructors’ standings. But Stroll had to be crestfallen to not even make the podium after such an auspicious start to the day, much less having his dreams of an F1 win unceremoniously dashed.

With Sebastian Vettel starting from P11 and teammate Charles Leclerc a lowly P12, both Ferraris actually came good in the race for once. While both drivers made the dreaded double pit stop, on this day the Prancing Horses actually seemed to like these slick conditions and maximize the performance of their tires. Vettel in particular drove like the four-time champion he is rather than the completely lost-at-sea aging veteran he has looked like for much of this misbegotten year. After impressive early work to deftly advance through the field while others slid and skidded all around him, Vettel was able to snatch P3 and a podium from his junior teammate when Leclerc out-breaked himself while dicing with Perez on the final lap. Leclerc had to settle for P4 but it was still one of the best days — if not the best —  that have Ferrari have had in a generally miserable 2020. A bit further back of the Ferrari duo, McLaren also had an excellent result, with Carlos Sainz taking an impressive P5 and Lando Norris moving up to P8 with a strong late-race push. Team Red Bull had a trying day with both Mex Verstappen and Alexander Albon spinning multiple times en route to disappointing P6 and P7 finishes respectively. Renault’s Daniel Riccardo, who also struggled in these challenging conditions, held on well enough to take the last point in P10.

In the end, though, it was Hamilton’s day through and through. With rare emotion stifling his normally talkative and ebullient nature, the Englishman reflected the weight of his mighty accomplishment in tying Schumacher’s iconic record of seven World Championships, a mark of excellence previously thought to be untouchable. That he deserves all the accolades that are sure to come his way for joining that elite company and making it a two man club was more than validated by his wonder drive to somehow take victory against all the odds and run of play here in Turkey on this fateful Grand Prix Sunday. That he can potentially earn his eighth title and stand alone at the top of the Formula 1 summit next year seems right now less of a possibility and more of a fait accompli. Of course, as the wise old hand once said, that’s why you go racing. But at this point it’d be very difficult to bet against Hamilton because in his heart of hearts you know he wants to be the all-time leader in F1 Championships. And what Lewis Hamilton puts his mind to he always seems to achieve.

Top 10 finishers for the Turkish GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the Bahrain Grand Prix from the arid Bahrain International Circuit. While it’s highly doubtful there will be any rain to spice things up who knows what spanners the Formula 1 gods will yet throw into the works? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!