Lewis Hamilton clinched his seventh Formula 1 World Championship in Turkey last year while Max Verstappen forgot one race but this time the title remains wide open and the Dutchman could be the one to celebrate on Sunday.
Only two points separate Mercedes World Cup leader Hamilton from his Red Bull rival, who will remain six races after Istanbul and the battle for victory.
One mistake, one failure – be it a mechanical failure or a collision – would be a major blow at this point in the season and Hamilton may still have to take a new engine and a penalty.
Verstappen turned 24 last week and an eighth win of the season would bring him back to the top after Hamilton, 36, took advantage of his 100th career win two weeks ago in Russia.
Red Bull will also have a special paint job on their cars as a tribute to outgoing motor partner Honda for the weekend of the Japanese Grand Prix without the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last year’s GP in Turkey was of course not the best weekend for us as a team, but I think the circumstances will be completely different this year, hopefully the tarmac will be a bit more grippy,” said Verstappen, who finished sixth in the 2020 race occupied.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty new weekend for everyone in general, there will be a lot to learn, so I’m looking forward to seeing how competitive we are there.”
Verstappen was on pole eight times this year, followed by Hamilton three times and narrowly missed the top spot in Turkey last year.
Last year’s race was the first on the Istanbul track since 2011 and the freshly paved and slippery track caused a lot of complaints.
Hamilton, the winner on that wet November afternoon, compared the conditions to an ice rink and said the organizers wasted their money.
That shouldn’t be that big of a problem this time around as the surface has been blasted to make it less slippery and Pirelli is bringing softer tires for a race that is also taking place a month earlier.
Unlike last year’s behind-the-scenes race, there will also be a lot, with organizers hoping for 100,000 over three days.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team was still grumbling after the success of Sochi, but “fate can change in the blink of an eye”.
“This season keeps us all busy and we have a lot of fun with it, but it also means that we have to approach the season aggressively to maximize the points available,” added the Austrian.
“It’s an exciting track layout and good for racing so I think we’ll see another spectacular turn in this brilliant F1 season.”
Canadian Lance Stroll was on pole position for Racing Point, now Aston Martin, in his career last year, but it takes something special to be at the top again this time.
Lando Norris put McLaren on pole position on a wet Russian weekend and headed for his maiden win until later rain thwarted his hopes.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the simulator, learned from the experience in Russia and I’m ready to get started again,” said the Briton.
Reuters statistics for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix
- Circular walk in Istanbul Park
- Round 16 of the Formula 1 World Championship:
- Lap distance: 5.338 km. Total distance: 309.396 km (58 laps)
- Pole position 2020: Lance Stroll (Canada) Racing Point, one minute 47.765 seconds.
- 2020 winner: Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) Mercedes
- Record lap in the race: Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) McLaren, 2005 One minute 24.770 seconds.
- Start time: 1200GMT / 1500 local time
Turkey Grand Prix
- Seven of the eight Turkish Grand Prix to date have been won by a driver from the front row. The exception was last year when Hamilton started in sixth. The pole sitter in Turkey has won five times.
- Jenson Button, winner with Brawn 2009, and Hamilton 2010 both started in second place.
- Three of the races ended with one-two victories (Ferrari 2007, McLaren 2010, Red Bull 2011).
- Kimi Raikkonen (2005), Hamilton (2010, 2020), Sebastian Vettel (2011) are the only active drivers who have won in Turkey.
- The track is one of seven counterclockwise tracks on the calendar and offers good opportunities for overtaking.
Race wins
- Hamilton has a record of 100 career wins, 79 of them with Mercedes, out of 281 starts. He was on the podium 176 times.
- The championship leader Hamilton has won five times this year, Verstappen has won seven times. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo have each won once.
- Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas has now had a year without a win.
- Ferrari has won 238 races since 1950, McLaren 183, Mercedes 120, Williams 114 and Red Bull 72.
Pole positions
Hamilton has a record of 101 career Poles and has won from pole position 59 times. In 2021 he had three poles so far.
Verstappen took pole position eight times, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in qualifying in Azerbaijan and Monaco. Bottas was on pole in Portugal and McLaren’s Lando Norris in Russia.
World Championship
- Hamilton is two points ahead of Verstappen. Mercedes leads Red Bull by 33 points.
- George Russell has scored in four of the last five races for Williams. Before that, the team hadn’t scored a point for two years.
Milestones
Hamilton’s victory in Russia made him the first Formula 1 driver to win 100 races. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin)
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