Truly the drive of a seven-time world champion.
On a challenging, grey day in Istanbul, Lewis Hamilton took his 94th grand prix victory and, in doing so, claimed a record-equalling seventh world championship.
As the Mercedes pulled up to the specially marked ‘World Champion’ board, it looked as though it had been to war – intermediate tyres warn down to effectively become slicks, the usually glossy, black finish now matte thanks to a layer of grime and bitumen. In many ways, it had been a war. And Hamilton’s battling performance was one thoroughly fitting of becoming the most successful driver in the history of the sport.
It all started on Friday, with the Mercedes unable to get any heat into their tyres as they – and the rest of the field – slid round what was for all intents and purposes an ice rink, before rain arrived on Saturday to add yet more jeopardy. It speaks volumes that Hamilton was happy with sixth on the grid. Teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified ninth – as Lance Stroll took an incredible maiden pole position – and Hamilton appeared likely to clinch the title, but in an unusually low position.
As the lights went out, the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon struggled to get away and fell back down the field. The pack emerged from the first corner with a Racing Point 1-2, ahead of Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, up from 11th on the grid. Esteban Ocon had been spun by his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, and Bottas also found himself spinning in sympathy as he reacted to Ocon pointing in the wrong direction.
Halfway around the first tour, Hamilton would make his only error of the day as he missed the chicane of Turns 9 and 10, suffering with cold brakes, and fell back to sixth behind Vettel and the recovering Red Bulls. Those at the front then fell into something of a holding pattern until around lap 10 when the drivers decided to switch their wet tyres for inters, with Verstappen jumping Vettel through the pit stops.
By lap 18, Verstappen was closing up rapidly on the leading pair. The Dutchman had been the bookmakers’ favourite for the race, having looked the most comfortable throughout the weekend, but his impatience would get the better of him. Following Sergio Pérez too closely through the high-speed kink of Turn 11, Verstappen ran wide onto the extra slippery run-off area and performed an unwanted 540° pirouette. To compound his problems, he was then forced to retreat to the pits to replace his flat-spotted tyres.
Stroll continued to lead from his teammate past the halfway point and was displaying some impressive maturity for his first experience heading a grand prix. The track was continuing to dry, though, and his tyres were beginning to struggle. It was the Racing Point’s ability to heat its tyres sufficiently that had produced the surprise pole on Saturday but, as the race progressed, Stroll was now experiencing the other side of that double-edged sword. Pérez and the third-placed Albon were closing in.
Albon would spin on lap 34, however, and thus released the increasingly confident Hamilton. The World Champion started eating into the gap at a rate of about one second per lap and Racing Point made what would turn out to be the poor decision to pit Stroll. He never got the new inters working – the tyres even graining within just a couple of laps – and fell all the way back to eventually finish a hugely disappointing ninth.
So, it had become a battle of F1’s two ‘tyre whisperers’ at the front. The overtake would not take Hamilton long, though, streaking past at the end of the back straight and clearing off into the distance. Within five laps he had built a gap of 15 seconds.
Further back, Charles Leclerc, who had been steadily working his way through the field, aided by some nicely timed pit stops, passed Verstappen for third place. Verstappen immediately headed into the pits for his third stop of the day, which promoted Vettel into fourth, and the two Ferraris set about closing the gap to Pérez.
To add one final twist to an extraordinary race, rain started to fall again in the final few minutes, with a downpour predicted for the very last lap. Verstappen and Kimi Räikkönen spun in tandem and Mercedes decided to bring Hamilton in for a ‘safety stop’. With thoughts of his infamous 2007 pit stop in China at the forefront of this mind, Hamilton overruled his team and brought the car home without incident for a victory that had required absolutely all of his skill and experience.
On the final lap, meanwhile, Leclerc had passed Pérez after he ran wide at the chicane, only to outbreak himself and lose not only second to the Mexican but also the final podium place to his teammate. A bitter pill to swallow for Leclerc, who was characteristically hard on himself for the mistake, but joy for two drivers, in Pérez and Vettel, who have had tough years for varying reasons. The Mexican makes yet another compelling case for a race seat next year.
The McLarens recovered very well from a disappointing qualifying and were the fastest cars on track at the end of the race. Carlos Sainz very nearly added extra salt to Leclerc’s wounds, crossing the line just a few metres behind, whilst Lando Norris recovered to take eighth and the fastest lap. The Red Bulls filled that McLaren sandwich, with Verstappen ahead of Albon, and Ricciardo secured the final point.
Despite being over a pit stop behind the leaders in the early stages, Hamilton crossed the line with his second-largest winning margin ever of 31 seconds. It was a performance reminiscent of his largest winning margin at Silverstone in 2008. A masterclass in truly testing conditions and there were certainly shades of Felipe Massa as Hamilton’s only title rival, Bottas, spun no fewer than six times, before eventually being lapped by his teammate.
It felt very apt that Vettel should be on the podium to celebrate such a momentous occasion with Hamilton. The two have grown close through their title battles and Vettel was the first to congratulate the Briton as he sat, visibly overcome with emotion, in the cockpit. Vettel could be heard saying “it’s a privilege to be witnessing you making history, man”. They have now shared the podium more than any other pairing in history.
Amid the Drama, an Alarming Error
Whilst there was undeniably a lot to deal with on Saturday, there was another worrying mistake made by Michael Masi and those in charge. When the cars were released from the pits for the start of Q2, a group of marshals and most importantly a recovery crane were still completing the removal of Nicholas Latifi’s abandoned Williams.
Alarmingly, Masi then doubled down on the error by later saying, “It was quite close to the barrier, the crane was on its way, and we were given assurances that it would be well and truly clear. Looking at everything, I was more than comfortable with the local assurances on that basis.”
For all his questionable safety cars and red flags this season, when there is a genuinely dangerous situation, the cars were sent out. A perilously wet track and a crane removing a car in the gravel trap should give anyone involved with F1 a sharp shot of PTSD and Martin Brundle sounded noticeably uncomfortable and shocked at what he was witnessing. And for the sake of what? A delay of a few seconds in restarting the session? It should be incredibly simple – the race does not restart until any recovery vehicle is beyond the confines of the circuit.
Vettel described it as a mistake with “zero tolerance”. Please, Mr. Masi, never let us see that happen again.
But the Day Belongs to Hamil7on
A final word for the man who became – at the very least, statistically – the greatest F1 driver of all time.
Lewis Hamilton very rarely lets his emotions come to the fore these days. So, it was particularly moving to see him totally overwhelmed by what he has achieved. With the frequency at which his wins come these days, it is easy to forget just how much he has had to overcome to get to this point; to realise his wildest dreams.
For, whilst he often plays down these milestones ahead of the event, he did admit that he had “probably secretly dreamt” of one day matching Michael Schumacher.
In fact, many of the parallels between Schumacher and Hamilton’s achievements are quite astounding. They both achieved their seventh title at the 14th round of their 14th year of Formula 1. And all this, whilst fighting what he describes as the “bigger fight” for equality and diversity.
How much higher can Hamilton go?
After all, he is still rising…
The Turkish Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Can Lewis Hamilton wrap up a record-equalling seventh World Championship? Yes, and in some style.
Will the track grip up over the course of weekend or will they continue skating around as per Practice 1? The rain came and made conditions even harder for the drivers.
Can any of the teams battling for third open up a gap to the others? It was a good weekend for Racing Point, who now have a slight advantage over McLaren in the standings.
Will we see any Vettel-Webber-esque teammate dramas this weekend? Nothing really, aside from the Renaults coming together at the first corner.
