Thank you very much for joining me. Here is the race report.
Hamilton speaks ...
On leaving places: “I didn’t know at the time but I could have assumed. I knew I would lose one perhaps.”
On the tyres potentially lasting: “Ocon’s did, so they probably could.
“The tyres are bald, so you don’t know how far they are going to go. I was losing performance to the guys behind. In hindsight, I should have stayed out or pitted a lot earlier.
“It could be worse.”
Toto Wolff: “We thought we could maybe hang out there and finish third without stopping or hoping for a dry line and going with a soft.
“We saw Leclerc dropping off and Lewis dropping off and we knew we wouldn’t make it to the end.
“It was the right thing to do. If he’d stayed out we would have dropped off more.
“In the car you have a limited amount of information.
“The correct call would have been taking very conservatively, pitting everyone else, coming out behind Perez and fighting for P3.”
On Bottas: “A dominant drive from the get-go. A 10 out of 10 race for me.”
Hamilton is slowly wandering around towards the media. What will he say? I assume it will not be positive but that is what you get from serial winners.
Fine work from Sainz.
Carlos Sainz made up 11 places today 👏
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 10, 2021
No wonder you voted him #F1DriverOfTheDay #TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/gfQjDPPKyf
“Why did Hamilton suddenly decide to pit so late after ignoring his team’s earlier efforts to have him come in?” asks Rob Rutkowski. “Hamilton should have stayed the course.”
Hamilton asked to delay it but then the big Mercedes boffins and their computer said it was best to do it, although it looks like it was all too late. We will never know if Hamilton could have held onto third, it seems.
Time for some champagne spraying ...
The top three wander up to the podium and offer some lovely waving to the crowd. Bottas is very pleased with himself as the Finnish anthem starts.
Race result.
Great work from @ValtteriBottas today 👏#TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/U24u9xfZAl
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 10, 2021
Perez: “It was quite an intense race. The start was pretty good.
“It was one of those races you need to know when to push at the right times. It was hard to manage the tyres today.”
Verstappen: “It wasn’t very easy. The track was very greasy. I felt like Bottas had a bit more pace and could look after the tyres better.
“I am happy to finish second, as it would have been easy to make a mistake and drop back.”
What was the hardest part for you? “Staying awake.”
“Austin will be a good battle with Mercedes.”
Bottas: “It’s been a while, it feels good.
“From my side, it’s one of the best races ever. The car has been good in every condition. It’s not easy to choose the strategy here but everything went well.
“Where there is only one dry line, it doesn’t take much to go off. It feels like a well-earned victory.
A very good day for Red Bull, not just because Verstappen now atops the championship leaderboard, but due to the fact he is joined on the podium by his teammate Perez on the podium.
Verstappen now has a six-point lead over Hamilton at the top of the championship. For a long time, he looked like it would only be a single point but that ill-advised pit stop ruined Hamilton’s day.
Top six:
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Sergio Perez
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly
Valterri Bottas wins the Turkish GP
It has been a good day for one half of the Mercedes team, as the Finn cruises to victory after starting on pole. The real story of the day, however, will be about Hamilton’s dropped points.
Updated
Lap 57/58: Hamilton has lost time and will finish in fifth, at best. I would not want to be in that post-mortem later. The tyres never got up to speed after being changed, providing no help, instead becoming a hindrance.
Lap 56/58: Bottas is going for the fastest lap, a sign of his enjoyment of his weekend in Istanbul. He gets it.
Lap 55/58: Bottas is going to win this race, as he is nine seconds ahead of Verstappen. That will not make Hamilton feel any better. He will be fuming if he finishes in fifth or worse.
Lap 54/58: Hamilton moaning again: “We shouldn’t have come in. I told you!” Lewis’ beef is with the team’s logistics operation. In worse news ... Gasly is chasing him down now, as he struggles to get anywhere near Leclerc.
Updated
Lap 53/58: Hamilton is hunting down Leclerc.
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Sergio Perez
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly
Lap 52/58: Hamilton is fuming on the radio, asking why they gave up places for the pit.
Lap 51/58: Perez overtakes Leclerc to move up to third.
Lap 50/58: Hello ... Hamilton is coming in for a pit. Oooooof! Needs a perfect change and gets it. He has dropped down to fifth coming out. He has some work to do to get back up.
Lap 49/58: Hamilton’s tyres look to be struggling at this point and the track is drying out, giving teams a late decision to make. It looks like Hamilton will stick with what he’s got, though.
Sainz takes the fastest lap.
Lap 48/58:
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Charles Leclerc
5 .Sergio Perez
6. Pierre Gasly
Lap 47/58: Bottas is back into the lead! He has Leclerc offering a buffer to Verstappen. Hamilton is losing time on Verstappen. Finishing fourth with the Dutchman in third would be a decent result for Hamilton in the circumstance when looking at the bigger picture.
Leclerc is coming in ... allowing Verstappen up to second.
Lap 46/58: Bottas is closing on Leclerc and will be past him soon enough, I reckon.
Lap 45/58: Leclerc asks what position Ferrari for “if you keep Bottas behind you, P1” - good stuff from the team. I could offer that level of dreadful advice.
Lap 44/58: No one has won a race without a pit stop since 2016. Bold stuff from Leclerc. He has locked up twice going into turn 12, giving Bottas an opening.
Verstappen is having some issues with his steering wheel, which is worrying.
Lap 43/58: Leclerc is two and a half seconds ahead of Bottas and dropping. It is a decent gap but will his no-stop plan work?
Lap 42/58: Verstappen is dropping Hamilton, who looks lined up for a new set of tyres. Hamilton is being called in and is not happy about it, so holds it off. Will he relent?
Updated
Lap 41/58: Leclerc is going to stick - and twist - by going with the same tyres to the end. A bold move but you have to be in this game.
Updated
Lap 40/58: Leclerc is hoping to go to the end without stopping. His team are now working out if he can, as the Ferrari driver looks for the win.
Lap 39/58: Vettel comes back in for tyres that might work.
1. Charles Leclerc
2. Valterri Bottas
3. Max Verstappen
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Pierre Gasly
6. Sergio Perez
Lap 38/58: Vettel comes out on the slicks ... good luck, mate. He looks like he is fighting the car now and is saying “it’s not worked”. Vettel looks like a danger out on track as he cannot control it.
Lap 37/58: Verstappen comes in to pit ... and it is a quick one. Good work from the Red Bull team. He comes back out in third between Leclerc.
Bottas also pits to back out behind Leclerc after a stop, too.
Lap 36/58: Hamilton is straight back at Perez, who will need to keep his concentration up.
Perez bemoans “he pushed me off” on his radio. I am not sure that was the case.
Lap 35/58: Hamilton and Perez have a proper battle, ending with the Briton failing to overtake. There were wheel-to-wheel for five corners, ending the Mexican ending up keeping fourth spot.
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly
Lap 34/58: Hamilton is not being helped in the final few corners, as there is little grip in there.
Lap 33/58: There is just under a second between Perez and Hamilton ...
Lap 32/58: Bottas has added another half a second to his lead. Verstappen needs to respond ...
Lap 31/58: Bottas is increasing his lead at the front over Verstappen. It is up to four seconds.
Lap 30/58:
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly
Lap 29/58: Just over two second between Hamilton in fifth and Perez in fourth. When will he want to make a move?
Lap 28/58: Vettel says it will be able to move onto dry tyres at some point, as the track dries.
Lap 27/58: Sainz wants a one-stop but his team might have to question that, as it is hard for the tyres in these conditions to go for too long.
Lap 26/58: The rain is back after some brief respite, much to the drivers’ chagrin.
Lap 25/58: Ricciardo’s new set of intermediaries are not doing the business, leaving everyone else to consider their move.
Lap 24/58: Leclerc has been ticking along in third and now has the fastest lap to his name.
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly
Lap 23/58: Sainz now has Stroll in his sights, as he looks to move up to eighth to keep his momentum going.
Lap 22/58: Ricciardo comes into pit first. It is not much of a gamble as he arrived in 16th and leaves two places down with a new set of tyres.
Lap 21/58: Hamilton’s right side is certainly looking bald but it hasn’t stopped him taking the fastest lap.
Lap 20/58: It looks like the pits will start soon ...
Dave Manby emails re 12:28: “Has there ever been a Turkish F1 driver?
Not that I know of but there was a pair of drivers who won the Camel
Challenge one year.”
Lap 19/58: Bottas bests Verstappen to take the fastest lap. It is all fun and games at the front.
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly
Lap 18/58: Verstappen has taken the fastest lap! He’s stepped it up and Bottas will need to respond.
Lap 17/58: Hamilton is chasing down Perez. Will the Red Bull man be able to hold him off to help teammate Verstappen?
Lap 16/58: Hamilton says his right side is getting a bald. When will the change come? Soon I suspect, as it looks very bald.
Lap 15/58: Bottas is extending his lead at the front. Verstappen is unable to keep up with the Finn. I wonder why ...
Updated
Lap 14/58: Sainz goes on the inside of Vettel, he gets past him, but makes contact as he does after losing a little bit of grip.
Hamilton sees off Gasly now! Up to fifth with limited fuss.
Lap 13/58: Hamilton’s fastest lap is half a second quicker than anyone else in the field, proving that he is in contention here.
Lap 12/58: Sainz is a man on a mission in 11th, as drives aggressively to get up the field.
Lap 11/58: The next to see Hamilton pass him is Norris, as he waves his compatriot off into sixth spot. Hamilton also has the fastest lap to his name, too.
Current top six:
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Pierre Gasly
6. Lewis Hamilton
Lap 10/58: Bottas is two and a half seconds ahead of Verstappen in second, which will please the Finn.
Lap 9/58: Gasly is given a five-second time penalty for his involvement in Alonso spinning out early doors.
Alonso then gets his own five-second penalty for catching Schumacher.
Hamilton moves into seventh after easing his way past Stroll.
Lap 8/58: Hamilton goes round the outside of Tsunoda on turn three to move into eighth.
Lap 7/58: Sainz has already gone past Russell and has just seen off Raikkonen to get him into 13th.
Schumacher’s contact with Alonso is under investigation ...
Lap 6/58: Tsunoda is keeping Hamilton at bay, with some fine driving. How will the Mercedes man get past him?
Lap 5/58: Cooling tyres is the name of the game in the early laps, whoever does that best could have a very good race.
Lap 4/58: Verstappen has some gear shift issues ... which could be good news for Hamilton.
Lap 3/58: Plenty of drivers seem to be managing their tyre temperatures to extend their life. Hamilton isn’t too worried, though, as he pushes to overtake Tsunoda.
Lap 2/58: Hamilton has moved up to ninth already thanks to the mistakes of others.
The rain will have a big say in this race.
Lap 1/58: Alonso spins out at turn one and loses plenty of places, dropping down to 15th. There is plenty of spray coming off the tyres, that’s for sure. No problems for Bottas or Verstappen at the front.
Updated
Lights out
Here we go!
Updated
Whoever wins will at least get a cheap ‘Turkish delight’ headline to enjoy.
There are plenty of fans at the circuit. Did they all take a cab?
“Surely the dream scenario for Mercedes is Verstappen making an impetuous move on lap which Bottas has to defend resulting on a collision which causes a Verstappen retirement,” says Rory Jackson. “Likelihood of an impetuous Verstappen move - high. Likelihood of a robust Bottas defence - extremely low.”
Updated
Pressure? Nah.
The rain has come down in Istanbul, which will make things a little more intriguing on the track.
Has there ever been a Turkish F1 driver? I cannot think of one but I may be very wrong.
Your starting grid ...
STARTING GRID: TURKEY 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 9, 2021
After grid penalties are applied for Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz, here's how the drivers will line up for Sunday's race 🚦#TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/N5IEkvafDR
Hamilton is in confident mood ...
Good afternoon
Lewis Hamilton has already shown in Istanbul that he can be the fastest man over the weekend but he has a difficult task today due to a grid penalty sending him back to 11th at the start. The important thing is that Hamilton will enjoy the challenge of forcing himself through the field in the race for points.
The Brit is only two points ahead of Max Verstappen going into the race, so will not want to let the Red Bull outscore him by too many in Turkey. There is a bit of spice between the two, which should fire up Hamilton once more.
Bottas has already done his job so far by getting on pole thanks to his second place in qualifying but to complete the job he is there to do in Turkey, the Finn needs to win. Beating Verstappen, to keep the Dutchman’s points down, is very important to Mercedes, that’s for sure. Charles Leclerc is the other driver who might fancy his chances of reaching the podium summit, though.
There is plenty of intrigue and some added needle involved, so it should be an entertaining race.
