Lewis Hamilton was crowned Formula 1 World Driver’s Champion for a record-equalling seventh time after claiming his 94th career Grand Prix win at the Turkish Grand Prix.
How Hamilton won the Turkish Grand Prix
Polesitter Lance Stroll got off the grid well as did his teammate Sergio Perez while the Red Bull’s were pulled into the chasing group.
Stroll quickly moved away from the pack building a five second lead over his teammate.
Off the start the Renault’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz suffered a coming together as the former tried to avoid slamming into Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel shot up the field after starting from 11th getting ahead of both the Red Bull’s.
Max Verstappen settled in behind Vettel pushing the German as much as possible in the slippery conditions.
The first round of pit stops came quite early with Charles Leclerc the first to put on a set of intermediates which helped him move into the top ten.
An error from Hamilton, chasing Vettel, allowed Albon to get beyond the Mercedes on lap 15. The Red Bull’s had the race pace and Albon soon took Vettel as well.
The pit stops allowed Verstappen to get past Vettel before catching up to Perez. The Red Bull’s charge was then stopped as he was unable to work his way past the Racing Point.
In trying to get past Perez, Verstappen spun off and was forced to pit for a new set of tyres slipping to eighth place.
It then fell to Alex Albon in the second Red Bull to try and catch Perez. After 20 laps Stroll led from Perez and Albon with Vettel and Hamilton some way back in fourth and fifth.
At the halfway point Albon reported that his tires were going, well before they were expecting to put on slicks.
On lap 30 the stewards allowed DRS to be enabled to make the race even more interesting.
Leclerc was also the first man to put on another set of intermediates with the track drying but still extremely slippery.
Albon spun out from third and lost the place to Hamilton with Vettel having gone into the pits and endured a slow stop.
Stroll in the pits
Stroll came into the pits on lap 37 putting on a set of inters but falling back into the chasing pack.
Later on that same lap Hamilton slipped past Perez to take the lead of the race. His championship rival Valtteri Bottas had spun earlier in the race leaving him at the rear of the field and spun again, virtually guaranteeing that Hamilton would claim the championship.
Stroll ran into trouble after the pit stop dropping places as he struggled to keep the car on the track, dropping to eighth.
Leclerc passed Verstappen to go into third and that was enough to send the Red Bull into the pits at the end of his 43rd lap.
Hamilton lapped Bottas but only after the Finn had blue flags waved at him.
With ten laps to go Hamilton was 18 seconds clear of Perez in second with the Racing Point seemingly more focused on staying ahead of the Ferraris.
Leclerc managed to hold onto third despite a spin and off on the 51st lap.
Kimi Raikkonen and Verstappen spun just about in stereo with six laps to go and it was clear then that Red Bull’s challenge was over.
Hamilton produced another tyre masterclass but still needed to get the car to the end on the now almost slick intermediate tyres, refusing a pit stop with two laps to go.
A lunge at Perez by Leclerc allowed his Ferrari teammate to pinch third in a dramatic end to the race for the podium.
Turkish Grand Prix results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 58 | 1:42:19.313 | 25 |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 58 | +31.633s | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 58 | +31.960s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 58 | +33.858s | 12 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | MCLAREN RENAULT | 58 | +34.363s | 10 |
| 6 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 58 | +44.873s | 8 |
| 7 | 23 | Alexander Albon | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 58 | +46.484s | 6 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN RENAULT | 58 | +61.259s | 5 |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES | 58 | +72.353s | 2 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RENAULT | 58 | +95.460s | 1 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | RENAULT | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 16 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 57 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 55 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 8 | Romain Grosjean | HAAS FERRARI | 49 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 39 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 11 | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results. Note – Norris scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
