2020 Turkish Grand Prix: Hamilton Wins a Seventh Title in a Low-Grip Race at Istanbul Park

Lewis Hamilton won the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park on 15 November 2020, a result that also secured his seventh world championship. Sergio Perez took second for Racing Point and Sebastian Vettel third for Ferrari. The race was run on a damp, low-grip surface, and it rewarded the drivers who could look after their tyres.

Why was the Turkish race on the 2020 calendar?

The round was added in late August, after other events had fallen away because of the coronavirus pandemic. It was the fourteenth round of the championship and the eighth Turkish Grand Prix, although the first since 2011. It was also the opening Grand Prix of 2020 staged outside Europe.

Organisers had originally planned for as many as 100,000 spectators, but a surge in cases meant the race would be run behind closed doors. Ten teams took part with two drivers each, and the event was privately funded.

The venue had not hosted a major race for several years. Its surface was renewed in the run-up to the weekend, and the organisers hoped that a successful event would lead to future dates being scheduled there.

Low grip, shifting tyre calls and a pole-sitter who faded made Istanbul a test of patience that Hamilton passed.

What did the championship look like going in?

Hamilton led Valtteri Bottas by 85 points, with 104 still available. Bottas needed to outscore Hamilton by eight points in Istanbul to keep his title hopes alive, which left Hamilton in a commanding position before a wheel had turned. Only a handful of results could change the order.

If Bottas finished lower than sixth, Hamilton would win the title whatever his own result. A title would equal Michael Schumacher's record of seven, and it would also extend a run in which a Mercedes driver had won the drivers' championship seven years in a row.

The constructors' fight was just as tight. Only one point separated Renault in third from Racing Point in fifth, with McLaren fourth in between.

What made the track so hard to drive?

The circuit had been resurfaced two weeks before the event, and the new asphalt offered less friction than the teams expected. Drivers struggled to get their tyres up to temperature, and getting that right could be worth more than five seconds a lap.

Pirelli had brought its three hardest dry compounds, C1, C2 and C3, without knowing about the resurfacing. Its tyre programme head said softer compounds would have suited the smoother surface far better. The tarmac also evolved slowly, because no supporting races had laid rubber down to build grip.

Bitumen seeping from the fresh surface and the cold November weather added to the problems. Lap times in the first practice session were roughly ten seconds slower than the previous Grand Prix meeting there, and well slower than the times expected for qualifying.

How did practice go?

Max Verstappen topped the first Friday session, ahead of Alexander Albon and Charles Leclerc, while Hamilton could manage only fifteenth in a session that set the tone for the weekend. Verstappen improved by nearly seven seconds in the second session, finishing ahead of Leclerc and Bottas once again.

The first session was briefly halted after Leclerc hit a bollard in its opening minutes. Carlos Sainz Jr. also stopped on track when his McLaren broke down, and several drivers spun during the session as the grip disappointed them.

The wet final practice session on Saturday morning drew criticism from several drivers. Verstappen was fastest again, ahead of Leclerc and Albon, while Hamilton set no time at all and Lando Norris spun off the circuit.

Who took pole, and why does it matter?

Lance Stroll took pole for Racing Point with 1:47.765 in the final subsession. It was his first pole in Formula One, the first for a Canadian driver since Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 European Grand Prix, and Racing Point's first as a constructor.

Stroll put his pace down to time spent driving on ice back home in Canada. The team had set its cars up well for the slippery conditions, and for much of the final subsession Sergio Perez led the times before finishing third.

The session was defined by low grip and damp weather. Its first part was suspended for 45 minutes, and lap times were deleted for drivers who ran wide at turns one, six or fourteen.

What went wrong for the big names?

Verstappen qualified second, but his tyres refused to warm up and he had given away 0.6 seconds with a slip at turn seven. Mercedes had a poor session, with Hamilton sixth and Bottas ninth, and both drivers felt they could not use the tyre grip as well as some rivals.

Leclerc was knocked out in the second subsession and qualified fourteenth, six seconds slower than Verstappen. In the other Ferrari, Vettel beat him for the first time in ten races.

McLaren had its worst qualifying of the year, with Norris eleventh and Sainz thirteenth, both unable to bring their tyres up to temperature. Norris and Russell were later penalised five places for failing to slow enough under yellow flags, and Sainz received a three-place penalty for impeding Perez.

A review followed because the second subsession began while a tractor crane was still lifting Latifi's car away. Some drivers recalled the fatal collision between Jules Bianchi and a recovery vehicle at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

How did the race begin?

Rain had left the track very wet before the start, and most cars began on full wet tyres, with Williams alone on intermediates. Stroll led away from pole, Perez moved up from third to second, and Verstappen dropped from second to eighth in the opening metres.

Ricciardo and Ocon tangled at the opening corner, and Ocon was sent spinning. Bottas also went off while avoiding the incident. Hamilton squeezed past the incident into third, but he slid off at turn nine, and Vettel passed him there to take third.

Sainz gained from fifteenth to ninth on the first lap. Cars starting from even-numbered slots were thought to be at a disadvantage, since that side of the grid had less grip.

How did tyre choices decide the race?

Leclerc pitted for intermediates on lap six, and the frontrunners followed over the next few laps. His speed on the new tyres persuaded other teams to change, and Verstappen waited until lap eleven to switch from full wets, emerging from the pit lane ahead of Vettel.

A virtual safety car followed when Antonio Giovinazzi retired on the twelfth lap with gearbox trouble. Albon lost a place to Hamilton at the first stops but regained it once racing resumed, because his Red Bull tyres came up to temperature more quickly than those on Hamilton's Mercedes.

Verstappen lost control at speed on lap eighteen during a move on Perez, damaging his tyres and forcing another visit to the pits. Ricciardo spun on the thirty-second lap, and Albon followed on the thirty-fourth after tyre wear caught up with him, which let Vettel and Hamilton past.

Why did Stroll lose the lead?

Stroll held the lead for every lap bar three among the first 35, and then lost it on lap 36 when his team brought him in for a fresh set of intermediates. Before that stop, he had signalled to his engineer that he wanted to keep the set on, and he fell to ninth by the finish.

Racing Point later said that front wing damage had cut the downforce of his car, which in turn damaged the tyres. Hamilton overtook Perez a lap after the stops, using the drag reduction system that had been enabled on lap 30.

How did Hamilton win?

Hamilton won from Perez by half a minute, completing 309.396 km (192.250 mi) in 1:42:19.313 on a day when the track was still damp. His average was 181.425 km/h (112.732 mph), and the win was the 94th of his Grand Prix career and his tenth of 2020.

Hamilton and Perez stayed out on heavily worn intermediates. Perez had run one set for 48 laps and warned that the rubber was nearly gone by the end, while Hamilton had run his for 50 laps. Hamilton was wary of repeating his 2007 Chinese Grand Prix mistake, when a pit lane accident on worn wets had cost him the championship.

By the flag, Hamilton's tyres had lost nearly all their tread and were almost slicks. With no safety car to bunch the field, and a track that dried slowly, Hamilton could manage wear and temperatures across the whole stint.

Who finished where?

Perez was second for Racing Point, and Vettel took a late podium for Ferrari after Leclerc's last-lap attempt on Perez went wrong. Sainz finished fifth, Verstappen sixth and Albon seventh, while Norris claimed the bonus point for fastest lap. Everyone else in the top ten stayed on the same lap as the winner.

Ricciardo took the last points place in tenth after Norris passed him. Bottas spun six times during the race and finished fourteenth, while Russell took sixteenth after struggling for tyre temperature.

What did the result mean for the title and the sport?

Hamilton's seventh title equalled Schumacher's record and made it seven consecutive drivers' titles for Mercedes. The title also rounded off a remarkable run for the team. Racing Point moved up to third in the constructors' table, and AlphaTauri's scoring run ended, a first in eleven races.

Hamilton said he hoped his success would inspire young people and make the world fairer. He also spoke about being the sole Black driver in Formula One, and said he wanted more races in tough conditions.

Vettel said Hamilton was the greatest driver of their era, and Johnny Herbert compared him with Tiger Woods and Roger Federer. Bottas congratulated his team-mate and described the race as perhaps the most difficult of his career.

Calls for a knighthood followed, and Hamilton said war veterans and medical workers deserved such honours more. He was knighted the following month in the 2021 New Year Honours list.