In Pictures: Turkey 2021
Drivers’ Championship change hands, yet again…
This past weekend should have been the Japanese Grand Prix but due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it was cancelled. F1 was able to negotiate a deal and thus we had a race at Istanbul Park for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix.
The weekend started with a surprising new livery for this race only at Red Bull, painting both RB16B's in white; a homage to Honda and their 60's Formula One racer.
On Friday, Lewis Hamilton showed how dominant his combination with the Mercedes W12 at this track is, setting the fastest times on both sessions.
On a very wet Saturday, Mercedes decided to change Hamilton's engine, so he was set for a 10-place grid penalty on Sunday's grid. During the practice, and while Hamilton's car was worked on, it was Pierre Gasly who set the fastest time. He was followed by Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, and Leclerc, with Spaniard set to start last for a power unit change in his Ferrari.
Then came qualifying, Hamilton's W12 was ready and as expected, set fastest times with Bottas and Verstappen behind. So, in the end, it was Valtteri Bottas inheriting Pole, with Hamilton 11th because of his engine change penalty, Sainz 19th, and Daniel Ricciardo 20th and last after McLaren decided to change the power unit in his MCL35M.
On Sunday, Bottas dominated a damp track winning from pole. He was joined by Verstappen and Perez on the podium. The whole race was run on intermediate tires, except for a 'valiant' Vettel who tried medium slicks, but his Aston Martin was so difficult to drive that had to come into the pits for inters after just one lap. Esteban Ocon, who finished 10th, was the only driver not to change tires the whole race. Carlos Sainz was voted "Driver of the Day" for his amazing drive from 19th to 8th. Hamilton could only manage fifth place after a disagreement with his team about when to change tires in the final laps of the race.
Verstappen is now leading the championship by six points over Hamilton as we head to Texas for the United States Grand Prix at the beautiful Circuit of the Americas.
QUOTES FROM THE PODIUMQUOTES FROM THE PODIUM
““I think from my side, I have to say, probably one of the best races I’ve had ever, the car has been good in every condition and I had good confidence with it and could really control it. It feels… awesome. It feels good and I don’t know, almost like a relief that I actually won a race this year, it’s been a while – and it was not an easy race win; with these conditions we just needed to have full focus, non-stop, and I couldn’t do any mistakes.””
““I’m very pleased with P2! It was not easy to manage the tires the whole race, but we maximized the result. Together with Checo (Perez) on the podium caps off a good day for the team””
““Honestly, the last few races I have been so unlucky. In Monza I finished on the podium, but I had a penalty; Russia, three laps to go I was on the podium. It’s been coming for many races. But certainly it’s nice.
That first stint was so difficult for me, especially towards the end, and Lewis was pretty fast, I think he was at the time the fastest car on track. So to hold him back at that time was pretty challenging; we had a good fight, I had to go and avoid the pit bollard on the pit entry, but it was a good fight overall, managed to stay ahead.””
