2021 Turkish Grand Prix

2021 Turkish Grand Prix
Previous←	2021 Russian Grand Prix
Round	16 of 2021
Next→	2021 United States Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	October 10, 2021
Race Number	1051
Official Name	Formula 1 Rolex Turkish Grand Prix 2021
Location	Istanbul Park Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.338 km (3.317 mi)
Distance	58 laps, 309.604 km (192.379 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
Time	1:22.998
Fastest Lap
Driver	Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
Time	1:30.432 on lap 58
Podium
First	Valtteri Bottas
Second	Max Verstappen
Third	Sergio Pérez
Lap Leaders

The 2021 Turkish Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Rolex Turkish Grand Prix 2021) was the 16^th race of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Istanbul Park in Istanbul, Turkey between October 8 and October 10 2021.

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in qualifying, but started in 11^th with a grid penalty after taking a new engine component. His team-mate Valtteri Bottas thus led from pole position to victory in a wet race, taking his first win since the 2020 Russian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen finished second reclaiming the championship lead with Sergio Pérez in third.

Background

The Turkish Grand Prix, which was last held in 2011, was originally raced as a replacement event for the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 28, it was announced that the Canadian Grand Prix had been canceled, and hence the Turkish race returned to the calendar as its replacement.. However, on May 14, ongoing travel restrictions meant that the race was canceled again before it was held, leading to another calendar reshuffle. Following the cancelation of the Singapore Grand Prix, however, the Turkish Grand Prix was announced to be reinstated into the calendar, replacing the slot.

Ahead of the race, Red Bull and AlphaTauri have both announced to be running in a one-off livery as a tribute to engine suppliers Honda who are in their final season. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr was also announced to be starting from the back of the grid after taking a new power unit, the same specification that was equipped on his team-mate's car in the previous round. It was also announced that the crew for the Medical Car had been replaced by Formula E safety car driver Bruno Correia and Medical Delegate Dr Bruno Franceschini as the original crew of Alan van der Merwe and his co-driver Ian Roberts have tested positive for COVID-19.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
Source:

Practice Overview

The full practice results for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix are outlined below:

No.	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2		FP3
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.750	12	1:25.060	14	1:32.270	14
4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.347	7	1:24.525	6	1:32.314	15
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:25.810	13	1:25.229	16	1:32.111	12
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:25.863	15	1:25.307	17	1:35.681	19
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:25.933	16	1:25.143	15	1:31.572	7
9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1:27.019	20	1:25.698	20	1:33.425	17
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:25.382	8	1:24.756	9	1:30.447	1
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:25.459	10	1:24.373	4	1:30.684	3
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:25.383	9	1:24.660	7	1:31.545	6
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:24.654	3	1:23.970	2	1:31.543	5
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:26.361	17	1:25.020	13	1:33.348	16
22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:26.424	18	1:24.882	11	1:31.981	8
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:24.909	6	1:24.672	8	1:32.089	10
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:24.603	2	1:24.439	5	1:30.611	2
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:24.178	1	1:23.804	1	1:33.636	18
47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:26.636	19	1:25.480	19	1:32.228	13
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	1:24.860	5	1:24.903	12	1:31.262	4
63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:25.685	11	1:25.358	18	No Time Set	20
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:24.842	4	1:24.214	3	1:31.996	9
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:25.813	14	1:24.796	10	1:32.097	11
Source:

Qualifying

Q1

With the threat of rain arriving as FP3 earlier was wet, all cars went out simultaneously as the session began. Eliminated from the session were Ricciardo, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Raikkonen and Mazepin, with Hamilton fastest in the session. For the second time in his career, and for the first time since the 2021 French Grand Prix, Schumacher progressed into Q2.

Q2

Russell ran wide at the last corner on his final flying lap, and he joined Vettel, Ocon, Schumacher and Sainz out of Q2, with Sainz already due to start from last from an engine penalty. Leclerc, who spun before starting his flying lap, was able to qualify into the final session after getting slipstream from his team-mate on the backstraight.

Q3

Hamilton set the fastest time before Bottas nipped it by two hundredths of a second, with Verstappen shuffling behind the Mercedes duo. As the remainder waited in the pits, Hamilton had the track to himself, setting the overall fastest time of the session. With several drivers hardly improving their times at the end, Hamilton was unquestionably the fastest driver in qualifying, though with his engine penalty applied he started the race from 11^th, promoting Bottas into pole position with Verstappen starting alongside him. Completing the top ten were Leclerc, Gasly, Alonso, Perez, Norris, Stroll and Tsunoda, who qualified on medium tires as opposed to the rest on softs.

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1	1:24.585		1	1:23.082		1	1:22.868	11*
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		6	1:25.047		2	1:23.579		2	1:22.998	1
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		2	1:24.592		3	1:23.732		3	1:23.196	2
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari		4	1:24.869		7	1:24.015		4	1:23.265	3
5	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda		3	1:24.704		4	1:23.817		5	1:23.326	4
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault		8	1:25.174		5	1:23.914		6	1:23.477	5
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda		5	1:24.963		6	1:23.961		7	1:23.706	6
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes		7	1:25.138		10	1:24.642		8	1:23.954	7
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes		13	1:25.511		9	1:24.601		9	1:24.305	8
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda		10	1:25.409		8	1:24.054		10	1:24.368	9
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes		15	1:25.787		11	1:24.795				10
12	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault		12	1:25.422		12	1:24.842				12
13	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes		11	1:25.417		13	1:25.007				13
14	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari		14	1:25.555		14	1:25.200				14
15	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari		9	1:25.177		15	No time set				19†
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes		16	1:25.881							20†
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes		17	1:26.086							15
18	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		18	1:26.430							16
19	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		19	1:27.525							17
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari		20	1:28.449							18
107% Time: 1:30.506
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Hamilton originally qualified pole position, but was given a 10-place grid penalty after fitting a new internal combustion engine (ICE), exceeding the quota of power unit elements.
• ^† Sainz and Ricciardo were required to start from the back of the grid after changing into a new power engine specification, and also for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.

Grid

The starting grid of the feature race of the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix is outined below:

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Valtteri Bottas
	Max Verstappen	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Charles Leclerc
	Pierre Gasly	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Fernando Alonso
	Sergio Pérez	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Lando Norris
	Lance Stroll	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Yuki Tsunoda
	Sebastian Vettel	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Lewis Hamilton
	Esteban Ocon	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	George Russell
	Mick Schumacher	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Nicholas Latifi
	Antonio Giovinazzi	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Kimi Räikkönen
	Nikita Mazepin	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Carlos Sainz, Jr.
	Daniel Ricciardo	______________

Race

Results

The full results for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	58	1:31:04.103	1	26FL
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	58	+14.584	2	18
3	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	58	+33.741	6	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	58	+37.814	3	12
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	+41.812	11	10
6	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	58	+44.292	4	8
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+47.213	7	6
8	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	58	+51.526	19	4
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	58	+1:22.018	8	2
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	57	+1 lap	12	1
11	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	57	+1 lap	16
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	57	+1 lap	17
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+1 lap	20
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	57	+1 lap	9
15	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	57	+1 lap	13
16	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	57	+1 lap	5
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	57	+1 lap	15
18	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	57	+1 lap	10
19	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	56	+2 laps	14
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	56	+2 laps	18
Source:

Milestones

• 18^th pole position, 10^th race win and second hat-trick for Valtteri Bottas, equaling René Arnoux's record for the most pole positions without winning a world championship title.
• 900^th entry for McLaren.
• Esteban Ocon becomes the first driver since Mika Salo at the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix to finish a race without making a pit stop.

Standings

Verstappen's podium meant that he reclaimed the championship lead once again from Hamilton leading by six points, though Bottas' hat-trick performance ensured that Mercedes extended their lead slightly from Red Bull in the constructors' standings. The Finn's efforts also meant that he greatly extended his advantage from Norris for third in the drivers' standings, with Perez closing into Norris with a 10-point difference.

In the constructors' standings, Ferrari closed the gap to McLaren to 7.5 points with Leclerc and Sainz' results combined.

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Max Verstappen 262.5 ▲1 2 Lewis Hamilton 256.5 ▼1 3 Valtteri Bottas 177 — 4 Lando Norris 145 — 5 Sergio Pérez 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 —

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Mercedes 433.5 — 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda 397.5 — 3 McLaren-Mercedes 240 — 4 Ferrari 232.5 — 5 Alpine-Renault 104 — 6 AlphaTauri-Honda 92 — 7 Aston Martin-Mercedes 61 — 8 Williams-Mercedes 23 — 9 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 7 —

Only point-scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

References:

v·d·e

Nominate this page for Featured Article