F1 Turkish GP race results: Bottas wins from Verstappen, Hamilton fifth

Bottas held the lead from the start from Verstappen and ran the front for the majority of the race, but had to pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for victory in the closing stages, as Leclerc attempted to stay out on the intermediate tyres that he’d started on.

Bottas won by over 14s from Verstappen with fastest lap, while Sergio Perez finished third in the second Red Bull. Leclerc finished fourth from Hamilton, the latter charging up from 11^th to third, but was angry that his team called him in for a stop when he wanted to stay out until the end.

2021 Turkish Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap
1	Valtteri Bottas		58	1:31'04.103
2	Max Verstappen		58	1:31'18.687	14.584
3	Sergio Perez		58	1:31'37.574	33.471
4	Charles Leclerc		58	1:31'41.917	37.814
5	Lewis Hamilton		58	1:31'45.915	41.812
6	Pierre Gasly		58	1:31'48.395	44.292
7	Lando Norris		58	1:31'51.316	47.213
8	Carlos Sainz Jr.		58	1:31'55.629	51.526
9	Lance Stroll		58	1:32'26.121	1'22.018
10	Esteban Ocon		57	1 lap
11	Antonio Giovinazzi		57	1 lap
12	Kimi Raikkonen		57	1 lap
13	Daniel Ricciardo		57	1 lap
14	Yuki Tsunoda		57	1 lap
15	George Russell		57	1 lap
16	Fernando Alonso		57	1 lap
17	Nicholas Latifi		57	1 lap
18	Sebastian Vettel		57	1 lap
19	Mick Schumacher		56	2 laps
20	Nikita Mazepin		56	2 laps
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How the Turkish Grand Prix unfolded

The race started in wet conditions, with the teams all using intermediate tyres. From his inherited pole position, Bottas led Verstappen and Leclerc, as Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri clipped the Alpine of Fernando Alonso into a spin at Turn 1 – for which Gasly received a five-second penalty.

Bottas pulled away in the opening stages from Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez.

From 11^th on the grid after his penalty for an engine change, Hamilton gained spots from Alonso’s spin and Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin early on, then took seven laps to find a way past Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri. He made short work of the second Aston of Lance Stroll and Lando Norris’s McLaren, rising into the top six by the end of lap 10.

Hamilton took fifth from Gasly on lap 14, but his charging drive then stalled out as his tyres became worn and he began to lose time to the leaders. He lost further vital seconds when he was carved up while lapping the Haas of Nikita Mazepin, which delayed him catching Perez.

Hamilton briefly got ahead of Perez at the end of lap 34, but the Mexican clung on – despite being forced into the pitlane entry.

Verstappen pitted on lap 37, followed in by Bottas and Perez a lap later. Leclerc now led but suffered a big lockup at Turn 12, while Hamilton also stayed out – turning down repeated suggestions from the team to pit – and rose to fourth.

Bottas caught Leclerc with 12 laps remaining and retook the lead on lap 47. Leclerc then gave up on his staying-out gamble and dropped to fourth, just ahead of Perez.

Hamilton pitted from third with seven laps to go, dropping him to fifth. Perez passed Leclerc for third, while Hamilton – who sounded angry about giving up his track position and believed he could’ve gone to the end – struggled on his new rubber.

Hamilton had to hold off Gasly for fifth in the closing stages, ahead of Norris. The result means that Hamilton slips six points behind Verstappen in their title fight.

From the back of the grid after an engine change grid penalty, Carlos Sainz Jr dragged his Ferrari into the top 10 by lap 14 with a bold move on Vettel. A slow pitstop didn’t help him and he had to battle past Esteban Ocon to finish eighth.

Ocon ran a non-stop race, but slipped back to 10^th having been passed by Stroll in the last few laps.

Vettel tried an overambitious gamble on slicks, which saw him slide off the track a number of times and he even half-spun coming into the pits to take more inters. He finished 18th.

2021 Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Valtteri Bottas	58	1'30.432			212.500
2	Carlos Sainz Jr.	49	1'31.921	1.489	1.489	209.057
3	Lando Norris	50	1'32.446	2.014	0.525	207.870
4	Sergio Perez	53	1'32.459	2.027	0.013	207.841
5	Kimi Raikkonen	50	1'32.586	2.154	0.127	207.556
6	Lance Stroll	58	1'32.608	2.176	0.022	207.506
7	Sebastian Vettel	54	1'32.730	2.298	0.122	207.233
8	Charles Leclerc	57	1'32.737	2.305	0.007	207.218
9	Max Verstappen	53	1'32.759	2.327	0.022	207.169
10	Lewis Hamilton	52	1'32.763	2.331	0.004	207.160
11	Pierre Gasly	50	1'32.814	2.382	0.051	207.046
12	Yuki Tsunoda	54	1'32.844	2.412	0.030	206.979
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	57	1'32.904	2.472	0.060	206.845
14	Fernando Alonso	55	1'33.252	2.820	0.348	206.073
15	Daniel Ricciardo	34	1'33.255	2.823	0.003	206.067
16	George Russell	53	1'33.399	2.967	0.144	205.749
17	Nicholas Latifi	48	1'33.672	3.240	0.273	205.149
18	Mick Schumacher	52	1'34.209	3.777	0.537	203.980
19	Esteban Ocon	24	1'34.584	4.152	0.375	203.171
20	Nikita Mazepin	52	1'35.438	5.006	0.854	201.353
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2021 Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix tyre history

Cla	Driver	1		2		3
1	Valtteri Bottas	I	37	I	21
2	Max Verstappen	I	36	I	22
3	Sergio Perez	I	37	I	21
4	Charles Leclerc	I	47	I	11
5	Lewis Hamilton	I	50	I	8
6	Pierre Gasly	I	39	I	19
7	Lando Norris	I	34	I	24
8	Carlos Sainz Jr.	I	36	I	22
9	Lance Stroll	I	39	I	19
10	Esteban Ocon	I	57
11	Antonio Giovinazzi	I	40	I	17
12	Kimi Raikkonen	I	37	I	20
13	Daniel Ricciardo	I	21	I	36
14	Yuki Tsunoda	I	35	I	22
15	George Russell	I	35	I	22
16	Fernando Alonso	I	30	I	27
17	Nicholas Latifi	I	34	I	23
18	Sebastian Vettel	I	36	M	5	I	20
19	Mick Schumacher	I	39	I	17
20	Nikita Mazepin	I	35	I	21
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