Formula 1 Rolex Turkish Grand Prix 2021Formula 1

[Touring Mars]

LeClerc and Hamilton could stay out and steal a march on the rest of the field.

Hamilton could have pulled a masterstroke by staying out, and so bringing Perez in may have been a big blunder by RB.

Far from the "3-4 stop race" that Russell predicted, LeClerc could possibly win this without stopping at all.

edit: Verstappen starting to drop LH now, so looks like the zero-stop strategy won't work - but LH is arguing over the call

 

[Grayfox]

Lewis pitting

 

[Blitz24]

Lewis pitting

Didn't see him go in.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Seems like Hamilton is good to go. Perez is not catching him.

 

[Famine]

Verstappen starting to drop LH now, so looks like the zero-stop strategy won't work - but LH is arguing over the call

At the moment, Hamilton is finishing three points behind Verstappen, so would leave one point behind him in the championship. Perez needs ten more laps than there is remaining to overtake him. If Hamilton pits, he's behind Perez and won't catch him, and loses two more points. So as things stand, Hamilton is right.

Of course the 58-lap Inters might burst before that.

 

[Rob192005]

Max has issues.

 

[Grayfox]

Max having issues with steering.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Verstappen's car making a conversion to a NASCAR?

 

[Grayfox]

Verstappen's car making a conversion to a NASCAR?

I would say more like Indy.

 

[Veinz]

I really like that graphic on the front wing cam but I wish it showed what gear they’re in too.

 

[NotThePrez]

Ooohh, that telemetry graphic on Bottas' front camera is really neat.

Edit: Bottas retakes the lead.

 

[Touring Mars]

At the moment, Hamilton is finishing three points behind Verstappen, so would leave one point behind him in the championship. Perez needs ten more laps than there is remaining to overtake him. If Hamilton pits, he's behind Perez and won't catch him, and loses two more points. So as things stand, Hamilton is right.

Of course the 58-lap Inters might burst before that.

Tough call for LH. He usually gets these decisions bang on, but he's pushed his luck with tyres too far before... for the sake of a couple of points, it seems like quite a gamble to trust that these tyres will not let go before the end...

 

[McLaren]

Bottas: I’ll take that lead back, thank you.

 

[Blitz24]

Bottas back in front. Going back to the Checo battle, I'm surprised that what Hamilton did isn't considered dangerous driving in nearly pushing another car into the pits.

 

[GingerBredMan]

Tough call for LH. He usually gets these decisions bang on, but he's pushed his luck with tyres too far before... for the sake of a couple of points, it seems like quite a gamble to trust that these tyres will not let go before the end...

A couple points could decide the championship. Only 6 races remaining after this.

 

[Touring Mars]

A couple points could decide the championship. Only 6 races remaining after this.

Exactly, but LH is gambling 15 points if his tyres go pop, while he would lose 5 if he pits.

 

[Veinz]

The F1 nerd in me cant wait to see a pic of Lewis’ tires after the race. I’m more surprised the tires have lasted this long without a blowout than anything.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Hamilton may be under threat from Leclerc and Perez.

 

[Rob192005]

Coming in after all.

 

[Touring Mars]

LH pits for new inters...

Smart move I think - Hamilton is 7 seconds behind P4, so he might get P4 and even P3 back with fresh tyres on.

 

[NotThePrez]

Hamilton comes in to switch to a new set of inters.

Probably a good call, 'cause that old set is...

 

[Blitz24]

Checo gets by LeClerc and might get a double podium for RB.

 

[PaMu1337]

Checo gets by LeClerc and might get a double podium for RB.

Would only be the 2nd double RB podium this year

 

[Famine]

Hamilton/Mercedes >> Leclerc/Ferrari

Seems that one team and driver knows when to listen and when to insist, while the other doesn't.

Edit: Though Hamilton is apparently now regretting listening

 

[Touring Mars]

Hamilton is super-pissed - Button seems to have called it right when he said that LH didn't know he was giving up two places by pitting.

Gasly challenging for P5 now

 

[Famine]

This is what we've seen on every other car - pit for new Inters, quick lap and then not much for five+ laps.

 

[Fat Tyre]

What's worse is that it seems like Lewis could have won this race comfortably had he not gotten a new ICE component.

 

[NotThePrez]

Gasly looks like he's eyeing-up an overtake on Hamilton, but Lewis looks like he's slowly catching up to LecLerc.

Edit: Nevermind on the latter.

 

[Touring Mars]

Lewis's race engineering after the chequered flag:

At least he might rescue a point for LH by setting a new lap record.

 

[Veinz]

The inters are really strange around here.