Grand Prix 2020 Turkish Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

On moves the F1 circus this time revisiting what is a lovely circuit in the country of Turkey. The Turkish Grand Prix circuit is something of a masterpiece on 3 fronts:

1 - it's produced such good races and has such a nice layout that no of the Clarkson purists are saying "Why are we going to bloody Turkey? We need to go to more traditional circuits" anymore.

2 - The design was perfectly laid out to suit the driving style of Felipe Massa who pretty much won all the time here.

3 - Everyone is so happy to be racing here that everyone is ignoring the fact that Turkey is a country in the grip of the Covid pandemic (400k case, 10k deaths and 2,500 cases just today), in the middle of a war with Syria, and has questionable human rights issues towards its Kurdish population.

I'm not and expert on these issue so can't preach about it but I am aware of them. I went on holiday just outside Bodrum once. It was lovely.

But what can I say about the actual race? Well nothing really because I've actually stopped watching F1 this year and just read about the races in my Google alerts. The whole thing is a big back slapping posh off excuse for an advert at moment. It's a real shame because the greatest F1 driver of the modern era is at his peak. The big business manipulation of the sport leaves him open to the "he only wins because of the car", "Anything could win in his position" and "he's not Jim Clark" comments which inevitable follow any mention of him on the internet. I'll be honest I doubt Lewis Hamilton watches F1 anymore. I really hope he walks away from the sport and goes to do something different.

So, despite there being nothing left to race for and everything being won, F1 will plod on for a handful more races to fill it's TV contract obligation and give not one hoot about a global pandemic, carbon footprint or that the amount of money spent on one simple advert logo in a spot unseeable on a car could feed a huge amount of starving families having to visit food banks right now.

Enjoy the race.
 
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Full credit to him for keeping the car on the track whilst his teammate spun. The advantage was gained on a drying track but he did lift.
 
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With Mercedes poor tyre warm up they could struggle to get a podium tomorrow.

yeah that was really weird because normally i would say its because they are gentle on the tyres & its great in the tyres but effects you in the wet. but perez was 1 of the best out there today. so it cant be that. but very strange not used to see them that bad they usually dominate in all weathers look at styria when he took pole by 1.1 secs. & you have to go back to Britain 2014. for last wet qualifying session Hamilton wasnt on front row for. which funnily enough he won from 6th
 
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Perez apparently blames Giovinazzi for ruining his pole chance when he went off

I think we need more races to host randomly to create a lottery like this
 
I am trying to remember which race was it that it deemed unsafe if there is too much standing water for drivers to qualify

Fuji 2007? Usually the front runners winge or use the radio as a way to hide the fact that they may get knocked out in F1 so the session has to stop
 
Il_leone you said earlier in the year that if Stroll beat Perez over the season you would admit he was in F1 on talent. Hope you'll stick to that one and not use Covid (which they have both had) as an excuse.
 
i dont whether this is the blind loyalty of a football fan but no matter bad F1 gets i cant give up on it because you never know when F1 will be back. take today, its been a long while since the last time before a GP, i had no idea who could be on the podium

i never got the lance stroll bashing, because in his junior career he won F3 & in both F3 seasons he beat George Russell in both seasons, he is the highly rated "newcomer" in F1. in his 1st season as a 19yr old he showed experience that many more established drivers didnt in both Baku & Monza. by in both cases being quick & just keeping out of trouble
 
Il_leone you said earlier in the year that if Stroll beat Perez over the season you would admit he was in F1 on talent. Hope you'll stick to that one and not use Covid (which they have both had) as an excuse.
Drivers on the F1 grid are there to prove critics wrong so if that is the case I will eat humble pie ale Murray Walker would say.

I will say Stroll nailed it yesterday whereas Perez fluffed it . Maybe the virus seriously affected Stroll in the last few races because he has been off the pace.

Today I will say there will some interesting conversations about what happened in the race. Team orders was not applied but if Perez had won....
 
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What a delight that was! Yes I’m a massive Hamilton fan but that’s not the whole reason it was a delight. I wasn't sure what order the podium would be, whether Perez or Ham would lose their tyres, if it would rain, right until the chequered flag fell, the race would have been a delight whatever outcome. A great race. Experience and talent certainly showed today. Hamilton lapped his teammate , Max barely beat his. Perez once again showed what a huge talent he is. Come on red Bull or Mercedes, snap him up!
I’ve never been a massive Vettel fan but I felt really pleased he was on the podium today, seemed right somehow.
Lewis was stunning. I was at Istanbul parc in 2006, Lewis in GP2 had a stonker of a race, he had another stonker today. A brilliant way to take his 7th.
 
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