Turkish GP: Race not Williams Racing Day

The grid for the fifty eight lap 2021 Turkish Grand Prix would be impacted by several drivers taking engine penalties, the most notable being Hamilton who would start from 11th as a result of taking a new engine component. Ricciardo and Sainz would also take penalties but would start from the rear of the grid. For Williams racing this would mean that they would see George Russell and Nicholas Latifi start from 13th and 15th respectively. On pole would now be Bottas followed by Verstappen, Leclerc, Gasly, Alonso, Perez, Norris, Stroll, Tsunoda and Vettel in tenth. As for tyres the intermediate tyre would be the choice for all drivers given the track conditions.

The grid would complete their parade lap and with the start it would be Bottas leading while Alonso would spin at Turn one after making contact with another car. But he would recover returning in 17th. For Williams they would not have the best of starts and Nicholas would spin dropping to last. That would see George in 14th and Nicholas 20th. Bottas was leading from Verstappen and Leclerc. Fourth was Perez followed by Gasly, Norris, Stroll, Tsunoda, Hamilton and Vettel tenth. Alonso would hit the rear of Schumacher seeing the Haas spin and drop to 19th. Nicholas continued to run in 20th and George 14th.

Nicholas would comment to his engineer saying "Contact rear left" asking the team to check. George would drop down to 15th as he was passed by Sainz. Gasly would be given a five second penalty for his part in the spin of Alonso. Hamilton was now up to seventh. Alonso would also be given a five second penalty for his contact with Schumacher. Bottas was now leading Verstappen by 2.2s with Leclerc third. Hamilton was now sixth passing Norris while the Williams drivers positions were unchanged. Sainz had moved from the rear of the grid to 11th.

Nicholas had moved ahead of both Haas cars to be 18th. Sainz continued to move forward to now be ninth ahead of Tsunoda with Hamilton now fifth having easily passed Gasly. Verstappen was slowly closing the gap to Bottas now been 2.3s on lap twenty. lap twenty two and Ricciardo would pit taking on a new set of intermediate tyres. This would see Nicholas 17th. and George 15th. Tsunoda would spin at Turn nine returning in 13th dropping from 10th. Bottas was able to respond opening his lead to Verstappen to 3.3s. Lap thirty two and Alonso would pit taking his five second penalty.

Ricciardo would pass Nicholas for 16th using his newer tyres to his advantage. Hamilton would close the gap to Perez and would start to attempt a pass but the Red Bull driver certainly was not making it easy for him. Verstappen would pit on lap thirty eight coming back out in third ahead of team-mate Perez. Norris had also come in now running in eighth as Sainz and Vettel would also pit with Vettel returning on the medium tyre. Bottas had also pitted to cover off Verstappen seeing Leclerc now leading. Perez would also come in dropping to sixth behind Gasly. Vettel would struggle on the dry tyre returning ti his pit taking on the intermediate tyre.

The order was now Leclerc, Bottas, Verstappen and Hamilton as we saw Gasly and Stroll both pit. Gasly would take his penalty coming back out in sixth while Stroll was now in 11th. In amongst the pit stops both Williams cars had also come in taking on new intermediate tyres seeing George again 15th and Nicholas 17th. Giovinazzi would pit returning in 12th again on the intermediate. Leclerc would start to see Bottas closing in onto him with forty three laps completed. Hamilton like Leclerc would continue to run on very used intermediate tyres. Ocon was also following the same strategy still on very used intermediate tyres.

Sainz would pass Ocon for eighth as Bottas would pass Leclerc for the lead. Leclerc was now second followed by Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Gasly, Norris, Sainz, Ocon and Stroll tenth. The Williams pair continued to runn in 15th and 17th. Leclerc would pit on lap forty nine returning in fourth. Hamilton would pit on lap fifty two taking on new intermediates. He would return in fifth place. Perez would be able to pass Leclerc for third while for Hamilton now fifth he would see Gasly close in onto him as they completed fifty six laps. Bottas would set the fastest lap in the closing stages of the race.

With the final lap it would be Bottas who would secure victory in the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix. Verstappen was second followed by Perez in third. Leclerc was now fourth followed by Hamilton, Gasly, Norris, Sainz, Stroll and Ocon tenth. For Williams it was one of those races where the conditions really did not give them any advantage in terms of been able to move forward from their grid positions. George would finish in 15th and Nicholas 17th in what was one of those frustrating races. But thankfully their championship rivals did not secure any points either.