Bottas wins Turkish GP as Verstappen reclaims championship lead

Valtteri Bottas aced the damp conditions to win the 2021 Turkish GP and pick up his first F1 win since the last year’s Russian GP. Max Verstappen followed him in second place, but with title rival Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth, the Red Bull Racing driver once again retakes the championship lead.

• Bottas scores first win since Russia 2020
• Verstappen leads by six points
• Perez completes podium

Hamilton unhappy with Mercedes strategy

Despite setting the fastest lap in qualifying, Hamilton had to start the race from 11^th after taking a new engine. This handed his teammate Bottas pole position, and the Finn held on to the lead for most of the race.

By lap 11, Hamilton was already running in the top five after passing Pierre Gasly. He continued his charge up the field and tussled with Sergio Perez, who was able to hold on to fourth place. Once the pit window opened, strategy came into play - with everyone starting the race on inters, drivers no longer had to take a mandatory pit stop.

Majority of the drivers, including frontrunners Verstappen, Bottas and Perez pitted in that window. But Charles Leclerc, now running in the lead, and Hamilton, were both contemplating continuing on the same set of inters, either hoping for the track to dry out soon or to finish the race without pitting.

Ferrari decided the gamble wasn’t going to pay off and pitted Leclerc on Lap 47, by which time Bottas had already moved into the lead once again. At this point, Hamilton was running in third place, but with dark clouds looming, Mercedes opted to pit him on Lap 51. The Briton rejoined the track in fifth place, seemingly furious with the team as he went on the radio to ask: “Why did we give up that place?”

As both Leclerc and Hamilton’s tyres went through the graining process, they couldn’t make any further progress up the order. Leclerc was passed by Perez and had to settle for fourth place, while Hamilton finished fifth.

Bottas takes dominant win

Out at front, Bottas set the fastest lap to bag an extra point, too. He crossed the line to score his first win of the season, followed by Verstappen 14.5 secs adrift. "I think from my side, I have to say, probably one of the best races I’ve had ever. Just apart from that one little slide, everything was under control, but like I said before the race, the car has been good in every condition and I had good confidence with it and could really control it,” said Bottas, who will be moving to Alfa Romeo next year.

"It’s not easy to choose the strategy here with these conditions, when to stop and which tyre and everything, but I’m glad everything went smooth for once for me and that’s nice. When there’s only one drying line, it doesn’t need much that you go off, so definitely needed to focus all through the race. So difficult one and it feels like a well-earned victory,” he added.

Perez completed the podium, having taken full advantage of Leclerc’s graining tyres. Pierre Gasly finished sixth after taking a 5-second penalty for making contact with Fernando Alonso on the opening lap. He was followed by Lando Norris.

Carlos Sainz, who started from 19^th on the grid due to engine penalties, finished in 8^th place. His valiant recovery drive was hampered by a slow 8.1 sec pit stop. He was, nevertheless, voted Driver of the Day. Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10.

2021 F1 drivers’ championship standings

Max Verstappen now holds a six-point lead in the championship. With Six more races to go, it’s still a tight battle between him and Hamilton.

F1 will now head to Austin for the United States GP on October 22-24.

2021 Turkish GP results