HIS7ORY in the Making

 

Disclaimer: I try to keep an unbiased perspective in all my posts however on this very occasion that unbiasedness has been compromised. 

After a qualifying session that stunned the F1 world, the Turkish Grand Prix was always going to be an eventful race especially with the heavy rain that had been forecast. 

With the grid jumbled up in positions they had never been in before, the outcome of the race was something nobody could have ever predicted. Stroll on pole, Perez in 3rd, Lewis in 6th, Raikonnen in 8th, and Bottas in 9th. Now if you were to guess who was to win this race what would your guess be? Following the strong qualifying displayed by both Red Bull and the men at Force India, one would only believe that they would occupy all 3 podium positions. Yet the grand Prix ended with a Brit, Mexican, and German sharing the top 3 steps. 

Yes, you have heard me correctly, a German occupied the third step and who else would that be than 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. A special mention for him considering the extremely tough season he has had to endure thus far this year. 

From the get-go, nobody expected that a Silver Arrow would have won the race, let alone be on any of the podium steps. But yet again, Lewis Hamilton failed to disappoint, showing his class, grit, and sheer driving ability to make his way from 6th on the grid to win a memorable Turkish Grand Prix. 

An icy start meant that drivers got off the line at snail like speed, many suffering from the lack of grip and temperature in their tyres. A couple spins from Ocon and Bottas saw them drop to the back of the field in a comedic like sequence at turn 1. The two would be involved in more than one event throughout the race - one to forget for both the Frenchman and the Finn. Meanwhile, both the boys in Pink raced into the distance, Stroll opening up a 3.5 second lead at the start of the Grand Prix which was simply incredible - a testament to his driving ability which has been under the scrutiny of many for a long time. This early success however diminished quickly as the pink cars would be unable to maintain strong long-run speed as they lost grip and temperature in their wet tyres. 

This phase of the race saw the Red Bull's come back strong. Both Albon and Verstappen setting personal bests lap after lap, catching up to the Force India's who had taken a very early lead. Amongst all of this, however, Verstappen spun out chasing Sergio Perez which flat-spotted his tyres and forced another pit stop. Meanwhile, Hamilton was stuck behind Sebastian Vettel down in 5th as the Mercedes never really was able to set those tyres alight. Everyone knew though, that a battle was brewing. 

Fast forward through the race and as the track dried, many debated whether to move from the inter's to the slicks but went against it due to the slippery nature of the track's surface which caught out nearly every driver in FP1 on Friday. The key decision here was to make your inter's last long enough that they themselves would bald and become a hybrid between slicks and inters, giving you the grip in the drier parts of the track and the wetter areas too. There were 2 drivers who did this and both of them occupied the first 2 steps of the podium - Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. 

A sublime drive from Hamilton saw his patience as he waited for the right times to attack, the right way to manage the tyres, and the right way to judge a race. His never-give-up attitude was on show today as he proved to the world why he deserves to be a 7-time world champion. Full of emotion at the end of the race, it was evidently tough for him to comprehend the fact that he just tied Michael Schumacher's world record of 7 championships - a feat that nobody ever thought would have been equalled. 

A happy day for some, but a tough day at the office for others. Bottas had a shocker, Leclerc would have been on the third step had he not tried to overtake Perez into the final corner and Verstappen would have definitely been on a podium if he hadn't pushed as hard on Perez. After all, though, racing is about taking those chances and if you don't, are you really racing?

The European phase of the calendar has finally come to an end and we now look ahead to the triple header in the Middle East. Both the constructors and drivers championships have been wrapped up but there is still a lot to play for in the midfield and for 2nd place in the championship. 

I feel an intense few weeks coming our way. Till then, ciao.