Time For Turkey!!
After what has felt like a long two weeks, racing finally resumes - this time in Istanbul for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix! At this circuit last year, Lewis Hamilton secured his 7th World Drivers’ Championship. This time around, there are only 2 points separating him and his rival for the season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Tensions have been high all year between the pair and we don’t expect that to change this weekend.
While Mercedes and Red Bull are the two front runners for the constructor’s title this year, the battle for third place is still going strong. With points at 234 and 216.5 in McLaren’s favour, Ferrari will be looking to finish the race with enough points to put themselves back in front. Williams had another points finish in Russia last week, that was their 6th time finishing in the points between their two drivers (Russell – 4, Latifi – 2). They’ll be looking to continue their great form this weekend in Turkey.
Last Time Out...
As previously mentioned, Lewis Hamilton won his 7th championship at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix despite starting his race from 6th on the grid. On pole last year was Lance Stroll in his pink Racing Point (now rebranded to Aston Martin), and joining him on the front row was Max Verstappen, a renowned wet weather master. Sergio Perez put his Racing Point in third and we imagine he’ll be hoping to do this (or better) again in his Red Bull car this year.
It was a damp race, with all teams starting on the full wet condition tyres before switching to intermediates later on. The track condition remained mostly the same for the entire race, resulting in lots of spins (Bottas spun at least three times over the course of the race). The race ended with Hamilton in P1, Perez in P2, and Vettel (who started the race 11th in his Ferrari) in P3- a position stolen on the last lap due to a mistake which devastated Charles Leclerc.
The Finer Details...
The Intercity Istanbul Park (also known as the Istanbul Racing Circuit, or Istanbul Otodrom), located in the Tuzla district of Istanbul, held its first Grand Prix in 2005. Kimi Raikkonen won the Turkish Grand Prix that year in his McLaren-Mercedes car. Former F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone claims that this track is “the best race track in the world.”
The Turkish Grand Prix was not held between 2012 and 2019 but returned to the F1 calendar in 2020 to replace the Canadian Grand Prix, as a result of it being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Turkey kept it’s place on the calendar for 2021 after the Canadian Grand Prix was cancelled for a second year running.
The circuit measures 5.338km, with the race distance being 309.396km. This translates to 58 laps that the drivers will be racing. The track has 14 corners, 7 to the left and 7 to the right. It also has two DRS zones, with the first zone starting before Turn 11 and ending just before Turn 12, the second is along the start/finish straight.
With plans for the Canadian Grand Prix to return to the calendar in 2022, there is no confirmation yet as to whether there will be a Turkish Grand Prix next year.
Quick Fire Facts...
The Intercity Istanbul Park circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, German racing driver, who also designed or contributed to the Nürburgring, the Red Bull Ring, Sepang International Circuit, Bahrain International Circuit, the Sochi Autodrom, and many others.
Juan Pablo Montoya holds the lap record with a time of 1:24:770 set in 2005.
The track has a capacity for 125,000 people with the main grandstand being able to hold 25,000 spectators.
Other events that the track has hosted include GP2, MotoGP, FIA World Touring Car Championship, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and Le Mans Series.
When To Watch:
Formula 1:
(FRIDAY) We’ll be back on track at 11:30am local time (09:30 - 10:30 BST)
(FRIDAY) Watch FP2 at 15:00 local time (13:00 - 14:00 BST)
(SATURDAY) This session we’ll begin to see a more accurate grid order, FP3 commencing at 12:00 local time (10:00 - 11:00 BST)
(SATURDAY) We’ll be able to see if we’ll receive another surprise pole-sitter after last year at 15:00 local time (13:00 - 14:00 BST)
(SUNDAY) Lights out is scheduled for 15:00 local time (13:00 BST)
(All times collected and calculated from the official Formula 1 website)
(Information for this post uses previous race data collected from the internet and official sources. No copyright intended)
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