Our 2021 Turkish Grand Prix Result Review is here for a race that was won by a Mercedes, but not Lewis Hamilton for a change. Valtteri Bottas won his first race of the season, as Max Verstappen’s second was good enough to steal the Championship lead back.
Despite the wet track it didn’t rain and sadly there was much less spinning and changing of position than hoped for. But still, another chapter in an enthralling season.
Our review usually covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to in the laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend. This time there’s not much to do.
The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered. And we don’t blame you.
The 2021 Turkish Grand Prix Result Review Summary gives you just enough to catch up, and stand by for our Power Rankings which highlight our driver of the season so far.
2021 Turkish Grand Prix – THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch both races? Well here are the laps that mattered.
We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
What a season 2021 has been, and Turkey delivers another wet track. Not actually raining, so a Belgium washout seems unlikely but a wet track none the less. Good times ahead.
Lap 1 – Bottas gets away best from Pole position, Max Verstappen does OK from second and tucks in behind Bottas. Fernando Alonso (5th on grid) is tipped into a spin at turn one by Gasly who got squeezed by Perez on the left, and loses ten places and more. Start replays later show Alonso punting a Haas out of the way on the opening lap too. Sergio Perez is the big mover of the first lap, up to 4th. Lewis Hamilton is up to 9th, up a couple of places after his engine penalty.
ORDER – BOT VER LEC PER GAS NOR STR TSU HAM VET
Lap 2 – Hamilton is battling Tsunoda and is rightly taking it easy given the Japanese driver’s affinity to going off track this season. Lap 4 he is still behind the Alpha Tauri and 10 seconds behind Max Verstappen in second. Lap 6 and no change and 14 seconds behind Max. Tough day for Hamilton ahead, as he has another two Red Bull backed cars between him and Max.
Lap 4 – Carlos Sainz overtakes George Russell for 14th. Ricciardo is behind the William in 16th. That’s what you get for Engine Penalties and shit qualifying respectively. Lap 7 Sainz gets past Kimi for 13th which will probably make Kimi grumpy.
Lap 8 – Lewis Hamilton finally gets past Tsunoda for 8th, around the outside of turn three in a nice move. Looks like he can drive around a Red Bull based car and not into it. Cheap shot there, naughty us. By the way Hamilton is 17 seconds behind Verstappen.
Lap 9 – Gasly get a penalty for punting Alonso on the first lap. Alonso gets his medicine too for punting Mick Schumacher on lap one too. Oh, and in case you missed it due to his invisibility suit, Valtteri Bottas is leading and maintaining a two second lead to Max.
ORDER – BOT VER LEC PER GAS NOR HAM STR TSU VET
Lap 10 – Lewis Hamilton up to 6th after passing Lando Norris. Keen observers will note we missed advising you of Hamilton overtaking Stroll a lap earlier. Lewis has some clear air now, but needs it. He is still 17 seconds behind Max. By lap 14 however he is 14 seconds behind and setting loads O fastest laps.
Lap 12 – Australian fans like us may not want the update, but Daniel Ricciardo is still behind George Russell in 16th and a few seconds at that. Alonso behind looks more likely to move up a place.
Lap 14 – Sainz overtakes Vettel for tenth but they touch. Neither retires and Vettel complains on radio.
Lap 15 – Hamilton overtakes Pierre Gasly for 5th. Amazing how Yuki Tsunoda was so hard to pass that Hamilton was behind him for many laps. Then he gets past and carves through the field like an RSL Roast Special Night. Perez is next though. We’re sure he will play good number two for Max Verstappen.
Lap 18 – To ensure that all the talk isn’t about Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen sets the fastest lap so far.
ORDER – BOT VER LEC PER HAM GAS NOR STR SAI TSU
Lap 19 – The track appears to be drying, so teams are waiting for the first sucker to try dry tyres. Amazing that we finally recognised that there have been no retirements yet. For a wet race it is a solid effort. But the race is also surprisingly dull for a wet one.
Lap 22 – Daniel Ricciardo pits for tyres. Sadly it is for more Inters. We were looking forward to dry tyres. Even sadder he rejoins in 18th.
Lap 26 – Ricciardo isn’t much faster with his new tyres, but there are reports rain is coming. Vettel v Ocon for 10th is the choice battle at this point according to TV. More rain would be nice.
ORDER – BOT VER LEC PER HAM GAS NOR STR SAI VET
Lap 28 – No surprise as Nikita Mazepin is being a jerk while Lewis Hamilton is trying to lap him. Shame his father’s Russian Oil money will keep a good new driver from F2 out of a seat at Haas in 2022.
Lap 35 – Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez battle it out over five corners at the end of lap 35, swapping positions a few times. Lewis Hamilton gets him into the pit straight but Perez has the inside line and outbrakes Hamilton into turn one. Glorious racing, and about time for some proper action. Perez pits a couple of laps later taking away some fun.
Lap 37 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres. He rejoins in third. Easy as. In front of his team mate and Lewis Hamilton.
Lap 38 – Sebastian Vettel threatens to break some real entertainment out by putting on some dry weather tyres. The track looks too wet but what would we know from our lounge room in Australia. It doesn’t work as his Aston Martin is less driveable than roller skates in a oil spill. He’s barely able to keep it on track. He pits a lap later to change them to a new set of wets.
Lap 41 – Most of the pit stops have happened now and Charles Leclerc hasn’t pitted but is looking strong. Perhaps here’s a real smokey winner coming. Lewis Hamilton is told to pit at the end of lap 41. He doesn’t and stays out on the old Inters. Much like last season at Turkey.
ORDER – LEC BOT VER HAM PER GAS NOR OCO SAI STR
Lap 44 – Lewis Hamilton stays out, as does Leclerc in the lead. Max Verstappen on the radio complaining about his steering wheel. Which can’t be good given it’s importance to keep cars on tracks / roads. In other news there seems to be a dry line appearing.
Lap 47 – Valtteri Bottas overtakes Charles Leclerc for first. Bottas on new tyres Leclerc trying to get to the end without pitting. Leclerc pits for new tyres himself. He rejoins just ahead of Sergio Perez in 5th.
ORDER – BOT VER HAM LEC PER GAS NOR SAI OCO STR
Lap 51 – Lewis Hamilton finally pits. For more Inters. What a shame he didn’t put on some dry tyres for our amusement. He drops to fifth.
Lap 52 – Sergio Perez overtakes Charles Leclerc for third and the final podium spot.
Lap 53 – Lewis Hamilton is right on Leclerc for fourth. And right up his team for making him pit for new tyres. Fair enough too, he is now behind Leclerc and Perez is disappearing up the road and probably uncatchable by the end of the race. This gives Max Verstappen a nice little Championship cushion. Just to make Lewis happier, Gasly and Norris are quickly catching the Mercedes. His good drive is being whittled away.
Lap 58 – Valtteri Bottas cruises to victory. Verstappen will take second and the lead of the Championship and Perez would be equally happy with a podium. Lewis Hamilton holds on for fifth and doesn’t hold back against his team. The race sees no retirements at all.
FINAL ORDER – BOT VER PER LEC HAM GAS NOR SAI STR OCO
2021 Turkish Grand Prix Result – RACE RATING
We rate the big race itself 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 – 6/10
The race was important enough as Max Verstappen re-takes the lead of the World Championship. And in the net result for engine changes sees Verstappen ahead. Verstappen’s 2nd in Russia from the back a much better than Lewis Hamilton’s 5th place here.
ON TRACK ACTION – 3/10
Well it was a little bit dull for a wet race. Sadly the drivers have never been less wild than usual and there was no poor overtaking moves that ends in tears. There were a couple of good moves throughout the races – Hamilton v Perez comes to mind – but we guess our low rating factored is more about being disappointed in the wet race action compared to the hopes.
ENDING – 4 / 10
Bottas 10 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen with a few laps to go, and Verstappen 20 seconds ahead of his tea mate Perez in third. Pretty dull. The last few laps were at least livened up by Lewis Hamilton cracking the shits with his team and the cars behind him catching up.
OVERALL RATING 13/ 30
Who’d think when we saw a wet race if would be just a little dull. Lewis Hamilton’s issues towards the end provided some light entertainment. Bottas winning sums it up.
2021 SEASON RACE RANKINGS
Bahrain GP – 25/30
Emilia-Romagna GP – 17/30
Portuguese GP – 11/30
Spanish GP – 18/30
Monaco GP – 12/30
Azerbaijan GP – 23/30
French GP – 22/30
Styrian GP – 12/30
Austrian GP – 20/30
British GP – 22/30
Hungarian GP – 26/30
Belgian GP – 0/30
Dutch GP – 12/30
Italian GP – 25/30
Russian GP – 26/30
2021 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 scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 / -2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – VALTTERI BOTTAS
First win in a year. Led from the front for most of the race and seemed to have the race under control. Provided damage limitation for Lewis Hamilton. Proved that he is still capable of plenty. Good news for Alfa Romeo for 2022 we guess. Grabbed Fastest Lap too, providing a nice little cherry to the story.
THE GREAT – CARLOS SAINZ
Driver of the Day according to fans, and a close second for our Great for the Russian Grand Prix. Came from the back of the grid to a very decent 8th place. Especially given the wet track and modern cars/track.
THE GREAT – CHARLES LECLERC
Another solid weekend from one of F1’s more reliable drivers. Led for a while too, reminding us of his quality.
THE GREAT – SERGIO PEREZ
A podium for the Red Bull driver, and that should keep people quiet for a little while as he plays the second fiddle well. Drove well.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
MICK SCHUMACHER – Made it to Q2 in qualifying for the rare occasion, and got past his team mate despite being turfed off by Fernando Alonso.
THE GRAPE-EST – DANIEL RICCIARDO
Another bad weekend. Qualified 16th and behind slower cars most of the race. At least his team mate wasn’t super fast this weekend. Monza seems so far away…..
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
NIKITA MAZEPIN – For his block on Lewis Hamilton mostly. But didn’t wrap himself glory all weekend.
FERNANDO ALONSO- Was pushed into a spin at the first corner by Gasly. Ruined an excellent chance at a podium.
2021 Turkish Grand Prix Result – Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix and the overall 2021 F1 Season Power Rankings leader/s.
Read our last edition from after the Italian Grand Prix here.
