Lewis Hamilton won his seventh world championship following a wet and wild Turkish Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver has now equalled Michael Schumacher’s achievement with seven titles.
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez finished in a solid second place while Sebastian Vettel drove a superb race in the Ferrari to score a podium spot with third.
The majority of the race was led by polesitter Lance Stroll, who lost out by taking a second pit stop for intermediates, a strategy Charles Leclerc used to charge to third in the closing stages, which he lost to teammate Sebastian Vettel after making a last-gaps move on Perez, while Mercedes opted to leave Hamilton on a one-stopper after he had charged up the leading Racing Point cars.
The race result gives Hamilton the 2020 championship and he now level with Michael Schumacher’s record title record.
At the start, all the cars made slow, slippery starts, but it was the Red Bull cars that could not carry enough momentum off the line, which meant Max Verstappen and Alex Albon were quickly swamped from second and fourth by the Renault and Mercedes cars.
Esteban Ocon followed Perez into Turn 1 in third position as Stroll led away from pole, but he was tapped into a spin by Daniel Ricciardo, who had turned out of the left-hander to avoid Hamilton, with the Mercedes suddenly appearing on his inside.
Ocon spun around and Bottas was left with nowhere to go, spinning in sync with the Renault as he avoided contact – although the Mercedes driver later tagged Ocon into a second spin, giving him a left-rear puncture, as he lost the rear of his W11 at the Turn 9 left-hander later on lap one.
Stroll and Perez surged clear, with Hamilton up to third from sixth on the grid, but he slid off at Turn 9 and was jumped by the fast-starting Vettel, who was up from P11 on the grid, and the recovering Verstappen.
At the end of lap one of 58, Stroll had a lead of 3.6 seconds over Perez, which he set about extending to over five seconds with a series of fastest laps over the next few tours before the Mexican driver started to ease back towards his teammate.
After Leclerc had proved the time was right to take intermediates with a stop from P14 on lap six, the leaders started to come in two laps later, led by Vettel and Hamilton from third and fifth – by which time Hamilton had become the fastest driver on track.
When they came in on lap eight, Verstappen was unleashed from behind Vettel and he insisted on staying out on his full wets until lap 11, two laps after Stroll had come in and easily retained the net lead.
Perez pitted the lap ahead of Verstappen, but had a slow right front change, and when the Red Bull finally came in – with Albon waiting until lap as the last of the leaders to change tyres – Verstappen just manage to jump ahead of Vettel, fractionally behind Perez.
Stroll’s lead once the stops had shaken out was up to 10.7 seconds, with the race then neutralised on lap 13 by the virtual safety car as Antonio Giovinazzi – who had crashed on the way to the grid ahead of the race, as did George Russell – pulled over to retire on the straight down the hill from Turn 8.
When the race resumed two laps later, the Red Bull drivers were able to fire their tyres up best of the leaders, with Verstappen harrying Perez and Albon easily passing Vettel at Turn 7 on lap 16 after Hamilton had locked up and slid off at Turn 12 – the track’s main passing point – the lap the VSC ended.
Verstappen had a chance to pass Perez when the Racing Point slipped out of Turn 9 on lap 18, after he had begun to make significant in-roads into Stroll’s lead, but after the Red Bull looked to Perez’s inside of the Turn 11 kink he shot out on the kerbs on the outside and lost the rear, spinning off at high speed and falling behind Albon, Vettel and Hamilton.
As he had flat-spotted his tyres, Verstappen had to pit for another set of inters, falling to eighth with Albon then homing in on Perez as Hamilton struggled to stay with Vettel as the teams started to think about switching to dry tyres.
By lap 24, Perez had whittled Stroll’s lead down to the four-second mark, with Albon following closely behind before then fading back over the next five laps as he struggled with the inters starting to wear on the drying track.
The tread falling away on the green-walled tyres seemed to favour Vettel and Hamilton, as they started to home in on the leaders as the race approached the halfway stage, when Leclerc again triggered another round of stops as he pitted for more inters from ninth.
His pace encouraged Vettel to pit as well, with Albon then gifting Hamilton third with spin at Turn 4 on lap 34, after which he immediately pitted.
Up front, Perez was suddenly closing right up to Stroll, getting with one second – DRS had been activated on lap 30 – as Racing Point considered whether to take the fresh inters or leave its drivers out.
But with Hamilton suddenly looming and the Ferraris flying on their new tyres, Stroll pitted on lap 36, coming out fourth, behind Verstappen – a factor again thanks to his early second stop.
Hamilton instructed Mercedes to leave him out and by the start of lap 37 he was within one second of Perez’s car, then making a simple DRS pass on the long run to Turn 12 to take P1, which he had in the opening laps been nearly a pitstop behind.
The champion quickly dropped Perez, who also did not pit for a second set of inters, building a gap on nearly 20 seconds over the next ten laps.
In the pack behind, Vettel, now being followed by the charging Leclerc, attacked a struggling Stroll into Turn 12 on lap 39, and when the former leader fought back at the left-hander, he slid deep and was passed by both Ferraris – then demoted at the same spot by Albon and Carlos Sainz on the next two laps.
Leclerc was on the move again on lap 40 when he passed Vettel with DRS on the run to Turn 12 and he quickly gapped his teammate over the next few tours, the period where Sainz passed Albon for fifth and the gaps between the leaders spread out significantly.
Despite the threat of rain returning in the closing stages, Hamilton, after Mercedes considered pitting him for a safety stop given his gap over Perez, cruised home to win by a comfortable 31.6 seconds.
Leclerc had slipped off the road at Turn 4 as the race entered its final stages, but he had enough in hand over Vettel to stay third, where he seemed destined to finish before the gap to Perez closed rapidly over the final laps.
Perez went deep at Turn 9 on the last lap and that gave Leclerc the chance to attack for second coming into Turn 12, but the Ferrari went too deep, which allowed Perez to stay in front and the suddenly close Vettel to nip ahead into third.
Leclerc therefore finished fourth ahead of Sainz, with Verstappen recovering to sixth ahead of Albon despite having another spin as they lapped the spun Kimi Raikkonen off the road at Turn 4.
Lando Norris demoted Stroll to ninth when the former leader slipped off the road at Turn 1 late on, with Daniel Ricciardo, who also spun while battling Norris a few laps before, rounding out the top ten.
Bottas ended up a lapped P14, spinning a further three times – five in total – as he struggled in a race where he had to beat Hamilton by eight points to keep the title fight alive.
He came in to take new inters in the closing stages after his teammate had put him a lap down, but his pace did not match Hamilton’s until the very last lap.
Kevin Magnussen retired in the pits late on, having rejoined the race after being released from his second stop with a suspected loose wheel – which will be investigated after the race.
Romain Grosjean and Nicholas Latifi also retired in the pits a few laps after they had clashed and spun off.
Verstappen also faces a post-race investigation for possibly crossing the pit exit line after his second stop.
So congratulations to Lewis Hamilton in becoming this season’s world champion and equalling Michael Schumacher’s achievement. This is a historical moment in the sport by becoming a legend. Fantastic to see Sebastian Vettel back on the podium as it has been a while since he last finished in the top 3. It was so nice to see the champions giving respect after a chaotic race. Do feel sorry for Lance Stroll. After leading the most laps in the Racing Point, he had to settle for P9. His teammate Sergio Perez at least gave the team a solid amount of racing points with P2.
Turkish Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42:19.313
2 Sergio Perez Racing Point-Mercedes 31.633
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 31.960
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 33.858
5 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 34.363
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 44.873
7 Alex Albon Red Bull-Honda 46.484
8 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1:01.259
9 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 1:12.353
10 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:35.460
11 Esteban Ocon Renault 1 lap
12 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri-Honda 1 lap
13 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Honda 1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1 lap
15 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1 lap
16 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1 lap
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari –
– Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari –
– Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes –
– Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari –
Turkish Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com.
A stunning drive from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the Turkish Grand Prix gave him his 10th victory of the season – and, more crucially, saw him claim the seventh drivers’ title of his career, to equal the record of Michael Schumacher, as Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the podium after a thrilling race in Istanbul.
Hamilton had started the race in sixth, risen to third midway through the first lap and then dropped back to sixth by the end of Lap 1 after an error at Turn 9. But a decision to change his intermediate tyres just once saw Hamilton drive a masterful race to claim victory by over 25 seconds from Perez.
The win alone was enough to claim championship #7, but it was even more assured after a disastrous race for Valtteri Bottas – the only man who could have stopped Hamilton winning the title today – who spun four times en route to a P14 finish.
Behind Hamilton, a dramatic last lap saw Sergio Perez overtaken by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for P2, only for Leclerc to overcook it at Turn 12, with Perez retaking second as Vettel made it through on his team mate to claim a first podium of the season.
Leclerc was left to cross the line P4 ahead of the McLaren of Carlos Sainz, while a spin-filled afternoon for the Red Bull pair left Max Verstappen and Alex Albon P6 and P7 at the flag, ahead of the second McLaren of Lando Norris.
Norris had claimed that place after a late pass on the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll, who’d secured a brilliant maiden pole position and Saturday and led much of the early part of the Grand Prix, only for his race to unravel after a difficult third stint on intermediate tyres. That left him ninth at the flag, as Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium.
For all that though, all eyes were on Hamilton, who was in tears as he was congratulated on his slow-down lap, after well and truly cementing himself into Formula 1’s record books.
After qualifying, Daniel Ricciardo told the media: “I would bet a lot of money that it is not going to be a boring, straightforward race tomorrow… sit tight!” You never spoke a truer word, Daniel. The wet laps to the grid were dramatic enough, as Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi slithered into the gravel, while George Russell wiped off his front wing… driving into the pit lane.
At the start, Stroll and Perez got away well off the line, but Verstappen alongside Stroll on the front row went nowhere and was swallowed up by the pack. The Renaults were two of the best cars away, Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon jumping up to third and fourth behind the two Racing Points going into Turn 1.
But Hamilton had got away well, too, and as he dived up the inside of Ricciardo into Turn 1, the Australian twitched his steering wheel, appearing to tag Ocon into a spin, with Valtteri Bottas spinning himself into Turn 1 (the Finn would spin again later in the lap too). Sebastian Vettel, starting P11, was the main beneficiary, the 2011 Turkey winner incisive off the line as he climbed to P4.
After all that, midway around Lap 1, it was Stroll from Perez, with Hamilton and Vettel behind. That was until Hamilton slewed off the track at Turn 9, allowing Vettel, the recovering Verstappen and Albon through to take P3, P4 and P5, Hamilton slotting back into sixth, while after his strong start, Ricciardo was now seventh. Meanwhile, at the end of Lap 1, Sainz and Gasly were the biggest climbers bar the sensational Vettel, Sainz jumping from P15 to P9, while Gasly went from P19 to P13.
Williams had opted to start both Russell and Nicholas Latifi from the pit lane and on intermediates – the only two drivers to not start on full wets. It was a bold call to go on the green-walled rubber, but by the end of Lap 6, many of the field were starting to think along the same lines, Leclerc and Bottas the first to try it, before the rest of the field followed suit.
Race leader Stroll had done brilliantly in the opening laps, steadily and calmly building his lead to the point where, by the time all the field had pitted by Lap 13 of 58, Stroll had a 10-second lead over Perez (who’d had a slow stop for inters), Verstappen third – having managed to jump Vettel in the pit stops, despite his own 4s stop – with Vettel, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Sainz behind, while Leclerc and, surprisingly, the Haas of Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top 10.
Giovinazzi’s already difficult Sunday came to an end with a mechanical retirement, bringing out a two-lap Virtual Safety Car out on Lap 13. When the racing resumed on Lap 15, Hamilton was all over the back of Vettel but locked up into Turn 12, allowing Albon through, with the Thai driver then passing the Ferrari to claim P4.
In fact, the Red Bulls were looking very much the fastest cars at this stage of the race, Verstappen all over the back of second-placed Perez, after the Mexican had had a slow exit from Turn 10 on Lap 18. Verstappen was too rash, though, and as he got under the rear wing of Perez going through the sweep of Turn 11, Verstappen edged onto the slippery run off and spun wildly, flat-spotting his tyres and diving into the pits for new inters after getting back on track, emerging P8.
That left Albon leading the Red Bull charge in P3 behind the Racing Points of Stroll and Perez, who appeared to be struggling to keep their intermediate tyres cool.
By the halfway point of the race on Lap 29, and with the track appearing to dry out incrementally, it was Stroll out front, but with a lead that had been eroded to just three seconds over Perez, with Albon, Vettel and Hamilton behind – this top five covered by just 10.5 seconds – with Ricciardo leading a second train a further 10 seconds down the road, ahead of Sainz, Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris, who’d passed Russell and Magnussen in quick succession a few laps earlier to get himself into the points positions.
In terms of the championship battle, meanwhile, Bottas was having a tough afternoon, adding a third spin to his tally on Lap 21, meaning that at this point he was P17 out of 19 runners.
The agony for the drivers at this stage of the race was a track that was drying out, but not enough to go for slicks, while most drivers’ inters were starting to suffer.
Twelve laps from the end, Bottas’ disaster race came into sharp focus as Hamilton, now 18s up the road from Perez, lapped the Finn.
Five laps to go and there was plenty of radio chatter about possible rain coming on the last lap, with Verstappen even seen spinning at Turn 4, suggesting that part of the track might be starting to slick up. Hamilton was over 20s clear of Perez at the front, and well aware that, if the rain came, he’d effectively be left out on the track on slicks.
Hamilton took a brave pill, though, and refused Mercedes’ offer of new intermediates. It turned out to be the right call, with Hamilton pumping out his final laps to cross the line 31.633s ahead of Perez – and claim the championship after a mesmeric performance.
“I’m lost for words,” said an emotional Hamilton, having climbed out of the car after what was, without doubt, a true champion’s drive. “We dreamed of this when I was young… and this is way, way beyond our dreams.”
It was an amazing outcome, particularly for a driver who had looked nowhere during parts of this unpredictable weekend. It was a drive that was more than worthy of Michael Schumacher, the driver with whose title wins Hamilton is now tied with.
Putting that to one side, Perez claimed P2 to equal the best finishing position of his career, and his first podium of the year. But that result had looked in serious doubt a few corners from the end, as Leclerc made it through on the Mexican but then overdid it into Turn 12.
Perez nipped back through on Leclerc and crossed the line to equal his two second places from 2012 – while after the tricky year that’s been Sebastian Vettel’s final season with Ferrari, the German also made it through to claim a very well-earned first podium since last year’s Mexican Grand Prix.
That left Leclerc P4, ahead of his future team mate Carlos Sainz, who finished just six-tenths behind the Monegasque after his own brilliant day, having started P15.
Memories of China 2007 made Lewis Hamilton reject late pitstop. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Newly-crowned Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton said he “learned my lesson” from his 2007 Chinese GP pitlane faux pas in opting against a late pitstop during the Turkish GP.
Hamilton had a comfortable pitstop advantage over the second-placed Racing Point of Sergio Perez in the closing laps after pursuing a one-stop strategy, but with rain expected he was asked by Mercedes to make a ‘safety stop’ to change his balding intermediates for a fresh set.
However, Hamilton opted to overrule his team and stayed out on track to win by over 30s from Perez, clinching his record-equalling seventh world title in style.
Speaking immediately after the race, Hamilton explained that his reluctance to pit on well-worn rubber was driven by memories of the 2007 Chinese GP, when his McLaren slid wide entering the pitlane and got stuck in the gravel trap – ultimately costing him that year’s world title.
“Well you remember I lost a world championship in the pitlane,” Hamilton said. “So, I learned my lesson from 2007, that’s for sure.
“And I felt like I really had it under control, and the grip was getting good and I was gonna deal with the rain if it dropped.”
Hamilton had been over a pitstop behind polesitter Lance Stroll in the early stages on full wet tyres, but gradually closed on the cars ahead during the middle stage of the race on intermediates, running fifth behind Stroll, Perez, Alex Albon’s Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.
He gained places when Vettel and Stroll both came in for new intermediates, and another when Albon spun, before passing Perez and ultimately pulling away.
Hamilton explained that he knew taking a second stop for intermediate “wasn’t the right choice” and explained that the tyre’s ability to retain its temperature was crucial in allowing him to keep up a good pace.
“There was a point, obviously that Seb was pulling away from me,” Hamilton said. “And I couldn’t figure out at the time what it was, so I was checking my temperatures.
“I didn’t know whether it was because my tires were overheating or they’re too cold, but they got to a bit of a drier patch.
“I think I went through the real rough phase of the graining of the tyre and then it started to come back, the grip started coming back.
“The track was drying in areas and I was improving my driving lines the whole way through the race.
“So then I started to pick up pace, and then Seb pitted and for me I knew that that wasn’t the right choice, personally.
“I just started to stay out and as the tyres got more and more slick, that’s exactly what you needed.
“Fortunately that intermediate tyre, it holds temperature. If I went out on new slicks, I wouldn’t have made it round but it was the best decision.”
Racing Point’s Sergio Perez admitted that his tyres would have “exploded” with one more lap. The car survived and he finished an excellent second. Motorsport.com has the details.
Sergio Perez feared his intermediate Formula 1 tyres would have “exploded” if he had done one more lap in Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix.
Perez ran in second place through the opening stages of the race behind teammate Lance Stroll amid slippery and rainy conditions at Istanbul Park.
Racing Point opted to pit Stroll for a fresh set of intermediates with 22 laps to go, but kept Perez out on a set of intermediates that ultimately lasted 48 laps.
Although Perez was powerless to keep race winner Lewis Hamilton behind him, the Mexican soaked up late pressure from Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel to hold on to second place at the chequered flag.
“I told my team on the radio, I think one more lap on those tyres and they would have exploded,” Perez said after the race.
“The vibrations were extremely bad towards the end. But I think it also made that race, looking after them in the beginning [and] towards the end with drying conditions.
“The team did a fantastic job in terms of strategy reading the race. I think Lewis today was extremely strong, and towards the end we died, but we managed to get a good result.”
Perez had initially faced pressure from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following the switch from wet to intermediate tyres, only for the Dutchman to spin after running wide at the exit of Turn 10 when trying to take the position.
A mistake on the last lap by Perez allowed Leclerc to momentarily pass on the run down to Turn 12, but the Ferrari driver ran wide and conceded the position with two laps to go.
“I couldn’t see anything on my mirrors,” Perez said, reflecting on his battle with Verstappen.
“My mirrors were full of fog, so my engineer was basically telling me the gaps and so on. And then all of the sudden, I saw Max like running wide and he disappeared.
“The other one was with Charles. I wasn’t aware that he was so close to me. So in the final lap it was pretty good battle with him. He overtook me into Turn 10, and then I overtook him back into 12.
“It was a chaotic race, but a strong result for us.”
It marked Perez’s best result for the Racing Point team in both its current guise and previously as Force India, and was his highest finish since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix.
Perez has only three races remaining with Racing Point before leaving at the end of the season, and is currently without a seat for next year.
Asked if the result felt like a great leaving present, Perez replied: “I think as always you know you have to be delivering weekend after weekend.
“You are as good as your last race, so it’s important to finish on a high. The rest is not in my hands.”
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel said that the slicks could have given the Scuderia a victory shot. The four-time world champion ended the race in third position. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Sebastian Vettel believes a late switch to dry tyres could have given Ferrari a chance to win the Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix, but was “very happy” with a podium.
Vettel scored his first podium finish of the 2020 season at Istanbul Park on Sunday, snatching third place from teammate Charles Leclerc with two corners to go.
The German driver surged from 11th to fourth on the opening lap, and was able to avoid making any errors in rainy conditions to grab third place.
“It was quite intense, quite long, but good fun,” Vettel said.
“I had a really good opening lap and I think I found myself already in P4. I was quite happy on the extreme [wet tyres] then we switched to inters, it was a bit more difficult in the beginning, and only towards the end we started to find the pace again.
“It was very intense in the last lap. A bit of a surprise to get to snatch the podium at the end, but certainly very happy. I think it was a really enjoyable race and very tricky conditions.”
Vettel ran a two-stop strategy en route to third place, but considered a switch to slicks in the closing stages as a drying line emerged on-track, but was warned off for fear of a late rain shower.
Vettel said he thought a switch to dry tyres could have given Ferrari a realistic chance to win the race, but understood the decision to stay on intermediates.
“With 20 laps ago I was thinking about dries, because the circuit was constantly drying and the tyres were worn, so ultimately we had slicks,” Vettel said.
“I think it’s just a matter of nobody dared to put them on and there was some rain forecast in the end which didn’t come.
“I would have really liked to put them on, because I think that would have been a chance to win, but yeah, equally happy with third.”
Vettel sat fourth heading onto the final lap as Leclerc bore down on Sergio Perez in third place, capitalising on an error by the Racing Point driver exiting Turn 10.
But Leclerc then ran wide at Turn 12 after getting onto the marbles when passing Perez, causing him to lock up and allow both Perez and Vettel through.
“I saw that Charles was quite close to Sergio, and I heard that Sergio was just struggling with his tyres,” Vettel explained.
“The laps before, I was already chasing them down and then I could see them fight. And as soon as I saw Charles locking up, obviously I saw that there’s an opportunity for me.
“It was very close as well with Sergio. I think he had nothing left on his tyres.”
After leading from pole position, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll “can’t understand” graining issues after Turkey Grand Prix slump. Motorsport.com has the details.
Lance Stroll was left frustrated after struggles with tyre graining saw his hopes of a maiden Formula 1 win end in Turkey as he eventually finished the race ninth.
Stroll took a shock pole position in rainy conditions on Saturday in Turkey, and was able to open up a 10-second lead over the field in the opening stages of the race on full wet tyres.
Although Stroll maintained his lead upon the switch to intermediate tyres, he saw the gap to teammate Sergio Perez narrow at the front, prompting Racing Point to bring Stroll in for a second stop with 22 laps to go.
But the fresh intermediates grained immediately, causing Stroll to fall back through the field as he struggled for pace, losing positions to a number of drivers.
Stroll was passed by Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Alexander Albon and Lando Norris after his pit stop, leaving him over a minute off race winner Lewis Hamilton at the chequered flag.
“I don’t know what happened, I don’t understand,” Stroll said after the race.
“We had so much graining on the first set of intermediates. We decided to pit, we were losing seconds a lap.
“I just don’t know where that graining came from, it just happened instantly. It grained again, massive graining, and no pace.
“We’ll have to look into it, it was pretty terrible today.”
The Canadian admitted he was frustrated to see such a big lead go to waste, having still held onto the lead of the race up until his second pit stop.
Perez did not make a second stop for fresh intermediates, eventually getting to the end of the race on a single set that lasted 48 laps, giving the Mexican second place.
“It’s just frustrating that you’re in the lead by 10 seconds, and then all of a sudden you finish ninth,” Stroll said.
“I don’t understand how that happens. I mean I do, it’s graining, but we just need to look into why it hit me so much harder than the other car.
“I’m not so sure why.”