Poll: Turkish Grand Prix 2020, Istanbul - Race 14/17

[Garido]

I like the track but would've liked to see it in the dry. Is thanksgiving turkey on the calendar for 2021?

Verstappen has had one decent performance in the rain a few years back, and now everyone thinks he's a rainmaster. He really isn't, and has proved that pretty much every wet race since. Hamilton is just vastly better in the rain (he blames it on growing up racing in the UK), and even today he couldn't keep it completely on the track with the new, extra greasy surface. Verstappen's wet race performance today was pretty dire when compared to Hamilton's, and Verstappen showed his usual lack of patience and anger that gets him into trouble. If there's one race to bide your time for the right moments, it's a wet race.

I fully agree with you. You're one of the few who'll call it like it is.

I fear Albon sealed his fate today. Max's mistakes gave him an opportunity to really impress, and he failed. Ending up, like Max, trundling home in the middle of the points behind slower cars. Some decent overtakes don't really compensate for that.

Their drives were similar and both made mistakes. I think he will stay though.

 

[rubberduck]

Its not often I even consider a 10 for a race, but what we witnessed today will be looked back on for many years to come. Absolute mastery of the conditions and the tyres. It feels like he did something that really shouldnt have been possible, and kept a pace that was just ridiculous. I remember with 20 laps to go I was thinking those tyres must be on their last legs and that they must pit him, but he just kept going and going, keeping the temps just right on those extremely worn boots.
I was genuinely in awe of that performance today. A drive worthy of the 7th WDC title. I might not sometimes completely agree with how he conducts himself outside of the car, but he is very quickly removing any lingering doubts as to his place amongst the legends of the sport. In my opinion one of the most complete racing drivers to grace the sport. He has had his fair share of mistakes and controversy over the years but he has grown and learned. Unfortunately for his rivals, he is also driving for one of the most complete teams ever. This success will not last for ever, every empire eventually falls, but I sure am glad I have the opportunity to bare witness to this greatness play out.

Please pass me the sick bag.

 

[deuse]

Best race for ages. Well done Hamil7on and all @TeamLH

 

[Jimbeam3678]

Please pass me the sick bag.

Why? I thought it was well thought out and balanced appraisal of Hamilton.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Most exciting race of the season. Still haven’t quite figured out how Stroll went backwards so fast...

Verstappen needs to calm the **** down.

Hamilton showed why he’s a 7 time champion by dragging a very unhappy Merc to victory.

I’m guessing that the aero work they did to help with the Merc burning out rear tyres was an enormous hindrance to trying to keep them warm in the rain.

 

[GravyMonster]

Why? I thought it was well thought out and balanced appraisal of Hamilton.

It was. He's just ridiculously biased. Look at how he voted in the poll.

I feel genuine pity for those who can't appreciate a great race just because their favourite driver didn't win or do well.

 

[fez]

It was. He's just ridiculously biased. Look at how he voted in the poll.

I feel genuine pity for those who can't appreciate a great race just because their favourite driver didn't win or do well.

Kind of depends on what you consider a great race. Some people consider it a great race when you have 4 safety cars and there is only 15 laps of actual racing because it constantly compacts the field. Other people think that a race with lots of overtaking is good even when 90% of them are purely the result of tyre degradation and DRS and are a formality.

I struggle with the modern era of F1 because I find it generally boring and predicatible. The fastest cars win and the fastest cars are always the same cars. Overtaking is mainly dictated by DRS and tyre condition rather than driver skill. Thats why certain drivers are more exciting to watch. Verstappen may be erratic and hot headed but at least hes entertaining.

 

[Greboth]

Only caught up on the race late last night but I'd seen some of the comments and it was certainly an unpredictable race. It was interesting to see how much Merc struggled in quali but could get the car working better in the race. Max drove well but let his frustration get the better of him which is a shame as it could have been a good fight at the end. Bottas was even more miserable than usual though, Hamilton says he's good in the rain having raced in the UK but equally you'd think Finns would be used to driving in slippery conditions too.

Kind of depends on what you consider a great race. Some people consider it a great race when you have 4 safety cars and there is only 15 laps of actual racing because it constantly compacts the field. Other people think that a race with lots of overtaking is good even when 90% of them are purely the result of tyre degradation and DRS and are a formality.

I struggle with the modern era of F1 because I find it generally boring and predicatible. The fastest cars win and the fastest cars are always the same cars. Overtaking is mainly dictated by DRS and tyre condition rather than driver skill. Thats why certain drivers are more exciting to watch. Verstappen may be erratic and hot headed but at least hes entertaining.

There certainly is an element of peoples opinion that comes in to play with the voting and it's interesting to see peoples differing opinions and the spread of votes. What Gravymonster was referring to though is there's some on here, Rubberduck being one, that you know how they will vote simply based on the result. Typically this is Hamilton wins then it's always 1/10, Ferrari/Vettel wins then always 10/10 - no middle ground and irrespective of any consideration of what the other 19 drivers were up to.

 

[this_is_gav]

I didn't think it was one of Hamilton's absolute top drives. It was largely Mercedes level of performance by the end, the main difference being the time he lost early on and when they changed to the inters, as it took the Mercedes a few laps to get the tyres in range, but that trait also helped him get to the end on the slick-like tyres.

I think Perez, Vettel and Sainz had equally good races, as did Leclerc until he cocked up at the last corner.

It was a good drive and it obviously wasn't a lucky win like Monaco 2008 was, but I think Hamilton's performance was made to look much better by Verstappen and certainly Bottas having poor and utterly woeful awful races respectively.

 

[Mr Jack]

Racing Point say they discovered damage to Stroll's front wing after the race:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1328314584177008640

I guess that explains why he suddenly started struggling after his brilliant opening 30 laps or so.

 

[fez]

I didn't think it was one of Hamilton's absolute top drives. It was largely Mercedes level of performance by the end, the main difference being the time he lost early on and when they changed to the inters, as it took the Mercedes a few laps to get the tyres in range, but that trait also helped him get to the end on the slick-like tyres.

I agree. The simply isn't any way that Hamilton was "tyre whispering" to the degree some people would have you believe. A huge number of races he has had exactly the same issues or worse issues than other teams with the degradation of the tyres. I think it was just a perfect storm. He drove it well and didn't make any mistakes and the setup of the car was perfect for the medium tyre and the degredation of the tyre perfectly matched the improvement in the dryness of the track.

I think Perez, Vettel and Sainz had equally good races, as did Leclerc until he cocked up at the last corner.

It was a good drive and it obviously wasn't a lucky win like Monaco 2008 was, but I think Hamilton's performance was made to look much better by Verstappen and certainly Bottas having poor and utterly woeful awful races respectively.

Yeah, for sure. Was a good drive from Hamilton but Bottas was in clown mode and Verstappen just went rogue!

I felt sorry for Leclerc but that was kind of the story of the race. If you went off line at the wrong point to try and overtake you were screwed. Inexperience caused that one.

 

[this_is_gav]

Leclerc was already ahead of Perez as Perez had gone off at the corner before. Had Leclerc taken the normal line or even just braked slightly earlier he would have been fine. His mistake was choosing to defend off the racing line and braking too late against a car which he ought to have known would have been unlikely to out-brake him given the state of its tyres.

That's why he was so angry afterwards - what should have been a well-earned second place was lost in a few key mistakes at the final hurdle. It obviously didn't help that he lost third and a podium to his team-mate too.

 

[chrismscotland]

I like the track but would've liked to see it in the dry. Is thanksgiving turkey on the calendar for 2021?

Not yet; free slot in April where Vietnam was supposed to be though; rumoured that Turkey, Imola and Malaysia could be in there; ultimately money will talk likely; that said Italy is one of the few countries with enough support to fully support 2x Grand Prix in a year so I'd fancy Imola or Mugello to be honest.

I'd like Turkey back on to replace something dire like Sochi

 

[chrismscotland]

George Russell throwing a strop following the Turkish GP;

“If you want chaos and carnage, and drivers being made to look like idiots, there are other categories and sports out there you can go and watch,” he said.

“Formula 1 is about the best cars, the best drivers, the best teams going to the best tracks, and showing what they can do. This weekend was not that.

For someone who hasn't really done anything in F1 yet I sometimes think he should just shut up and get his head down; other drivers managed to get to grips with the circuit.


‘If you want to watch idiots race, don’t watch F1’

 

[Alibaba99]

I agree. The simply isn't any way that Hamilton was "tyre whispering" to the degree some people would have you believe. A huge number of races he has had exactly the same issues or worse issues than other teams with the degradation of the tyres. I think it was just a perfect storm. He drove it well and didn't make any mistakes and the setup of the car was perfect for the medium tyre and the degredation of the tyre perfectly matched the improvement in the dryness of the track.

There's an interesting article on Autosport today about what Lewis had to do to get the inters to the point where they worked, and more importantly keep them at that point without going beyond. He had to change his line and loadings through the corners to keep the tyres good.

It was also Lewis that instructed his team to only put used tyres on the car at the pitstops, so that he avoided the graining phase that a new tyre would go through.

 

[Jimbeam3678]

That's not a good look from George.

 

[fez]

There's an interesting article on Autosport today about what Lewis had to do to get the inters to the point where they worked, and more importantly keep them at that point without going beyond. He had to change his line and loadings through the corners to keep the tyres good.

It was also Lewis that instructed his team to only put used tyres on the car at the pitstops, so that he avoided the graining phase that a new tyre would go through.

Fair play with the call to put the used ones on, you would think that is something the team might know about though. Thats one thing that surprises me. How often the team make semingly poor decisions. Not poor in hindsight but poor from the outset.

 

[pallys]

There's an interesting article on Autosport today about what Lewis had to do to get the inters to the point where they worked, and more importantly keep them at that point without going beyond. He had to change his line and loadings through the corners to keep the tyres good.

It was also Lewis that instructed his team to only put used tyres on the car at the pitstops, so that he avoided the graining phase that a new tyre would go through.

Lewis also I could see taking different lines to others, he explored and found the grip.

But yeah defining your own strategy is also great leadership.

 

[I_M_Weasel]

I think Max's problem was that he could see the win slipping fom his grasp and Stroll dissappearing down the road and just couldn't wait. He was only playing for the win - I wonder if he would make the same impatient decision if he was in a realistic title fight where playing the numbers game is crucial.

 

[rubberduck]

I think Max's problem was that he could see the win slipping fom his grasp and Stroll dissappearing down the road and just couldn't wait. He was only playing for the win - I wonder if he would make the same impatient decision if he was in a realistic title fight where playing the numbers game is crucial.

Hamilton pretty much did the same during his Merc days when he wasn't going to win a championship, take a risk, maybe be a bit rash, but go for the race win as opposed to scoring 'good points' or even a podium.