Our great and grape preview of the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix Result is here, in a race full of action and won by Lewis Hamilton who claimed a record equalling seventh world championship.
It was no run of the mill Mercedes win, an upset was on the cards mid race, but Hamilton just kept keeping on with his worn tyres to win and take the title.
Some timely reminders of ability on the podium, and a few hard luck stories further back.
So sit back and enjoy the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix Result Review
2020 Turkish Grand Prix Result – THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. Normally it is five or ten, so you know it was a good race if there’s more than ten.
We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football. But not as good. But hey, if you missed the race how can you complain.
Lap 0 – Wet race track which should make the racing almost impossible based on qualifying. Proven when both Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell crash on the way to the grid.
Lap 1 -Max Verstappen crawls off the grid and drops backwards from 2nd. Racing Point drivers lead 1-2 as the action piles up behind them. The Renault drivers touch and Ocon spins off at the first corner, Ocon’s start wasted as he could have been third at first corner. Bottas goes out in sympathy. Both drivers continue. The rest of the drivers crawl around the first lap. Lewis Hamilton runs wide halfway around the first lap and drops behind Vettel and Albon. Vettel is up to 3rd from 11th on the grid.
ORDER – STR PER VET VER ALB HAM RIC RAI SAI MAG
Lap 2 -Lance Stroll starts the third lap 5 seconds ahead of his team mate. Verstappen half spins trying to catch Vettel who is over 10 seconds behind the leader.
Lap 6 -Talk on radio of track starting to dry up. But not much change in the order. Sainz overtakes Kimi for 8th. Max Verstappen still can’t get past Vettel, and Stroll is well, strolling out in front. Still five seconds ahead of his team mate.
ORDER – STR PER VET VER ALB HAM RIC SAI RAI MAG
Lap 7 – Charles Leclerc stops for new intermediate wet tyres. First to stop mid race for them. The Williams drivers started from the pit lane with them on but have been quite slow so far since the start. Or maybe that’s just the Williams. It is starting to look drier. Leclerc immediately makes that decision look the right one.
Lap 8 -Bottas pits on Lap 8 for intermediates, Vettel on lap 9. Hamilton too. The big interest is Verstappen v Vettel on different tyres and pitstops.
Lap 10 -Lance Stroll pits for new tyres. Rejoins in fourth just ahead of Ricciardo. Perez pits the next lap, as does Ricciardo. And Sainz. Only Verstappen and Albon haven’t pit among the front runners. It is looking more like a mistake with every passing lap. Red Bull relent on lap 12. Verstappen pits and makes it out in front of Vettel and almost got Perez.
ORDER (Lap 12) – ALB (not pitted) STR PER VER VET HAM RIC SAI MAG LEC
Lap 13 – Giovinazzi’s car breaks down and it’s final position is dangerous enough for the Virtual Safety Car. Stroll at this stage is a huge 10 seconds clear of team mate Perez in second. Doubling his pre pit stop lead of five seconds.
Lap 16 -In his efforts to get past Vettel, Lewis Hamilton runs wide and loses 5th place to Alex Albon. Alex Albon gets past Vettel half a lap later.
Lap 19 -Verstappen draws alongside Perez halfway around the lap, but rotates a couple of times and ends up off the track but engine still running. He loses places to Vettel and Albon. Red Bull pits him after that effort and falls down to 8th. A few laps later the salt is applied with an investigation underway for crossing the white line of the pit lane exit.
ORDER – STR (8 secs ahead) PER ALB VET HAM RIC SAI VER LEC MAG
Lap 22 -A quick reminder that Bottas is still in the race when the TV shows a replay of him spinning. He is 17th, and Hamilton is cruising to the title. Just in case anyone thought the title race was still live. Perhaps Donald Trump. Bottas may be quick, and likeable, and a great team mate to Hamilton, but he isn’t a world champion. Better than Irvine, perhaps a Coulthard.
Lap 24 -Albon pressuring Perez very much for second place, and a further step up the podium is not just at stake. If Albon bins it behind the free 2021 agent Perez, he may as well give him his overalls at the end of the race. In fairness to Albon, he’s done a great job thus far, and outdone Verstappen as it stands. These two are catching Stroll at the front. The Canadian’s lead cut to just 3.5 seconds.
Lap 29 – Halfway through the Turkish Grand Prix, and despite his on track jerkery at times, and the fact his dad owns the team, Lance Stroll has led the Grand Prix with the ease of someone who has done it plenty before. His lead has shrunk, but it is near impossible to pass.
ORDER – STR PER ALB VET HAM RIC SAI VER LEC NOR
Lap 31 – Leclerc pits from 9th and puts on new Intermediates to the interest of all teams and fans. He sets a fastest sector a lap later. Which leads to a fastest lap.
Lap 33 -Ricciardo loses 6th to Sainz, so pits for new tyres and drops to 9th.
Lap 34 – Did we mention something about Albon binning it earlier? Well not quite a bin, but he spins out of third and loses just one place to Hamilton. A potential race win and Red Bull career saving drive goes begging. He pits for new tyres at the end of the lap. A slow Vettel pitstop for tyres was the interesting Lap 34 point before Albon’s spin.
Lap 37 – Lance Stroll pits from a lead that was less than second to team mate Perez. Racing point worried about the already pitted Verstappen, Vettel, Albon. Hamilton passes Perez for the lead after looking out of sorts for a large chunk of it.
ORDER – HAM PER VER STR VET ALB LEC SAI RIC NOR
Lap 38 -Stroll advises of the return of rain……
Lap 40 – Vettel gets past Stroll who then gets back past Vettel who then gets back past Stroll who then is overtaken by Leclerc. Stroll under pressure from Albon now too. Who gets past a lap later. Sainz two laps later. A Trump sized tantrum no doubt coming from the Canadian soon.
Lap 41 – Leclerc takes Vettel for 4th. Bottas has another spin and is lapped by Hamilton a lap or so later. Grosjean and Latifi clash over who cares what position. Talk on the radio of more rain due 10 laps from the end. As if there hasn’t been enough action for you so far.
Lap 43 -Lewis Hamilton leads and setting fast sectors on very experienced tyres. He is 14 seconds ahead of Perez. Almost a pitstop. Leclerc takes Verstappen for third. Verstappen pits. He rejoins 7th. Sets fastest lap by Lap 46.
ORDER – HAM PER VER LEC VET ALB SAI STR RIC NOR
Lap 45 -Sainz takes Albon for 6th Verstappen flies past a few laps later.
Lap 53 – Hamilton is now a pitstop ahead of Perez, which may be relevant as team radio announces that heavy rain is expected on the last lap. Verstappen has passed Albon after an earlier spin. Leclerc catching Perez in second. Plenty to come with five laps to go.
ORDER – HAM PER LEC VET SAI VER ALB STR NOT RIC
Lap 57 -Mercedes gets ready for safety stop for Hamilton who tells them to get buggered and stays out. Wise decision in the end. No wonder he wins so many championships. Lance Stroll’s afternoon gets worse as he is overtaken for 8th by Norris who had previously et the fastest lap.
Lap 58 -Lewis Hamilton wins the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix and win his seventh World Championship. Leclerc almost takes Stroll for second at the third last corner, but runs wide and loses third to team mate Vettel. And almost fourth to Sainz.
ORDER – HAM PER VET LEC SAI VER ALB NOR STR RIC
2020 Turkish Grand Prix – RACE RATING
We rate the 2020 Turkish F1 Grand Prix so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 8/10
Hamilton wins his seventh World Championship, equaling Michael Schumacher’s record. Although, it was a matter of if not when this title was coming. Bottas’ troubles made for an easy collect of the title today,
ON TRACK ACTION – 9/10
Whilst not a lot of passing, the track conditions had you guessing every lap. With the big guns struggling early, it gave the Racing Point cars a good head start. The gap between the top five had closed to a pit straight mid race. Then there was the subject of when to go onto dry tyres.
ENDING 8 / 10
With the threat of rain, and the question whether Perez or Hamilton can hang on with old tyres there was plenty to keep one interested until the end. Changing positions on the last few corners of the last lap too for the podium.
OVERALL RATING 25 / 30
Turkey produced a great race with the help of rain and gripless track. But would probably have done so in the dry as well.
RACE RATINGS SO FAR
Austrian Grand Prix – 28/30
Styrian Grand Prix – 23/30
Hungarian Grand Prix – 15/30
70th Anniversary Grand Prix – 15/30
Eifel Grand Prix 11 / 30
Portuguese Grand Prix – 20 / 30
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – 22 / 30
2020 Turkish Grand Prix Result – Great & Grape
Here we go through the field and highlight the three drivers we think deserve a little extra love, and one driver whose had the grapest weekend of all.
These points get added to our Driver of the Season. 3-2-1 for the Great and minus one point for the Grapest races.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT – 1. LEWIS HAMILTON
Winning a seventh championship in style. Not the fastest car at any stage of the weekend but ran forever on worn Intermediate tyres, eventually found his way to the front, and held on like no one else can.
THE GREAT – 2. SERGIO PEREZ
Apparently not good enough for a drive next season, but better than all but one driver here today. If Lewis gets plaudits for his drive then Perez deserves almost a much for his second. He ended up seven places ahead of his pole sitting team mate, doing what he does best when a race throws up a surprise. May have himself a Red Bull seat from the strength of the drive.
THE GREAT – 3 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
Had a very ordinary 2020, but nothing like a bit of rain to show you still have it. Grabbed a podium on the last lap from his team mate.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Lance Stroll – Perhaps not the end result he hoped for, but led with confidence for most of the first half of the race.
Charles Leclerc – As good as Vettel today, arguably better, but got pipped for the podium at the end, and a top three spot in our greats of the race.
Carlos Sainz – Great drive from the McLaren driver from the midfield. Was right up with the battle for the podium at the end of the race and was charging late in the race.
THE GRAPE – VALTTERI BOTTAS
A truly awful race in general, let alone when you;re trying to keep the championship alive. Four spins, crap pitstops, not great at any stage.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Alex Albon – Hard to see him keep that Red Bull drive now. Not that 7th is bad, it’s the chance he threw away when Verstappen was on his best day.
George Russell – Despite a lot of promise, still no points. A wet race was surely his best chance.
2020 Turkish Grand Prix Result – 2020 Driver of the Year – The Martini Trophy
A feature on this website is determining the driver of the year.
This recognises not just the driver with the most amount of points at the end of the year, but factoring performance against their team mate, possibly outperforming the car, and a nod to our Great and Grape above. A full explanation is below the results.
The Martini Trophy is named after one of our favourite F1 drivers of all time, the underrated Pierluigi Martini.
2020 Turkish Grand Prix Results – Martini Trophy
Top qualifiers are awarded 3-2-1
Top finishes are awarded 5-4-3-2-1
Out-Race team mate only applies if they both cars finish or unless the other driver was a complete dick.
Best of Rest is the top driver not from Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari in race and qualifying
FirstLap is 0.2 / -0.2 for every position gained / lost on the first lap.
Good and Grape points are award 3-2-1 and -1 for drivers.
2020 Driver of the Year Points so far
2020 Turkish Grand Prix Result – Stats and Stuff
Here is a selection of our favourite stats from the season so far.
