VALTTERI WINS THE 2021 TURKISH GRAND PRIX

Valtteri Bottas won the Turkish Grand Prix with his first victory of the season and the tenth of his career. Second was Max Verstappen, who regained the lead in the drivers' championship. Sergio Perez climbed to the third, final, step on the podium.

For the third time this year and for the 12th time in the history of Formula 1, the race ended without a single retirement, all drivers were able to finish it.

Esteban Ocon finished in 10th place without pitting for new tyres. With this, the European part of the season is over, and we have six races left until the end, the first of which is in two weeks in Austin, Texas, USA.

When the lights went out at the start, polesitter Bottas got away well in damp conditions to take the race lead ahead of Verstappen who also made a ghood start.

Behind them Pérez was one of the quickest to react to the lights and as the front runners made their way to Turn 1 the Mexican, who had started sixth, was able to draw alongside Pierre Gasly who was fourth on the grid.

The AlphaTauri driver was battling with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, and the pair made contact. Alonso was sent into a spin and the incident allowed Pérez to slip through to steal fourth place.

At the front and in clean air, Bottas began to pull away from Verstappen and by lap 10 the Finn was two seconds clear of the Red Bull driver who was 1.8s ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

At this stage, the drivers making the biggest steps forward were Hamilton who had climbed to seventh place from 11th place on the grid and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. who had risen to P11 after starting from 19th place due to a power unit penalty.

Hamilton was soon past McLaren’s Lando Norris and on lap 15 he powered past Gasly on the run to Turn 12 to take fifth place. He was now just 6.5s behind the Red Bull driver and over the next seven laps he cut the deficit to three seconds.

Behind them Sainz Jr. was continuing his climb through the field and by lap 25 he had muscled his way through to ninth place. Pérez now began to pick up the pace to match Hamilton’s times and at half distance he was holding the gap steady at around three seconds.

However, on lap 34, Hamilton reeled in Pérez and attacked. The pair went wheel-to-wheel and as they battled hard Pérez was forced to go inside the bollard at the pit entry. That allowed Hamilton to pull ahead as they crossed the line 35 but Checo stayed calm and held his line to move back to fourth as they went through Turn 1.

Verstappen then made his sole pit stop of the race and he took another set of intermediates in a quick 2.1s stop. Pérez followed and he also took on intermediates. Leclerc, who had not pitted, now led the race ahead of Bottas and Verstappen, while Hamilton was fourth, 14 seconds ahead of Pérez.

Hamilton was called to the pits on lap 42 by Mercedes but with no requirement to change tyres in the damp conditions and with his times still solid Hamilton elected to stay out.

At the front of the pack, Bottas, closed on Leclerc who was struggling on starting inters. And on lap 47 there was nothing the Ferrari driver could do as Bottas powered past through Turn 1 to retake the lead. Leclerc pitted at the end of the lap.

Hamilton, meanwhile, told his pit wall that while he was sliding around he could manage the tyres and with 10 laps left he held third place behind Verstappen and Bottas. His team disagreed, however, and on lap 51 Hamilton made a stop for a new set of intermediates.

He rejoined in fifth place, six seconds behind Pérez. The Mexican was on the move, however, and on lap 52 he powered past Leclerc to seize third place. Hamilton was now suffering severe graining on his new intermediate as they went through the drop-off phase before going slick and he began to drop back from Leclerc and into the clutches of Gasly who was lapping up to two seconds quicker. But even though Gasly pushed hard to close up the Mercedes AMG, Hamilton held firm in the final laps to keep fifth place.

And, after 58 laps, Bottas crossed the line to take his first win of the season. Verstappen followed to take his 54th career podium finish ahead of team-mate Pérez. With Leclerc fourth ahead of Hamilton and Gasly, seventh place went to Norris.

Sainz Jr. completed an excellent recovery drive with eighth place at the flag, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took ninth. The final point on offer went to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Verstappen’s P2 finish means he now has 262.5 points in the Driver’s Championship, six clear of Hamilton. In the Constructors’ Championship Mercedes now have 433.5 points with Red Bull Racing in second place on 397.5

2021 TURKISH GRAND PRIX 58 laps, 309.049km., Weather: Clouds/Drizzle
CLASSIFICATION:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	1h31:04.103
2.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 14.584
3.	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	+ 33.471
4.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 37.814
5.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	+ 41.812
6.	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	+ 44.292
7.	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 47.215
8.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	+ 51.526
9.	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 1:22.018
10.	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+ 1 lap
11.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 lap
12.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 lap
13.	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	+ 1 lap
14.	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	+ 1 lap
15.	George Russell	Williams	+ 1 lap
16.	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	+ 1 lap
17.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	+ 1 lap
18.	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	+ 1 lap
19.	Mick Schumacher	Haas	+ 2 laps
20.	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	+ 2 laps
FASTEST LAP: VALTTERI BOTTAS - 1:31.023
NOT CLASSIFIED: NONE
HYBRID ERA - ISTANBUL PARK 2020 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h42:29.315 2021 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1h31:04.103 @MkFormula1 - РЕПУБЛИКА МАКЕДОНИЈА @MkFormula1 - REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

CLASSIFICATION AFTER 16/22 RACES
DRIVERS:
1.	Max Verstappen	262.5
2.	Lewis Hamilton	256.5
3.	Valtteri Bottas	177
4.	Lando Norris	145
5.	Sergio Perez	135
6.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	116.5
7.	Charles Leclerc	116
8.	Daniel Ricciardo	95
9.	Pierre Gasly	74
10.	Fernando Alonso	58
11.	Esteban Ocon	46
12.	Sebastian Vettel	35
13.	Lance Stroll	26
14.	Yuki Tsunoda	18
15.	George Russell	16
16.	Nicholas Latifi	7
17.	Kimi Räikkönen	6
18.	Antonio Giovinazzi	1
19.	Mick Schumacher	0
20.	Robert Kubica	0
21.	Nikita Mazepin	0
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	433.5
2.	Red Bull	397.5
3.	McLaren	240
4.	Ferrari	232.5
5.	Alpine	104
6.	AlphaTauri	92
7.	Aston Martin	61
8.	Williams	23
9.	Alfa Romeo	7
10.	Haas	0