Sunday's summary: Mercedes shows speed and Verstappen regains lead
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix was another eventful day. Valtteri Bottas drove to a dominant victory at Istanbul Park and Max Verstappen finished second. GPblog lists the highlights of the day.
Verstappen regains the lead
The Dutchman may not have won the race, but a strong P2 ensures that he is back in the lead in the championship. The gap to Lewis Hamilton is just six points. The Briton finished only fifth after a late pit stop caused problems with the intermediate tyres. Sergio Perez is slowly closing in on Lando Norris' fourth place. Read the full championship standings here.
Top speed Mercedes
Mercedes seem to have found some extra speed in the final stages of the season. Red Bull were expected to have a strong car in Turkey, but Mercedes were faster all weekend. Christian Horner even went to the FIA to ask some questions about the 15 to 20hp extra speed Mercedes has on the straights. Valtteri Bottas drove a dominant race and finished with a big lead over Verstappen. The next race is the United States Grand Prix, where it will be exciting who has the faster car there.
Hamilton frustrated
After Mercedes' late decision to pit Hamilton for new tyres, the Briton sounded frustrated on the board radio. According to the seven times world champion, he could have continued on the same set of tyres until the end. At the end of the race there was a deadly silence after Hamilton's engineer apologised. According to Mercedes Hamilton would have finished fifth or even lower if he had continued.