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2021 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Results & aftermath

Bottas excels in dominant win at wet Turkish GP; Verstappen P2, Perez P3 on good day for Red Bull; disgruntled Hamilton settles for P5 after questionable late pit stop

Mercedes’ number two driver Valtteri Bottas, who has endured such a difficult season that the team decided not to bring him back for next year, showed his quality by taking a dominant victory at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. With the conditions at the Intercity Istanbul Park circuit very challenging throughout the race due to consistently drizzly and humid conditions that ruled slick tires out entirely, Bottas managed his Intermediate wet weather Pirelli tires masterfully, converting the pole position he inherited due to teammate Lewis Hamilton’s 10 grid-spot engine change penalty into a dominant win ahead of the two pursuing Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. While Bottas bested P2 Verstappen by over 14.5-seconds and also nabbed the bonus point for the day’s fastest lap, it actually turned into a fine day for the Dutchman and team Red Bull as a whole. Not only did he get his second second place in-a-row but wingman Perez was somewhat gifted his P3 after a controversial late call by the Mercedes braintrust to pit Hamilton for a fresh Inters on Lap 51 of this 58 lap contest. Hamilton, who started down in P11 on the grid after the penalty but had fought his way all the way up to P3 by that point with a slew of determined passes, had been lobbying to stay out and run to the end on his original set of Inters. But the team instead he box and when he emerged from the pits and found himself behind Perez and also Leclerc once again the English seven-time champion was vociferously displeased with the strategy call and repeatedly questioned the wisdom of the move.

Presumably, the Silver Arrows brain trust were looking to cover a late cloudburst that would have rendered Hamilton’s nearly bald original Inters useless in standing water. But the end realist was Hamilton having to fight through the predictable graining period of the treaded Pirellis without enough laps remaining for them to return to their best performance. He could never threaten the P4 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in front of him to advance his position as the laps ran outand had to settle for holding off Pierre Gasly’s rapidly closing AlphaTauri and coming home P5. While it was decent damage limitation on a day when he started outside the points, Hamilton will no doubt be grilling the team on their strategy call and the fact that it had net result of Lewis ceding the championship lead back to Verstappen by six points with six races left in the season.  So while it was a good day in the abstract for Mercedes, who finally got a strong showing from Bottas with his win and a decent points haul from Hamilton after chosing to take the hit and change his power unit, it somehow still felt a bit less than fulfilling due to Hamilton’s bitter disappointment with the team’s tire tactics. On the other hand, Red Bull were well pleased with their double podium results on the day when it was clear that they didn’t have the race pace to challenge Mercedes for the win. With the rounds dwindling to a mere half dozen, it will be all to play for at the next race in the USA at COTA in two week’s time.

Pics courtesy GRandPrix247.com

Not only did Leclerc have an excellent race by securing that valuable P4 for Ferrari but the Scuderia got the bonus of a spectacular recovery effort by Carlos Sainz, who started from way back in P19 due to his own engine change penalty but made a passel of passes to fight all the way back up to a P8 finish. It was easily one of the Spaniard’s best efforts on the year, if not career, and shows that if the engineers at Maranello can get next year’s chassis and engine up to snuff they have a driver combo that can potentially compete with any other duo on the grid. Gasly also did well by AlphaTauri to take that P6 just behind Hamilton, though the Frenchman and his team will be wondering what might have been if he hadn’t been handed a rather harsh 5-second penalty for contact with Fernando Alonso on the opening lap that looked pretty much like a standard racing incident. Lando Norris, who had to recover psychologically from his heartbreaking experience in Sochi two weeks ago, was the only McLaren in the points after finishing P7 at a circuit that simply did not seem to suit their papaya-colored cars due to an abundance of long, medium speed corners. With Ferrari hot on their heels for third in the all important Contructors title, McLaren will be hoping for a better fit when they unload in Austin. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who seems to excel in these sorts of mixed weather conditions, did well again to finish in P9, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who ran the entire race on one set of Inters, held on to P10 for the final points paying position.

Top 10 finishers of the Turkish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 58 1:31:04.103 26
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +14.584s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +33.471s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 58 +37.814s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 +41.812s 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 58 +44.292s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +47.213s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 58 +51.526s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 58 +82.018s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 57 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time — the return of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas after a year’s hiatus due to COVID. Hamilton will be positively champing at the bit to get back on track and put the disappointment of today’s events behind him. Verstappen will be looking to keep and expand his lead in the points with his first F1 title so close he can almost taste it. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Qualifying results

Hamilton quickest in quali but cedes pole to teammate Bottas on engine penalties; Verstappen third fastest

On an intriguing day of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix featuring rain at Intercity Istanbul Park just prior to the three knockout sessions commenced that then abated with consequent improvement to the grip levels by the time Q3 rolled around, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton unsurprisingly mastered the tricky conditions to set the day’s fastest lap. But while it was a new track record on this newly repaved circuit after last year’s spin-fest on much slicker, older tarmac, Hamilton’s triumph was rather pyrrhic because engine penalties robbed him of a  start from pole and the English points leader will have to line up on the grid down in P11. That gifted the actual pole to his Silver Arrows teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who will nonetheless have it all to do tomorrow to keep Red Bull’s Max Verstappen behind him when they line up together on the front row. With Hamilton’s lead in the Driver Standings over the Dutchman a minuscule two points going into this sixteenth round after Max’s remarkable recovery drive in Sochi two weeks ago, it will be imperative for Bottas to not allow Verstappen an easy overtake at the start the race, thereby giving Hamilton time to claw his way to the front. As he showed today, Lewis certainly has the car to fight for the win if he can get back on even terms with Verstappen’s lead Red Bull, so the Mercedes brain trust have got to bring their A strategy game to pick off a few positions in the pits. But then, as we have seen several times this unpredictable season, if the weather is as changeable as it was today it could well be anyone’s race and not just the two championship contenders at that.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc saved his best for last by setting the fourth fastest time while the checkers flew in Q3, just besting the solid P5 time of AlphaTauri’s excellent pilot, Pierre Gasly. Unfortunately for the Scuderia, however, the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz will have to start from the rear after his own set of engine penalties this weekend. Savvy vet Fernando Alonso enjoyed the tricky damp-to-dry conditions and wheeled his Alpine up to the sixth fastest time when all was said and done, impressively one spot better than the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who could only manage a lackluster P7 effort. McLaren’s Lando Norris did decently to recover from his absolute heartbreaker of a race in Russia that saw him lose the lead with just two laps remaining and qualified P8. And Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s second driver Yuki Tsuanoda rounded out the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively.  It was the first time the struggling Japanese rookie Tsunoda progressed into Q3 since way back in Round 8 in Austria.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Turkish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:24.585 1:23.082 1:22.868 28
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:25.047 1:23.579 1:22.998 27
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:24.592 1:23.732 1:23.196 25
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:24.869 1:24.015 1:23.265 30
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:24.704 1:23.817 1:23.326 24
6 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:25.174 1:23.914 1:23.477 24
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:24.963 1:23.961 1:23.706 24
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:25.138 1:24.642 1:23.954 25
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:25.511 1:24.601 1:24.305 23
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:25.409 1:24.054 1:24.368 24

Actual grid taking into account Hamilton’s penalty here.

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8 AM Eastern here in the States. With Hamilton having to fight to the front, Verstappen determined to gap Bottas early and more potential rain possible it should be another thriller in a season chock full of them. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Results & aftermath

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:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 1:42:19.313 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 58 +31.633s 18
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 58 +31.960s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 58 +33.858s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 58 +34.363s 10
6 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +44.873s 8
7 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +46.484s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 58 +61.259s 5
9 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 58 +72.353s 2
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 58 +95.460s 1

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!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Qualifying results

Stroll grabs wonder pole in wet & wild Turkish GP qualifying, Perez P3 in banner day for Racing Point; unhappy Verstappen settles for P2 after key Red Bull strategy call; Mercedes’ season-long pole streak ends

With an already slick new surface giving drivers fits during dry practice sessions for Formula 1’s return to Turkey and Intercity Istanbul Park, traction was even further compromised by a deluge at the start of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. The rain on top of the new asphalt resulted in a long Red Flag period in Q1 to try and wait the weather out after the best drivers in the world went skating around the circuit as if on ice. Clearly, no slick Pirellis would be used and the treacherous track conditions meant the day was ripe for unexpected qualifying results. And that’s just what happened. The Racing Point of Lance Stroll put in a perfect, highly technical lap and coaxed his car around, keeping it out the gravel traps to seize pole away from the usual suspects. Stroll made the most of the team’s pivotal Q3 decision to run him and his teammate, Sergio Perez, on Intermediate rather than full Wet tires on a tricky but marginally improving track. Crucially, when Perez temporarily set the fastest lap on his Inters and bested the Red Bull of Max Verstappne’s time early in the final session the Red Bull brain trust reacted and pulled Verstappen in from a very tasty hot lap to have the Dutch rainmeister match Racing Point’s move off the full Wets and onto the Inters. However, Versteppen simply couldn’t get the Inters to perform as well as the Racing Point duo and had to watch Stroll take his first career pole ahead of his P2 time nearly 4-tenths in arrears. Perez slotted in at third fastest and a disgruntled Verstappen was left rueing the team’s strategy call, although one can certainly understand their logic in looking to find the magic crossover point in tire performance. For the young Canadian Stroll, who has struggled mightily since missing the Eiffel GP with what was eventually diagnosed as COVID, there were no regrets only jubilation. His joy might not be long lived because holding on to that top spot tomorrow in the face of Verstappen’s onslaught could be more than a little tricky. But grabbing an F1 pole is nonetheless something he can carry with him as a badge of honor for the rest off his life. And who knows? If the weather is the same in Istanbul tomorrow, which it could well be, Stroll and the two Racing Points may just be able to excel again in these funky conditions.

Stroll’s wonder pole in the wet was also the first time this season a non-factory Mercedes hadn’t claimed that honor. If Verstappen was miffed by his team’s decisions the Mercedes duo of points-leader Lewis Hamilton and second place Valtteri Bottas were utterly flummoxed, as the normally superlative Silver Arrows stubbornly refused to get any of their wet weather tires to turn on and perform. Continue reading