TURKEY. Intercity Istanbul Park: Team Mercedes’ Valteri Bottas claimed pole position for Turkish GP on Sunday. Bottas maintained a consistent lead of 2.5s throughout the race to eventually win the Turkish GP. With the win, Bottas ended his year-long drought. Interestingly, this was Bottas’ second pole of the season after his Portugal victory.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen started at second and secured the second position. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) took the third position. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who started in the third position secured the fourth spot.
Meanwhile, British driver Lewis Hamilton took 10 place grid penalty for his Mercedes engine change. Hamilton started from 11th after taking a 10-place penalty for fitting a new engine. Still, he managed to finish fifth.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly claimed in the sixth position and Mclaren’s Lando Norris secured the seventh position.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz climbed 11 places and finished eighth while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll secured the ninth position. Esteban Ocon was tenth for Alpine. Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen moved up four places each at the start but finally finished 11th and 12th respectively.
Driver of the Day
With several drivers out of their expected starting places, it was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who dazzled the audience by his 11 place climb in the final race and securing the title of Driver of the Day.
“When there’s only one drying line, it doesn’t need much that you go off, so definitely needed to focus all through the race. So difficult one and it feels like a well-earned victory,” said Valtteri Bottas of Team Mercedes AMG Petronas.
Valteri Bottas
Born in 1989, Valtteri Viktor Bottas is a Finnish racing driver who is currently competing in Formula One with Mercedes AMG Petronas. In 2010, Bottas was part of the Williams Formula One Team as a test driver.
Later in 2017, Mercedes signed Bottas to partner with Hamilton. He won the Russian Grand Prix, his first Grand Prix in 2017.
In 2017, Bottas launched the Valtteri Bottas Duathlon, an annual sporting event held in Finland to raise money for charity and various good causes.
Bottas currently resides in Monaco and co-owns Kahiwa Coffee Roasters in Lahti, Finland. The Mercedes driver is a recipient of many awards. Bottas has been honored with the Sky Sports Award for Most Improved Driver (2014), Confartigianato Motori Driver of the Year (2017), Lorenzo Bandini Trophy (2018), DHL Fastest Lap Award (2018), and AKK Motorsport Driver of the Year (2019).
Bottas won ten races, three in 2017, four in 2019, two in 2020 and one in 2021. He has also contributed to four constructors’ championship wins. From 2022, he will drive for Alfa Romeo Racing.
Turkish Grand Prix Top 5
- Valteri Botas (Team Mercedes)
- Max Verstappen (Team Red Bull Racing Honda)
- Sergio Pérez (Team Red Bull Racing Honda)
- Charles Leclerc ( Team Ferrari)
- Lewis Hamilton (Team Mercedes)
Driver Standing after Turkish GP
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) :262.5 Pts
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes):256.5 Pts
- Valteri Bottas (Mercedes):177 Pts
Constructors Standings after Turkish GP
- AMG Petronas Formula One Team – (Hamilton / Bottas): 433.5 Pts
- Red Bull Racing – (Verstappen / Perez): 397.5 Pts
- McLaren F1 Team – (Norris / Ricciardo): 240 Pts
Intercity Istanbul Park circuit and Turkish Grand Prix
Noted architect Hermann Tilke designed the Intercity İstanbul Park circuit at Akfirat. The circuit was inaugurated in 2005 and the first-ever Turkish Grand Prix was hosted in the same year.
Finnish driver Kimi Räikkönen won the 58-lap race driving a McLaren-Mercedes.
Istanbul is one of the best tracks ever with parts of the circuit similar to Spa-Francorchamps, Interlagos and Laguna Seca. The Turkish Grand Prix was brought in as a replacement for the Canadian Grand Prix for the 2021 Formula One World Championship due to the entry restrictions of Canada. The event was then postponed due to travel restrictions from Turkey imposed by U.K. and was later re-added to the calendar in place of the cancelled Singapore Grand Prix.
Coming next in the Formula One season for 2021 is United States Grand Prix 2021, which is scheduled from October 22 to 24 at Circuit of The Americas, Austin, U.S.A.
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