Hamilton wins 7th F1 World Title with victory in a wet, challenging Turkish GP

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15 November 2020 at 11:54
Last update 15 November 2020 at 13:51
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Lewis Hamilton has won a fascinating Turkish Grand Prix and has therefore secured his seventh Formula 1 World Championship. Hamilton wins the title around a wet Instanbul Park in a Grand Prix which swung in many different directions throughout the 58 laps. The 35-year-old equals Michael Schumacher's record for the number of career titles. Valtteri Bottas needed to outscore his Mercedes teammate by eight points but failed to score points at all. 

Pole sitter Lance Stroll led the first half of the race, but his Racing Point car struggled when the conditions started to dry. Stroll ended up finishing in 9th place. However, his teammate Sergio Perez managed to hang on for his ninth career podium. 

Seven-time World Champion Hamilton, who started from sixth place, had a lot of work to do to get ahead. But once he was ahead in clear air, the Brit pulled away and eventually lapped his teammate. It could be one of Hamilton's best wins in Formula 1 who overruled Mercedes' choice to pit him at the end of the race.

At one stage, Alex Albon was looking like a contender to win. The British-Thai driver spun in the second half of the race, ending his chances of winning his first Grand Prix, as he looks to try and secure a seat at Red Bull Racing. 

The Ferrari car looked strong in the wet conditions. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel managed to get the tyres in the correct window and climb through the pack. Vettel completed the podium by overtaking his teammate on the last corner when the man from Monaco was trying to pinch second and made a mistake.

The drivers started on wet tyres, but the track was ready for intermediates almost straight away. After the half-way point, a dry line appeared but there wasn't enough grip to put on the slick tyres. 

Lights out

On the way to the start line, Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell had contact with the wall. Both drivers managed to start the race.

At the first corner, Bottas spun around after a tangle with the two Renault drivers and dropped to the back. The two Racing Point drivers managed to get heat into their tyres almost immediately and pulled away.

Sebastian Vettel gained eight places on the first lap to move up to third for the first time in 2020. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen who struggled off the start line was attacking the Ferrari driver.

Busy pit lane

On lap seven, Charles Leclerc was the first driver to take the gamble and switch to intermediate tyres. Using Leclerc's positive data, Ferrari opted to pit Vettel to try the undercut on the Dutchman. A flurry of pitstops followed, including both Mercedes and race leader Stroll. Verstappen took the lead when Perez opted to pit. The Racing Point pit crew had some trouble with the front tyres and took 4.9 seconds to complete the stop.

With everyone setting purple lap times on the intermediates, Red Bull opted to pit Verstappen on lap 11 despite the driver asking to stay on the track. Verstappen emerged out of the pits ahead of Vettel. In pursuit of Perez, Verstappen tried to overtake at turn 11. The Dutchman touched the wet part of the track and spun around. He then pitted for a new set of intermediates and dropped to P8.

On lap 37, race leader Stroll pitted for the second time. With the track not yet ready for slicks, it was a fresh set of intermediates. He returned in fourth place, behind Verstappen. With Hamilton breathing down Perez's neck, Hamilton used DRS to glide into the lead. 

In clear air, Hamilton pushed ahead and opened up a 20-second lead by lap 50. He had also lapped teammate Bottas who spun many times in the race. 

Final twist?

The weather radar predicted rain for the final eight laps. With the intermediate tyres growing old, several drivers who were outside the points started to spin. The Ferrari engineers told Vettel that there would be heavy rain in the final lap.