Sunday 10 October 2021
World championship races still wide open
Hamilton pissed off at a late pit stop
Valterri Bottas wins a sovereign victory in Istanbul. Max Verstappen is now leading in the World Cup, also because Hamilton has to stop late. Mick Schumacher is pushed off the track by Fernando Alonso, for Sebastian Vettel it is a weekend to forget.
Lewis Hamilton stomped into the Mercedes box in frustration, Sebastian Vettel apologized to his crew via radio while still in the racing car. The two most highly decorated active Formula 1 drivers were not rewarded for their risk in the rain of Istanbul. While Vettel’s experiment with dry tires did not cost any championship points, Hamilton was angry after finishing fifth and now again six points behind Max Verstappen in the championship fight – because of the decision of his Mercedes team to prevent him from driving through a single set of tires.
“The tires could have held up,” said Hamilton at Sky UK: “In retrospect, I should have stayed outside or come in much earlier. Ultimately, it’s frustrating. In third place it was a good feeling. Now it’s worse, but it could have gotten worse. ”
Bottas prevents Red Bull double victory
At least Hamilton’s noble helper Valtteri Bottas prevented greater damage in the second Mercedes with his tenth Formula 1 victory before Verstappen. “It feels good. It was one of the best races of my career,” said Bottas.
Red Bull star Verstappen is now six points ahead of Hamilton thanks to second place. His team mate Sergio Perez came in third. “It’s been very close all season,” said Verstappen: “It wasn’t easy. The track was very slippery, we were very busy with tire management.”
Vettel also took risks in the fight for at least a few championship points – and was also not rewarded: While all opponents drove on intermediates, the Aston Martin driver had dry tires fitted after 40 of 58 laps. Vettel had to quickly find out: That doesn’t help. The Heppenheimer was passed on and finished 18th.
Mick Schumacher also experienced a used day. The 22-year-old’s Haas car was shot in the early stages by former world champion Fernando Alonso (Alpine). Schumacher, who had taken a strong 14th place on the grid in qualifying and was squinting towards the top 10, fell back to the bottom of the field and ultimately came in 19th.
Hamilton was not very optimistic beforehand
It rained again overnight at the gates of Istanbul, the asphalt was still wet at the start, and it kept dripping slightly. “It’s going to be difficult today,” said Hamilton, who, despite the best time in qualifying, only started from eleventh place due to an engine penalty, about the conditions: “It’s damp, it’s drizzling, the track is very different from last year. Neither of us knows what’s going to happen today. “
In any case, little happened at the start. Pole-setter Bottas turned into the first corner before Verstappen, Hamilton passed Vettel quickly in poor visibility, but then got stuck seven laps behind the AlphaTauri of the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda. The world champion worked his way up place by place. Then a moving obstacle was waiting in Perez.
“I’m sliding”
On lap 34, the two drivers fought a spectacular wheel-to-wheel duel over several bends, Perez left the track and partly used the pit entrance.
At the end of lap 36, Verstappen was the first top driver to get new intermediate tires – and came back on track ahead of the brawlers Perez and Hamilton. Hamilton and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stayed on their first set of tires for a long time – in the hope that the track would dry out enough for dry tires.
With ten laps to go, Leclerc gave up on his plan, and after slowing down, he picked up new intermediates for the final sprint. Hamilton turned completely around: The 100-time Grand Prix winner wanted to cover the more than 309 km on a single set of tires. “I slide back and forth, but it still works”. Ultimately, the team overruled him. “We shouldn’t have come in! I told you,” Hamilton later complained about the stop.