Grand Prix 2021 Turkish Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Gobble, gobble gobble, it's the Grand Prix of Turkey!

Right, that's the casual racism over let's discuss the race which was supposed to replace Canada, but then got replaced by Styria and now is replacing Singapore. Got that? Good. We got F1 back in Turkey in 2020 to bulk out the calendar. You have to ask why the Turkish race was dropped after 2011, as the track is by far one of the best modern circuits, but money talks.

You might recall the 2020 race, we had Lance Stroll on pole and F1 attempted to create Dancing on Ice with rain on a newly laid surface creating a super low grip environment. Stroll was leading handsomely until a second pit stop and a damaged front wing destroyed his new rubber. Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton, who started 6th, tiptoed round and stole the race in what, for me at least, was the drive of his career. I suitable demonstration of his talents to secure his seventh World Championship.

I don't believe the owners of Istanbul Park have resurfaced the track this year, however the long distance weather forecast suggest that it might rain. This also won't be a race where we see a new World Champion crowned. So what might we expect? Max will be back towards the front now he has taken his engine penalty from Russia. Lewis will be there as well, but who else might be in with a chance? I don't think either Perez or Bottas are potential race winners, although if there is an incident between the two protagonists one or the other might be there to pick up the pieces.

But might the McLaren resurgence continue? A wet race would certainly mix thing up and could even present a chance for Ferrari to get back closer to the podium paces. Behind these four teams the battle for the remaining points will be between Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin and Alpine. Williams might collect a few more points and Alfa Romeo and Haas will also be at the race.

The race will be over 58 laps of a 3.32 mile circuit. Enjoy.
 
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It's been an unusual pair of races.

Russia, a track that usually provides absolutely bloody awful racing, produced a great race.

Turkey, a track that in the past has provided some great racing, produced a race that could have sent a glass eye to sleep (and it was a wet race !!!!)

Who'da thunk it.
 
i wouldve pitted & gone for the new tyres. but sticking with old bald inters won him the 2020 Turkish GP so i fully understand why lewis carried on. for so long, but i think strategy team were damned if they do damned if they didnt as he was losing a second a lap to verstappen with 14 laps & highly likely a sitting duck considering how tough leclerc found it & also in the final laps ocon lost 4 secs a lap. so pitted hamilton & entered troubles. weirdly in hindsight how the entire race went i wouldve pitted 25-30 but you wouldve been dragged away by people in white coats at the time & would never done it

but thinking long term to take the 2 "lotteries" Sochi & Turkey. he is a net 2 pts up. because 2nd/3rd sounds alot better than 1st/5th but former is 33pts & latter is 35pts
 
impressive drive from Bottas, it helps that we had seen mercedes were so comfortable here that as i said yesterday it reminded me of 2019/2020 & this was 1st weekend in a long time that ive seen Verstappen struggle in a healthy car. but bottas took advantage which he didnt in sochi, didnt put a foot wrong & fully deserving winner

the race was alright, it wasnt a shocker for me but it wasnt a classic. had some great battles with hamilton & sainz coming through the field. then the great perez battle. then with Gasly seems harsh but its 1 of those you have to give a penalty for because for once alonso was the innocent party. he hung around the outside to try & stay out of trouble, trouble understeered into him
 
Mercedes have shown that Hamilton would have lost even more positions in the last laps pf the race if he had not pitted.

You don't seem to have had many correct forecasts in this race.
Ocon managed to do the race on 1 set

Unless it was predicted Lewis would drop by 2 seconds a lap it was worth the gamble because he would have finished ahead of Le Clerc or just about the same position anyway

The way he was pitted meant he spent too long through the graining phase before he could pick up speed again
 
F1Brits_90 Might the new grip levels have impacted the race where last year everyone struggled for grip

I will say Red Bull have got out of 3 races with limited damage but the speed of the Mercedes shows it was the faster car again
 
I think the lesson is that, had Hamilton come in when originally called, he would probably have finished 3rd.

Had he waited to the end of the race, he was at risk of finishing 7th (And at best would have finished 5th as the tyres ate themselves).
 
I think the lesson is that, had Hamilton come in when originally called, he would probably have finished 3rd.

Had he waited to the end of the race, he was at risk of finishing 7th (And at best would have finished 5th as the tyres ate themselves).
see the race as a whole he shouldve come in when they said & trusted the team. or i think the best strategy by complete fluke was riccardios. he got the best of tyres at end of the race not the start made up many places up as high as 10th from 17th

but its sport. it is how weird sport can be because he was a genius in Turkey 2020 for ignoring the team & staying out in same conditions when other made the sane/safe choice dropped like a stone stroll lead, pitted & then struggled to finish in the points. but criticized for doing the same thing in 2021. i think you have to put it you cant blame on anyone because you needed a crystal ball to get things right. because fully understand also why he stayed as out as long as he could as I think every driver & person on the pitwall thought it would dry by at least the final laps & there was a dry line
 
He lost time trying to pass Perez who for once did his job

Karen Horner now moaning about the turn in Merc engine power
i noticed although halted sky f1 presenter when he said that they protested. they "queried" apparently but they went on to say that it was strange to be faster without DRS than they were with DRS
 
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