Lewis Hamilton trudged angrily through the pit lane of Istanbul after losing his World Championship lead, Max Verstappen joked after his return to the top of Formula 1. In the rain of Turkey, the Red Bull driver ousted the world champion from the front again in second behind winner Valtteri Bottas. After a penalty transfer, Hamilton saved himself from eleventh to fifth. In the end of the thrilling tire poker game, however, he complained about the timing of the pit stop announced by the Mercedes command post.
In the World Cup standings, the Briton is now six points behind the Dutchman, who raced furiously from 20th to second two weeks ago in Russia after his bumpy chase to catch up. “We are happy with second place. It’s easy to make mistakes under these conditions, ”said Verstappen, whose team-mate Sergio Perez finished third. When asked what was the hardest for him in the Grand Prix, he joked: “To stay awake.”
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In front of tens of thousands of fans, Sebastian Vettel gambled away in the Aston Martin during a pit stop when he took a risk with dry tires. He was 18th for the fourth time in a row without counters. After the best qualifying result of his career, Mick Schumacher threw back an early collision with alpine veteran Fernando Alonso in the defeated Haas. Lapped, he dragged himself across the finish line in 19th place.
Hamilton wanted to force the jump on the podium
“Everything is possible,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff before the red lights went out in view of the difficult weather conditions. Fog and drizzle around the Intercity Istanbul Park initially forced Hamilton & Co. to use intermediates. “I have to, I want to win the race somehow,” announced the world champion, who after an illegal engine swap was only allowed to start from eleventh instead of first.
The first to benefit was his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who led the field into the 170 meters to the first braking zone. Behind it was Verstappen, who had been complaining about the balance of his Red Bull all weekend.
The Dutchman couldn’t get past Bottas. Vettel was stuck in tenth place after another disappointing qualification. Hamilton continued to work his way forward. The intermediates lost more and more of their profile, the right timing for tire changes occupied the command posts.
Verstappen was the first pilot from the leading group to pit on lap 37, but only fell back to third. Bottas received fresh intermediates one round later. Hamilton took the risk. The seven-time world champion delayed his pit stop as long as possible. A year after his early title win in Turkey, when he had moved all the way up from sixth position in a rainy mess, he wanted to force the leap onto the podium. When he returned to the track, however, he lost two places and finished fifth. (dpa)
