Motor racing-Team by team analysis of the Turkish Grand Prix

October 10, 2021

(Reuters) – Team by team analysis of Sunday’s Turkish Formula One Grand Prix at the Istanbul Park circuit (listed in current championship order):

MERCEDES (Valtteri Bottas 1, Lewis Hamilton 5)

Bottas won from pole position and set the fastest lap. It was his first win in more than a year and 10th of his career. Hamilton started 11th on the grid, due to an engine penalty, and was third when he made a late pitstop, losing two places. From being two points clear of Verstappen in the championship he is now six behind. Mercedes are now 36 points clear of Red Bull, a gain of three points.

RED BULL (Max Verstappen 2, Sergio Perez 3)

Verstappen went back on top of the championship while Red Bull celebrated their second double podium finish of the season. The podium was Perez’s first since France in June. Perez went wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton through four corners as they battled for fourth place in a highlight moment of the race.

MCLAREN (Lando Norris 7, Daniel Ricciardo 13)

McLaren’s lead over Ferrari shrank by 10 points to 7.5. Ricciardo started at the back of the grid due to an engine change penalty and struggled with the tyres. The Australian had qualified 15th. Norris started seventh and said it had been a very long and tough race.

FERRARI (Charles Leclerc 4, Carlos Sainz 8)

Leclerc led once Bottas and Verstappen had pitted, staying out as long as he could before the tyres lost performance and he pitted on lap 47 of 58. Sainz was voted Driver of the Day for racing from 19th on the grid to eighth. He lost time in the pitstop, costing him a chance to attack Norris.

ALPINE (Esteban Ocon 10, Fernando Alonso 16)

Alonso made contact with Gasly at the first corner, spinning down the field. The Spaniard fought back but then banged into Schumacher’s Haas and was handed a five second penalty. He came in for fresh intermediates on lap 31. Ocon did not pit, making one set of intermediate tyres last the entire race which is allowed under wet weather rules.

ALPHATAURI (Pierre Gasly 6, Yuki Tsunoda 14)

Gasly was handed a five second penalty for the clash with Alonso, for which he apologised, but still finished 10 seconds from the podium. Tsunoda wore down his tyres battling Hamilton early on and then spun, dropping out of the points. The team closed the gap to Alpine to 12 points.

ASTON MARTIN (Lance Stroll 9, Sebastian Vettel 18)

Vettel made a bold move to switch to slicks at his pitstop, which backfired and he had to pit again on the next lap to take on intermediates again. Otherwise he might have scored. Stroll lost some time in his pitstop but felt he got the most out of the car.

WILLIAMS (George Russell 15, Nicholas Latifi 17)

Russell started 13th and Latifi 15th and both made one stop. Russell lost positions at the start after Alonso’s spin and a battle with Ocon. Latifi spun on the opening lap in what was his first fully wet race. He also lost time behind the Haas drivers.

ALFA ROMEO (Antonio Giovinazzi 11, Kimi Raikkonen 12)

The pair started 16th and 17th respectively but were 12th and 13th after the first lap. They passed Ricciardo with a lap remaining.

HAAS (Mick Schumacher 19, Nikita Mazepin 20)

Schumacher started 14th but the contact with Alonso sent him to the back of the field.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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