- Lewis Hamilton won the race for the Turkish Grand Prix in a beautiful style
- The Briton at Instanbul Park secured his seventh world championship
- Lance Stroll, starting from pole, was in the lead for a long time, but finally finished ninth
After an extremely interesting qualifying, in which Lance Stroll (Racing Point) sensationally triumphed, the Sunday competition promised to be exciting. The weather, which from the beginning of the racing weekend in Istanbul, had a hard time on drivers since the beginning of the race weekend. It was no different just before the start, when Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) landed on the side of the track and George Russell (Williams) hit a wall during the pit lane descent. Both players, however, could start the competition.
Shortly after the red lights went out, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) had a terrible start, who was overtaken by several rivals. The Dutchman’s problems were used by Sergio Perez (Racing Point), who jumped immediately behind the team partner, Lance Stroll, who maintained his leading position. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) also had a great start. The German moved up to fourth and the Briton to third. A moment later, however, the current world champion fell to the sixth place, and Verstappen returned to the top.
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) and Esteban Ocon (Renault) were third. Fin turned on the slippery track and the Frenchman was hooked by team partner Daniel Ricciardo and had to visit his mechanics. A few laps later there was a lot of traffic in the pit lane, as many drivers decided to switch tires to adapters. The pit lane includes, among others Racing Point leaders.
In this situation, the Red Bull representatives, who were still driving on full rainwater, were at the fore. On lap 12, Verstappen finally decided to change tires and returned to the track just behind Perez. Giovinazzi retired from the race shortly after. After a period of virtual neutralization, Alex Albon (Red Bull) showed a great maneuver, who overtook Hamilton, and a moment later also Vettel, jumping to fourth place.
Verstappen, who was driving in second place, was closer to Perez, who attacked the Mexican on the 18th lap. However, the attempt was unsuccessful and the Dutchman lost control of his car, scored a few pirouettes and fell to eighth position. As if that was not enough, the 22-year-old damaged one of the tires and had to appear in the pit lane.
Gradually, the advantage of the leading Stroll, to whom Perez had come close, followed by Albon, diminished. Lando Norris (McLaren) advanced to the top ten, having a fierce battle with Russell, after which the Williams player was briefly off the track. In lap 34, Albon made a terrible mistake in the fourth corner, who, although not attacked by any of his rivals, turned the car and lost position to Hamilton. A few moments later, Stroll came to the pit lane to replace the worn tires. Meanwhile, Hamilton passed Perez and took the lead.
Stroll returned fourth, but was quickly overtaken by the Ferrari duo Vettel and Leclerc, followed by Albon and Carlos Sainz (McLaren). Hamilton, on the other hand, increased his advantage, with ten laps before the finishing line he had over 15 seconds of advantage over Perez. Leclerc and Vettel followed the top two.
Grosjean, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Raikkonen and Verstappen also had minor problems on the last laps. However, none of the aforementioned drivers made a serious enough mistake to drop out of the race. In the last meters, Perez unexpectedly lost second place, ahead of Leclerc. The Mexican, however, managed to quickly revenge himself and regained his position, and the Monakian fell behind Vettel, losing a place on the podium.
The race was won without any problems by Hamilton, who at Istanbul Park also won the seventh world title. Sainz, Verstappen, Albon, Stroll, Norris and Ricciardo also ranked on the scoring positions, apart from the aforementioned Perez, Vettel and Leclerc. The Australian closed the top ten and scored one spot. Ocon, Kwiat, Gasly, Bottas, Raikkonen, Russel and Magnussen were out of the points.
The next race of the 2020 season is scheduled in two weeks in Bahrain. Last year, Lewis Hamilton turned out to be the fastest at Sakhir. It is worth remembering, however, that those games were played at the end of March.
The results of the race for the Turkish Grand Prix:
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1: 42.19.313 (25 points)
2. Sergio Perez (Racing Point) + 31,633 (18 pkt)
3. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) +31,690 (15 pkt)
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +33.858 (12 pkt)
5. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) +34,363 (10 pkt)
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +44,873 (8 pkt)
7. Alexander Albon (Red Bull) +46,484 (6 pkt)
8. Lando Norris (McLaren) +61,259 (4 pkt)
9. Lance Stroll (Racing Point) +72,353 (2 pkt)
10. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) +95.460 (1 point)
11. Esteban Ocon (Renault) +1 lap
12. Daniil Kwiat (AlphaTauri) +1 lap
13. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) +1 lap
14. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +1 lap
15. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) +1 lap
16. George Russell (Williams) +1 lap
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
18. Romain Grosjean (Haas) not classified
19. Nicholas Latifi (Williams) not classified
20. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) not classified
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