#Formula1 @DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020 Preview. #F1 #TurkishGP

After Lewis Hamilton claimed his 93^rd-career victory at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Mercedes wrapped up their seventh-consecutive World Constructors Championship crown, round 14 of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to Intercity Istanbul Park for the first time since 2011 for the Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020. It will be the eighth time that Turkey has hosted Formula 1 racing since the sport’s inception in 1950.

 

 

Turkish Grand Prix Preview – A look at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit

 

 

Intercity Istanbul Park, also known as Istanbul Racing Circuit, or initially Istanbul Otodrom, is a permanent racing circuit in Tuzia, east of Istanbul, Turkey. It was designed by Formula One circuit architect Hermann Tilke and was inaugurated on 21 August 2005. Former Formula One Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone hailed it as “the best circuit in the world”, who held the managing rights of the track between 2007 and 11. The circuit is currently managed by Turkish company Intercity.

 

The circuit is located crossing the boundaries of Pendik and Tuzia districts on the Asian side of Istanbul, close to the Kurkoy junction on the northern side of the O-4 motorway, linking Istanbul to Ankara. It is opposite the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport and surrounded by fields and forests.

 

The track has a 125,000 capacity for spectators with the main grandstand with a seating capacity of 25,000, along with natural ground and temporary stands allowing for approximately 100,000 people. The paddock buildings are a two-level structure with the ground floor reserved for racing teams and the upper floor for hospitality, along with an additional 5,000 seats for viewing. On each end of the paddock, there are two VIP 7-story towers.

 

The famous turn eight corner is nicknamed “Diabolica”. The fast sweeping corner with four apexes, similar to one of the multi-apex sections of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Drivers and fans love the fast turn eight, comparing it to legendary corners such as Spa-Francorchamps’ Eau Rouge and Suzuka’s 130R. Another notable corner is turn one, a sharp down-hill left-hander immediately after the main-straight. The turn has been called by some as the “Turkish Corkscrew” in reference to the world famous “Corkscrew” at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca. Both F1 and MotoGP races in their respective 2006 events saw multiple incidents occur at this corner. The uphill kink in the middle of the back straight with its similarity to Eau Rouge, is labelled by some as “Faux Rouge”.

 

The Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit is 5.338 kilometres (3.317 miles) in length and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.

 

Race distance is 309.396 kilometres (192.250 miles) in length with 58 laps in total and 14 corners.

 

Juan-Pablo Montoya holds the record for the fastest lap at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit, setting a 1:24.700 in his Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes MP4-21 at the inaugural event in 2005.

 

Felipe Massa holds the record for most victories at the Turkish Grand Prix with three to his name.

 

Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful Constructor at Intercity Istanbul Park with three victories.

 

Turkish Grand Prix Preview – A lap of the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit from the 2011 event, set by Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull Racing-Renault RB7. The German posted a 1:25.049. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7lFZD6pN2E.

 

Turkish GP Preview – Last Five Turkish Grand Prix Winners

 

 

2011: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing. 2010: Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes. 2009: Jenson Button, Brawn GP. 2008: Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari. 2007: Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari.

 

Turkish GP Preview – Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them to Istanbul, the C1 white side-walled Hard tyres, the C2 yellow-marked Mediums and the red-branded C3 Softs alongside the green side-walled Intermediates and blue-marked Full Wets in-case of rain.

 

Drivers will have three sets of the hards, three sets of the mediums and seven sets of the softs.

 

Turkish GP Preview – DRS Zones

 

As in 2011, there will be two DRS Zones at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit with the first detection zone located just before the turn nine left-hander with the first activation point just before the left kink at turn eleven on the back straight. The second detection zone is in-between the penultimate and final corners with the second activation point on the main-straight.

 

Turkish GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits

 

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

Turkish GP Preview – ICYMI: Hamilton claims Emilia Romagna GP victory as Mercedes secures Constructors title

 

 

Lewis Hamilton beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas to victory at the Emilia Romagna GP, where Mercedes clinched its seventh consecutive-Constructors Championship, as Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen suffered a puncture.

 

Hamilton survived a five-lap dash to the chequered flag following Verstappen’s dramatic puncture spinning retirement, pulling away from Bottas, who lead the early proceedings before losing ground due to floor damage as he ran in-front of the Red Bull.

 

When the 63-lap Emilia Romagna GP began, pole-sitter Bottas got a brilliant getaway on the rundown to the Tamburello Chicane, but although Hamilton he made a great reaction, the Briton lost ground to Verstappen as they charged away from the line.

 

Verstappen was wheel-to-wheel alongside the Mercedes by the time they reached the braking zone for the left first part of Tamburello, and easily moved into second place, with Hamilton also forced to defend momentarily against Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who jumped up to fourth when AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was caught out by the other Mercedes in-front on the approach to the Grand Prix’s real first turn.

 

The top three runners pulled clear, as they have done for the majority of the 2020 season, with Hamilton following Verstappen within a second in the earlier stages, before dropping out of DRS range after reporting he could not run behind the Red Bull.

 

By the eighth lap, Ricciardo was already ten seconds adrift of Bottas, as the top three laps in the 1:19’s – more than a second faster than the field.

 

Bottas increased his gap up to two seconds by the beginning of the 16^th tour, where he was told to push as the runners who started on the C4 softer compounds began to pit to swap their degrading rubber.

 

The Finn posted a series of quickest laps in the 1:18’s, with Verstappen only to reach that pace a couple of laps later, with the Dutchman stopping at the end of lap 18 to put on the C2 white side-walled hard tyres.

 

Bottas reacted putting on the same rubber, easily emerging ahead, while Hamilton remained on-track as the Brackley-based squad told the Briton he would be extending his initial stint in an attempt to jump Verstappen.

 

Hamilton was almost two seconds behind the Honda-powered RB16 before it stopped, and the Black Arrows focused on how to get their reigning world champion back into second place.

 

The Briton strung together a series of quicker laps, momentarily reaching the 1:17’s, before Mercedes asked if he could run much longer as he closed up to the rear of the backmarkers to overlap them.

 

Bottas, who was notified that he sustained damage to his floor on the left-hand side of his F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer on the second tour, picked up by striking debris from the Ferrari, was narrowly keeping Verstappen out of DRS range, but the Finn was lapping slower than his race-leading team-mate, before being told he was “one second unsafe” from Hamilton on the 30^th lap.

 

A lap earlier, Renault’s Esteban Ocon pulled off circuit on the rundown to Variante Alta due to a gearbox issue, and as the R.S.20 was being recovered, race control deployed the Virtual Safety Car.

 

This gave Hamilton the opportunity to pit and rejoined comfortably in the lead, with a four second gap to his team-mate.

 

In the second half of the Grand Prix, Hamilton rapidly increased his lead over Bottas as he ran in the low 1:18’s, reach a ten second gap at the end of the 40^th lap.

 

As Hamilton was comfortably ahead, Bottas’ challenge was fending off Verstappen with his damaged car.

 

The Finn was able to remain in-front despite dipping his wheels into the gravel trap on the outside of the two Rivazza corners on the 36^th tour, but when Bottas went deeper into the gravel at the same spot six laps later, Verstappen had the chance to reclaim second.

 

He activated DRS on the damaged Mercedes and flew ahead around the outside on the rundown to Tamburello at the beginning of the next tour.

 

Verstappen quickly reached Hamilton’s pace, but was unable to bring down his 13 second lead before the Dutchman spectacularly retired on lap 51, when a sudden right-rear puncture spun off into the gravel at the Villeneuve chicane, coming to a halt with his right-rear destroyed.

 

Bottas stopped for a used set of C4 softs immediately as the Safety Car was deployed, but Hamilton had to wait an extra lap to pit, and emerged ahead of his team-mate, also being warned to stick to the delta time to avoid a penalty.

 

The Grand Prix resumed on the 58^th lap – extended a little longer due to Williams Racing’s George Russell crashed while behind the safety car on the rundown to the first segment of the Acqua Minerali double-right hander, spearing into the wall on the outside of the circuit and retiring from P10.

 

Hamilton pulled clear to a 0.6 second lead when the race went back to green, lowering the fastest lap benchmark in the closing stages, and getting the bonus point on the final lap, to claim the Emilia Romagna GP victory by 5.783 seconds ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes wrapped up their seventh-consecutive Constructor’s Championship.

 

In the field behind, Renault’s Ricciardo looked at one stage unlikely to claim the final podium place.

 

The Australian jumped up to P3 by not pitting under the safety car, while Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who rose ahead of Ricciardo from 11^th place on the grid, starting on the C3 mediums and ran a longer first stint did stop.

 

This relegated Perez behind Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon, with AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and McLaren pairing Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris also taking on a fresh set of C4 softer compounds during the caution.

 

Kvyat ran well with it, moving up to fourth when the race restarted – including a hard pass around the outside up the hill to Piratella corner – but could eat into Ricciardo’s gap and wound up 0.8 seconds adrift of the Australian at the chequered flag.

 

Leclerc came home fifth, with Perez taking sixth place after overtaking Albon at the Villeneuve Chicane and the Red Bull dropping down to last on the exit.

 

Sainz finished ahead of McLaren team-mate Norris, with Alfa Romeo Racing duo Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi coming up from 18^th and the rear respectively to reach the chequered flag in ninth and tenth.

 

Raikkonen ran the longest than anyone before pitting, reaching the points positions after the two late crashes, with the safety car assisting Giovinazzi who ran the alternate strategy compared to his team-mate, stopping early after starting the race on softs.

 

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi was 0.7 seconds adrift of scoring his first-career points in Formula One taking 11^th place, and ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel (12^th), Racing Point’s Lance Stroll (13^th) and Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean (14^th) – who all pitted under the safety car while the Williams remained on track (Stroll knocked over his Racing Point jack-man as he ran into his pit-box with cold brakes).

 

The other retirees were Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, who parked it in the garage after reporting his VF-20 racers upshifts were giving him a headache, and AlphaTauri’s Gasly, who also came in to retire – the Frenchman’s case on lap seven.

 

Turkish GP Preview – The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to Turkey sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 282 points and an 85-point lead over team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 197 points while Max Verstappen is a further 120 points behind the Briton in third on 162 points. Hamilton just needs a 78 points-lead minimum to wrap up his seventh World Driver’s title and equal the record for most World Driver’s Championship crowns with legend Michael Schumacher.

 

Turkish Grand Prix Preview – Drivers Title Permutations

 

If Valtteri Bottas finishes….	Lewis Hamilton needs…
1st + Fastest Lap Bonus Point	Not champion
1st	2nd
2nd + Fastest Lap Bonus Point	4th
3rd + Fastest Lap Bonus Point	5th
3rd	6th
4th	7th
5th	8th
6th + Fastest Lap Bonus Point	9th
6th	10th

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport comes to the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit with the World Constructor’s Championship wrapped up with 479 points and a 253-point lead over nearest rival Aston Martin Red Bull Racing who are second on 226 points while Renault DP World F1 Team is third and are a further 344 points behind the Silver Arrows on 135 points.

 

Click here for the 2020 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings

 

Turkish GP Preview – Formula 1 Releases Provisional 2021 Calendar

 

 

Formula 1 revealed their provisional calendar for the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship season on Tuesday evening. The season will feature a record 23-race schedule, beginning March 21^st with the season-opening Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2021 on the streets of Albert Park while the final round is at the Yas Marina Circuit for the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 on December 5. Saudi Arabia is the newest feature on the F1 calendar to host its first Grand Prix.

 

Turkish GP Preview – Provisional 2021 F1 Calendar

 

• 21 March – Australia (Melbourne)
• 28 March – Bahrain (Sakhir)
• 11 April – China (Shanghai)
• 25 April – TBC (TBC)
• 9 May – Spain (Barcelona)*
• 23 May – Monaco (Monaco)
• 6 June – Azerbaijan (Baku)
• 13 June – Canada (Montreal)
• 27 June – France (Le Castellet)
• 4 July – Austria (Spielberg)
• 18 July – United Kingdom (Silverstone)
• 1 August – Hungary (Budapest)
• 29 August – Belgium (Spa)
• 5 September – Netherlands (Zandvoort)
• 12 September – Italy (Monza)
• 26 September – Russia (Sochi)
• 3 October – Singapore (Singapore)
• 10 October – Japan (Suzuka)
• 24 October – USA (Austin)
• 31 October – Mexico (Mexico City)
• 14 November – Brazil (Sao Paulo) *
• 28 November – Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
• 5 December – Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi)

*Subject to contract

 

The FIA Statement Read:

 

“Formula 1 has today announced the provisional race calendar for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship which will be submitted to the World Motor Sport Council for approval.

 

The 2021 season follows an unprecedented year for Formula 1 in which the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a revised 2020 calendar of 17 races and the first international sport to resume its season. The plans for 2021 have involved extensive dialogue with all promoters and their local and national authorities at a time of ongoing fluidity related to the global pandemic. Formula 1 and the FIA put in place robust health and safety measures to allow the revised 2020 season to restart and run effectively. Our hosts for 2021 are reassured by our safe return to racing this season and confident that the plans and procedures we have in place will allow us to return to a level of normality for the 2021 season.

 

As we have said before, we expect fans to return for the 2021 season and for the calendar to look similar to the originally planned 2020 season. We will continue to work closely with our promoters and partners and look forward to the start of the season on the 18th March 2021 in Australia.” Credit to FIA for the quote. https://www.fia.com/news/formula-1-announces-2021-provisional-calendar.

 

Formula 1 and Liberty Media CEO Chase Carey added:

 

“We are pleased to announce the 2021 Formula 1 provisional calendar after extensive conversations with our promoters, the teams and the FIA,”

 

“We are planning for 2021 events with fans that provide an experience close to normal and expect our agreements to be honoured. We have proven that we can safely travel and operate our races and our promoters increasingly recognise the need to move forward and manage the virus,”

 

“In fact, many hosts actually want to use our event as a platform to show the world they are moving forward. We are delighted to see Saudi Arabia become part of the schedule and are equally excited to return to the venues we hoped to race at in 2020. We want to thank all our promoters and partners for their ongoing enthusiasm and collaboration and look forward to giving our fans an exciting season on the track.” Carey concluded. Credit to the FIA for the quote.

 

The Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020 weekend begins Friday November 13 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday November 14 and the 58 lap Race Sunday November 15.