#Formula1 @Rolex #TurkishGP 2021 Race Preview. #F1
Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020 Race Start, Intercity Istanbul Park, Istanbul, Turkey. Image credit to CFP. 2021 Turkish GP Preview, Turkish Grand Prix Preview.
2021 Turkish GP Preview – After Lewis Hamilton claimed his 100th Formula 1-career victory in a rain-soaked ending Russian GP to recapture the Driver’s Championship lead, round 16 of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship heads to Intercity Istanbul Park for the Formula 1 Rolex Turkish Grand Prix 2021. It will be the ninth time that Turkey has hosted Formula 1 racing since its inception in 1950.
2021 Turkish GP 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.
2021 Turkish GP Preview – A Lap of the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit last year’s event, set by Lance Stroll in his BWT Racing Point F1 Team-Mercedes RP20. The Canadian posted a 1:47.765. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrVAQSBOQPg.
2021 Turkish GP Preview – Last Five Turkish Grand Prix Winners
2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2011: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing. 2010: Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes. 2009: Jenson Button, Brawn GP. 2008: Felipe Massa, Scuderia Ferrari.
2021 Turkish GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Istanbul, the C2 white side-walled Hard tyres, the C3 yellow-marked Mediums and the red-branded C4 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.
2021 Turkish GP Preview – DRS Zones
As in 2020, 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.
2021 Turkish GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Hamilton clinches 100th career victory in wet and wild Russian GP
Lewis Hamilton claimed his 100th Formula 1 career victory in a rain-hit ending Russian GP caused heartbreak for McLaren’s Lando Norris with championship-rival Max Verstappen finishing second for Red Bull and Carlos Sainz third for Ferrari.
McLaren’s Norris wound up seventh after attempting to remain on slicks when Hamilton, who pushed up the order in the Grand Prix’s second half before getting stuck behind his fellow British-compatriot ahead of the rain arriving in the final tours, stopped for intermediates.
Norris is also currently under investigation from race officials for crossing the pit-lane entry line when he did eventually pit for the wet rubber, by which Hamilton swept passed to grab first place.
When the 53 lap Russian GP began, pole-sitter Norris fears of losing the lead at the turn two right hand corner were realised as, although he made a solid getaway off the line, his slipstream gave a crucial advantage to those behind him.
This worked out perfectly for Ferrari’s Sainz as he bounced back from a poor start and Williams Racing’s George Russell moved alongside from third, by sitting behind Norris and then gained ground massively as the two British drivers hit a hole in the air down to the initial braking zone.
Then Sainz swept in-front of Russell and to the outside of Norris, taking the lead despite suffering a lock-up to his front-eft as the field arrived at the second corner.
Sainz managed to keep on track and did not have to go around the bollards in the run-off area, which Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso, rejoining alongside Russell before losing ground to the fast-starting Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
At the end of the opening tour, Sainz was out of DRS range from Norris, with Russell in third place and then rapidly fell back from the McLaren and leading a train of cars down to Hamilton in sixth – the world champion dropped down the order, after being boxed at the start after momentarily running alongside Sainz on the run-off of the line and before the Ferrari benefitted from Norris’s slipstream.
Sainz and Norris were able to run in the 1:41’s over the opening few laps, with Russell dropping back by almost a second per tour, with the threat of rain teams were predicting looming, but did not interrupt proceedings at this stage.
The two leaders pulled clear, with Sainz running comfortably ahead of Norris until the end of the opening ten laps, which saw the McLaren driver start to pressure the Spaniard.
After small attacks at the second corner on lap 10 and 11, Norris briefly held off, describing to his front-left to the team as “completely gone”, before the Briton started closing in again on the Ferrari on lap 13 and took the lead with DRS assistance down the back straight to move ahead on the outside line into the right-hand turn 12.
Ferrari then brought Sainz in at the end of the following tour, with the Spaniard emerging in-front of Stroll, who had triggered the initial round of pit-stops with an undercut on Russell by coming in for a set of C3 white side-walled harder compounds.
Russell came in to cover Stroll, but emerged behind the Aston Martin, which, although the undercut was strong, could not get by Sainz too despite a slow switch to the Ferrari’s left-rear.
The three drivers ran in clear air behind Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who was passed by Verstappen as they and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made stable progress through the field after starting at the back of the grid due for changing engines – the Monegasque-youngster gaining six places on the opening lap.
The early stops for Sainz, Stroll and Russell meant Ricciardo, Hamilton and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had no choice but to remain out on track to avoid coming out behind them again, with Norris also remaining in the lead – the Briton extending his gap over his McLaren team-mate from eight seconds to 12 by the time Daniel Ricciardo stopped on the 22nd lap.
The graining to the tyres the drivers – including race-leader Norris – had reported started clearing up, with the McLaren driver staying out until the 28th lap, two tours after Mercedes pitted Hamilton, now Norris’s main threat after Ricciardo’s stop went disastrous due to a slow front-left change, to swap mediums to hards.
Norris emerged after making the same compound switch in a net first place, with Hamilton in the pack making his way through the drivers that stopped earlier – Stroll and then Sainz – also AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who was yet to pit.
This setup an eight second gap to Norris’s net-P1 with 22 tours remaining, Perez, Alonso and Leclerc lead the race at this stage of proceedings as they ran long on the harder tyres, they and Gasly started the Grand Prix on.
As the hard tyre-starting drivers came in to stop in-front of Norris and Hamilton – both who had passed Leclerc on track – with the Mercedes cutting into the McLaren’s gap with a string of fastest laps.
With 15 laps remaining, Norris’s lead was 1.7 seconds but there Hamilton’s charged stopped.
Norris posted the fastest lap with DRS assistance as he lapped Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin on the back straight at lap 40, and there he matched Hamilton in the high 1:37 range, which kept the gap stable.
Attention turned to the threat of hitting the Sochi Autodrom in the closing stages, with droplets starting to fall on lap 42, but getting worse four laps later.
The rain got heavier initially at the turn five-seven sequence at the top of Sochi layout, with Norris at first coping better than Hamilton and pulled away from the Mercedes, which finally reached DRS range on lap 48.
But as the conditions worsened, Norris rejected McLaren’s call to stop for inters on lap 49, opting to try and hold on with the slicks, whilst Hamilton came in for the green-marked intermediate rubber.
The decision soon turned to dust for Norris as turns three-seven were soaking wet, with the rain eventually making the entire Sochi Autodrom slippery all around.
Hamilton ate into the McLaren’s lead and took P1 when Norris slipped off at the fifth corner on lap 51, at the end of which the Briton finally pitted.
With Hamilton clear in-front to clinch his milestone 100th victory at the Russian GP, the positions behind changed dramatically.
Sainz, who had found his way back in a high-running position despite his early stop as slow dry weather pit-stops hampered several drivers, Ricciardo and Verstappen were among the first to pit for the intermediates.
Verstappen used this to move up the order and ran clear of Sainz by the end – the Red Bull driver’s fortunes changing dramatically after his early push had been impeded when he emerged from his pit-stop in a mixed pack of early-stoppers and long-running drivers.
The Dutchman finished 53.271 seconds adrift of Hamilton, with Sainz taking the final podium place – the Ferrari driver too benefitted by in the rain as Perez, who pitted for intermediates later than most, and Ricciardo jumped him before it arrived.
Ricciardo finished fifth and in-front of Bottas, another driver who came through the field in the late wet drama having been stuck in the pack for most of the Grand Prix.
Bottas, Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen and Russell were the first to stop for inters, and they all gained significantly in the closing stages.
Raikkonen was eighth and ahead of Perez, with Russell, who was holding on in tenth place even as the long runners slotted in around him following his early pit-stop, taking the final point on offer in the rain.
Then were the Aston Martin pairing of Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, who tangled twice as the rain got heavier – and Gasly who finished 13th.
Stroll and Gasly are also currently under investigation for a clash at the second corner in the late drama.
Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon came home in 14th and ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc who was 15th and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi who ended the Grand Prix 16th.
Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas F1 Team’s Mazepin brought up the rear.
The only drivers not to finish were Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi, who retired as the rain arrived and Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher, who was brought in after 22 laps due to a hydraulics leak on his VF-21 racer.
The Situation
Lewis Hamilton returns to Turkey sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 246.5 points and a 2-point buffer over title-rival Max Verstappen who is second on 244.5 points whilst Valtteri Bottas is a further 99.5 points behind his Mercedes team-mate in third on 151 points.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team comes to the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit leading the World Constructor’s Championship with 397.5 points and a 33-point lead over nearest rival Red Bull Racing who are second on 364.5 points while McLaren Racing is third and are a further 163.5 points behind the Silver Arrows on 234 points.
Click here for the 2021 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
F1 Quickfire News
- The 2022 Formula One Calendar is set to feature a record-breaking 23 races and aiming for a mid-November finish according to Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the current campaign is still set for its longest season yet, with 22 Grands Prix and 15 completed, but F1 is set to go one step further next year. “I can anticipate that, for sure, that the calendar will be done with 23 races,” explained Stefano Domenicali in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports. “Of course, we will be very respectful towards the Covid regulations issued around the world from the different governments. But that is our aim that F1 can give this sign of hope and to go to normal things to enjoy.” The 2022 schedule will start in the middle of March and end in the middle of November with three triple-headers. The Sprint Format is also planned to continue into next year at seven or eight Grands Prix. The full 2022 calendar is expected to be released later this month.
- On Thursday, it was announced that Qatar’s Losail International Circuit will host its inaugural Grand Prix from November 19-21 and filling the vacant number 20 slot on the calendar left behind by the cancelled Australian Grand Prix. Qatar also signed an additional 10-year deal to host Formula 1 from 2023. Losail International Circuit is most famous for its association with hosting MotoGP since 2004. Ooredoo, the international communications company will be the title-sponsor for the event. The Grand Prix’s inclusion on the calendar means it will create a three-part ending to the 2021 campaign in the Middle East, with the inaugural race in Qatar before the first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on December 3-5 and the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix December 11-13.
- Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team have admitted that Sir Lewis Hamilton could take on an engine penalty for this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix as they look to avoid reliability issues in it’s championship fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Hamilton has raced with three engines so far – the maximum allowed – but with seven races remaining in the 2021 schedule there is a strong chance the Briton will need a fourth power-unit, which would send him to the back-of-the-pack for the race when he first uses it. Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff explained to Sky Sports News that the Silver Arrows are considering taking the knock-back this weekend as F1 returns to Turkey. “It’s a possibility, when and how, is not net decided.”
- Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz is also set for an engine penalty this weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix after team-mate Charles Leclerc took a grid-penalty last time out in Sochi for having the upgraded Ferrari power-train installed in his SF21 racer. The Scuderia have kept it’s power gains a secret from its rivals with previous reports stating they have received a boost of 10-15bhp.
- The Motor Generator Unit-Heat (MGU-H) component will be removed from the 2026 engine – an agreement, which means Audi and Porsche could open the pathway for their return to Formula 1. The current 1.6L V6 Turbo Hybrid engines have not been a popular hit amongst the fans or manufacturers. Whilst the sound has been a major change from the previous normally aspirated V8 predecessors, another big concern with the V6 power-trains is its complexity and costs – something that made it near impossible for a new manufacturer to join the sport and start from scratch. Talks have been ongoing for a while over the new engines to come in 2026 and a report from Auto Motor und Sport reported that an agreement was finally reached. Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull Power-Trains and Renault were all involved in the discussions and the biggest agreement was the removal of the MGU-H component. The Motor Generator Unit-Heat is used to recover or store energy to and from the turbocharger so once it disappears from the engines, energy recovery will take place only on the rear axle. The Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic (MGU-K) will also be improved, producing up to 350kwh of power rather than 120kwh as it currently does, which will see an increase in horsepower from 175bhp up to 470bhp. The new power-trains will also deliver on the cost issue, with these new power-units set to be well-under a million dollars compared to the two-million-dollar price tag of the current generation engines.
The Formula 1 Rolex Turkish Grand Prix 2021 weekend begins Friday October 8 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday October 9 and the 58 lap Race Sunday October 10.
