The Turkish Grand Prix was met with overnight and morning rain, causing a wet race throughout the 58 laps around the Istanbul Park.
With the rainfall being light, along with the tracks condition failing to create a solid dry line around the circuit, drivers saw their intermediate’s overheat after only a couple laps, before meeting the graining stage as the tread wore away – balding the tyre. For large portions, it seemed as if many would manage to get to the end of the race without a single pitstop. But it was not to be. Management of the tyres became the priority .
An odd race to say the least.
Rarely, especially in a wet race, every driver made it to the chequered flag as the conditions did not eliminate the grip.
Valtteri Bottas was on form. Avoiding any mishaps in the opening laps, Bottas took a calm and controlled hat trick with pole position, fastest lap and the race win – taking home all 26 points along with his 10th Formula 1 win. The first victory for the Finn since the 2020 Russian Grand Prix. The Mercedes man was able to maintain the gap to the chasing duo of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc behind during the graining stages of the intermediates. As the tyres became bald, nobody had a response to Bottas who came across the line 14.584s clear of the car behind.
Verstappen was downbeat after qualifying as he knew Red Bull lacked the necessary pace this weekend compared to their rivals. Yet, the Dutchman avoided the disastrous start from the same race last season, and calmly slotted in behind the Mercedes of Bottas at lights out. As his set of intermediate tyres wore on, Verstappen had to maintain the gap to Leclerc behind, which juggled between two and three seconds. Red Bull called their man into the pits before their competitors, and that turned out to be the correct call as Verstappen had a lonely last quarter of the race to finish second, and re-take the all important lead in the driver’s standings. A rather dull race for him, as ‘staying awake’ seemed to be his biggest achievement – in his words.
The graining of the new intermediates seemed to catch everyone out after their one and only pit stops, but Sergio Perez managed to take full advantage to make it a double Red Bull podium. Making up places at turn one at the expense of Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso after their clash, he trailed Leclerc by over 12 seconds before the visit to the pits. The Mexican managed to hold back a charging Hamilton, with the Mercedes man proving the be the quickest driver on track at the time. Defending into turn 12, the two found themselves side by side through the final three corners before Perez made his defensive driving work by sticking it down the inside at turn one and keeping the position. A series of corners that proved crucial for both of their races. Perez used his advantage in the final few laps wisely by passing a slow Leclerc for the final place on the podium.
Ferrari’s recent engine upgrade has definitely put their car on the front foot, as both drivers managed to be two of the quickest and most consistent of the race. Leclerc maintained his grid positions for the majority of the race, sticking in the slipstream of Verstappen, but lost his podium place to Perez and dropped to fourth. Whilst the ones around pitted, Leclerc opted to stay out and try and get his bald intermediates to the end. Although he managed to match the pace of the ones who stopped for a number of laps, the pace began to die which made him easy pray for Bottas. After making his pitstop later then others, Leclerc saw himself lap up to three seconds off the pace as his intermediate tyres overheating and began graining quickly. This enabled Lewis Hamilton to attack, but to no avail as the British driver went on to suffer the same graining issues. A strong fourth place finish for the Monegasque.
Hamilton was left frustrated after a mistake saw his potential podium place slip away. From eleventh on the grid, Hamilton expectedly made his way up the order with most of his moves being performed around the outside of turn three. However, his pace stalled when he lost out on the battle with Perez but opted for the same strategy as Leclerc – go to the end. The Mercedes man had a similar story to the Ferrari driver. Hamilton rejected his team’s first few proposals to pit as the team feared him losing positions to the ones behind. With seven laps remaining, Hamilton listened to his team and boxed but dropped positions to Perez and Leclerc – causing him to be rather unhappy. The usual angry radio comments came from Hamilton, but he was suddenly on to the back of Leclerc. And then quickly dropped back, as the graining phase proved crucial for Hamilton as he was left looking in his mirrors at the charging Gasly and Lando Norris. Holding them off, Hamilton came home in fifth but now trails Verstappen in the standings by six points.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and as his frustrations cooled down, Hamilton was able to admit after the race that pitting when the team first called him in would have been the better option – and could have potentially jumped him ahead of Leclerc.
Gasly and Norris appeared to have quiet and lonely races. However, Gasly would serve a five second penalty during his pit stop after making contact with the fast starting Alonso at turn one, spinning the Alpine. Perhaps this cost the Frenchman fifth place, yet he was still able to hold back Norris and come home in sixth.
Alonso’s start was the only positive from his day. Making his usual flying start and looked for his usual opening wet line – around the outside – at turn one. The Spaniard looked on course to take fourth, but got tagged by Gasly which sent him in a spin after the AlphaTauri driver was being cautious with Perez on his inside. Adding insult to injury, Alonso then made contact with Mick Schumacher shortly after and had the blame pinned on him, being slapped with a five second penalty. 16th was the final result after a disappointing day.
Norris was rarely seen but had a measured race. Gaining a place from Alonso doing a 360, Norris remained in seventh throughout and had a comfortable gap to the cars behind. Despite pitting earlier then the ones around him, although nobody was close, Norris found himself joining the Gasly/Hamilton battle but was unable to do anything except finish three seconds behind Gasly.
Deservedly so, Carlos Sainz was awarded with ‘Driver of the Day’ for the first time in his career. Starting on the back row, Sainz cut through the field like a hot knife through butter, making brave moves at every opportunity – especially at turn 12. Although one overtake was a little botched after making contact with Sebastian Vettel, Sainz worked his way into the points before pitting. This left him 14s behind Norris, a gap which he closed to just four as the chequered flag drops – bear in mind that the Spaniard suffered a bad pitstop of over eight seconds. He certainly enjoyed his drive through the field.
A promising race for Ferrari.
Lance Stroll secured the only points for Aston Martin in ninth, as the Canadian was another who seemed to have a lonely race. Being unable to match Norris in the early laps, Stroll was quickly at the head of his own train during the opening stages before breaking into his own rhythm. Vettel was trailing his teammate in tenth before deciding to be the one to risk slick tyres. Going onto the mediums, Vettel found himself constantly fighting his car as the call for slicks were wide off the mark. Recovering back to the pits, the German came home in 18th.
Rarely, someone completed the race without making a pit stop. Esteban Ocon scored Alpine’s only point of the weekend in tenth, despite being seconds away from the pace in the remaining laps. Calling his intermediates bald is an understatement.
Alfa Romeo suffered a bad Saturday, but went on to have a much better Sunday. Although, they were the first to miss out on the points. Both drivers seemed to be with each other throughout the race, with Antonio Giovinazzi leading Kimi Raikkonen – and it would stay that way at the end with the drivers improving to 11th and 12th. Raikkonen made an impressive move around the outside of turn eight on Schumacher, and felt as if he had the pace over his teammate but the team did not decide to swap them despite Raikkonen being told that Giovinazzi had the message. Unfortunately for them, they ran out of laps to catch the struggling Ocon.
One person who had a mare was Daniel Ricciardo, who started from the back row after changing of his power unit components. Starting alongside Sainz, the Aussie was unable to match his Ferrari rival when it came to overtaking. Ricciardo saw himself stuck in 16th and opted to pit earlier to try and force an undercut. Well, it kind of worked. But he still came home down in 13th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who was continuing to have his best weekend for a while, until he threw it away.
Tsunoda found himself in the points and was able to hold off Hamilton for a number of laps early on, but lost control of his car at turn nine, dropping him down the order.
George Russell’s race became more difficult then it needed to be after his mistake in qualifying. The Williams driver struggled to make any real progress, finishing in 15th with Nicholas Latifi being even less noticeable in 17th.
Sadly, Schumacher could not maintain his performances from qualifying. Not a surprise mind you as his race was thrown in reverse after having contact with Alonso and spinning. He was however able to make his way past his Haas teammate, Nikita Mazepin, to finish two laps down in 19th.
The Russian of Mazepin was last and almost invisible, but was briefly noticed when he almost chopped the nose off of Hamilton’s Mercedes at turn 11 as the British driver was attempting to lap him. An occurrence that has happened multiple times this season with the Haas man.
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