Champion drive under adverse conditions brings Hamilton a 7th World crown

By Malhaar Khaladkar

Lewis Hamilton put in a sublime drive to win the wet-and-greasy Turkish Grand Prix, securing his 7^th Formula 1 World Championship for drivers, equaling the record of legend Michael Schumacher. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez achieved highest career finishing position in P2 as Sebastian Vettel got his first podium of the season in P3.

London, 15 Nov 2020: Lewis Hamilton put in a champions drive to win the Turkish Grand Prix by over 30-seconds after starting from P6. Last lap overtaking moves saw Perez finish in P2, ahead of Vettel and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc- who lost a podium place on the last lap. Leclerc’s future teammate and McLaren driver Carlos Sainz finished in P5, while Lando Norris finished in P8, taking the bonus point for the fastest lap. Red Bull had a disappointing day as spins for both drivers meant that Max Verstappen and Alex Albon finished P6 and P7 respectively. Polesitter and Racing Point driver Lance Stroll’s race unravelled in the latter half, eventually finishing in P9, ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in P10.

Esteban Ocon recovered to P11, after being tagged by teammate Ricciardo during the start, spinning and puncturing his tyre. AlphaTauri duo of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly finished in P12 and P13. The only person who could stop Hamilton from winning the title, Valtteri Bottas, finished P14, spinning 6-times and being lapped by Hamilton en route to the chequered flag. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line in P15 and Williams’ George Russell was the last driver classified in P16. Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean as well as Nicholas Latifi and Antonio Giovinazzi DNF’d.

The start of the race was wet. There was drama even before the race had begun as, Giovinazzi slipped into the gravel while going to the grid and Russell damaged his front wing coming into the pit lane.

At the start, Stroll and Perez launched well, while Verstappen incurred wheel spin and was overtaken by Hamilton and both Renaults. As Hamilton looked to get past Ricciardo, in an attempt to avoid the Brit, Ricciardo took evasive action and tagged teammate Ocon. Ocon spun, so did Bottas behind him- first of his six spins. Vettel had jumped from P11 to P4. Hamilton running in P3 fell to P6 as he locked up his cold brakes and was passed by Vettel, Verstappen and Albon.

Leclerc was first to pit and change from full wets to intermediate tyres on lap 6. He lit up the timing boards as the inters were much faster than wet tyres. This prompted Mercedes to pit Bottas on lap 7 and subsequently Hamilton on lap 8 for inters.

The whole field pitted by lap 13, Stroll extending his leading by 10s over Perez, with Verstappen in running in P3, who had jumped Vettel in P4. Hamilton was all over Vettel but locked up his breaks and fell to P6 after being overtaken by Albon. The Red Bull then overtook Vettel’s Ferrari. Meanwhile, Hamilton could not find a way past the prancing horse.

Verstappen and Leclerc were the fastest cars on track. By lap 17 Verstappen caught up to Perez, who in turn was catching race leader Stroll. With the help of DRS Verstappen tried to overtake Perez on the back straight. His impatience led to his downfall, as he got behind Perez’s gearbox through the kink of turn 11, edged onto the slippery run off and spun. He flat spotted the tyres as a result of the spin, pitted and emerged in P8.

The track was drying out, but no one wanted to risk putting on dry tyres as the track was still slippery with no grip from the tarmac. By lap 29, Stroll’s lead was slashed down to 3s over Perez, Albon right behind the Mexican and, Vettel and Hamilton closing in on the top three, all of them within 10 seconds of the leader.

In the midfield, Ricciardo running in P6, spun and was overtaken by Sainz. Leclerc pitted again for intermediate tyres as he started the second round of pitstops. Vettel pitted on lap 33, releasing the fast-charging Hamilton in free air in P3. Albon pitted on lap 34 and Stroll followed suit on lap 36. All pitting for intermediate tyres. Polesitter Stroll spiraled as he could not make his new inters work as Vettel, Leclerc, Albon and Sainz passed him on lap 41.

Hamilton closed up to Perez, passed him using DRS and assumed the lead of the Grand Prix. By lap 46, he had an 18s lead and he was still on 38 laps old inters. While Leclerc passed Vettel and Verstappen and was running in P3. Verstappen pitted for the third time, as his tyres were worn out and emerged in P8. Bottas’ race worsened as he got lapped by race leader Hamilton, which also signalled that he was out of contention for the championship.

With five laps to go, dark clouds and rain threatened to arrive on the last lap. Hamilton and Perez had only pitted once and were running on inters so old, they had effectively become slick tyres. The rain did not materialise as Hamilton won his 94^th F1 grand prix by 31s and with it record-equalling 7^th world drivers title.

Behind the drama was not over as Perez made a mistake on the last lap and Leclerc slotted into P2. But he overdid and went wide in turn 12, allowing Perez to repass him for P2 and Vettel for his first podium of the season in P3. Sainz finished just six tenths behind Leclerc as the Red Bulls capped off a disappointing race, finishing in P6 and P7.

The accolades belonged to Hamilton as he equalled yet another record and one wonders what new heights he will reach.

Racing Point showed supreme qualifying pace as they secured pole position and P3 on the grid. They had decent race pace but could not challenge for the win as they struggled with overheating and wear in the latter stages of the race. Stroll, the early leader, suffered graining due to which he fell back to P9. Renault like Mercedes struggled with tyre warm-up as neither Ricciardo nor Ocon was rapid in the early stages. Spin for Ocon, and a mistake by Ricciardo, meant they could not maximise their race result and lost ground in the constructor’s championship. McLaren showed a good turn of form in qualifying and race. Grid penalties before the race hampered them, otherwise, both cars had the potential to challenge the squad from Maranello.

Mercedes were clearly not the fastest car, especially on Saturday as they struggled with tyre warm up due to the lack of grip from the tarmac. As the race progressed, the Mercedes got stronger due to tyres warming up and Hamilton was able to extract the maximum from the W11. Red Bull arguably had the fastest car this weekend but seemed to work better on the wet tyres than the intermediates. Verstappen was disappointed not to start on pole as they switched to inters during qualifying. Ferrari had a disappointing qualifying but showed good race pace in the wet conditions as both drivers finished in the top-5.

AlphaTauri struggled in the wet conditions and on the newly re-surfaced tarmac as both cars finished outside of the points. Alfa Romeo showed impressive qualifying pace as both cars made it to Q3 but could not hold their positions, Giovinazzi retired with a mechanical problem from the race and ultimately it was a no scoring race for them. Haas’ both cars got knocked out in Q1 and they struggled in the race with their tyres. Ultimately both cars retired. Williams story is similar as well, unable to challenge for Q2 on Saturday and points on Sunday.

The race was preceded by wet qualifying on Saturday. Starting grid for the Turkish GP.

*Russell and Gasly required to start from back of grid for use of additional power unit elements.

**Sainz penalised three places for impeding Perez during Qualifying.

***Norris and Russell penalised five places for not respecting yellow flags during Qualifying.