Turkish Grand Prix: Highlights

In 2006, Felipe Massa’s first victory remained in the shadow of the battle between Schumacher and Alonso.

After the start, the Brazilian, as befits a holder of pole position, quickly rushed forward and his more experienced teammate attempted to contain his main rival. Fernando, starting with the wrong tires, did not look confident and could not keep up with the pace of the Ferrari drivers.

The situation radically changed after the first wave of pit stops. Vitantonio Liuzzi’s off-track excursion on the thirteenth lap led to the deployment of the safety car. Most drivers rushed into the pit lane. Ferrari was faced with the task of determining which of its two drivers should be serviced first. The seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher? Or perhaps Massa, who was a new recruit to Ferrari. Fearing criticism from the press, Jean Todt decided not to change the order of the drivers. Michael had to wait while his teammate was serviced.

The German driver left the pit lane behind Fernando Alonso, who in turn made his pit stop before the appearance of the safety car. Rushing to catch up with the Spaniard, Schumacher made a mistake at the eighth turn and lost another five seconds. After catching up with his rival towards the end of the race, the German began to attack him. But the reigning world champion perfectly demonstrated all his defensive techniques until the last turn of the race. This Grand Prix alone will be enough to place Alonso on the list of the most uncompromising drivers of all time.

And the winner? It seems he was forgotten that day. Standing on the podium, the Brazilian couldn’t hold back tears of joy. In the future, Massa will win two more times on this track.

In 2010, the scandalous confrontation between Webber and Vettel

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are rightly considered one of the most complex teammates in modern Formula 1. They arrived at the 2010 race as championship leaders – both had 78 points. The Australian was in great shape and set the fastest qualifying time, while Vettel lost nearly half a second to his teammate and was only third on the grid. Between them on the grid stood Lewis Hamilton.

On the 15th lap, Webber and Hamilton entered the pits, and Vettel did so a lap later. At Red Bull, the pit stop was excellent, but at McLaren, the mechanics were delayed with the left rear wheel. Lewis only returned to the track in third place, behind two Red Bull drivers. On the 39th lap, Webber asked over the radio to slow down Vettel, but the team did not give any instructions to the German. Vettel kept pushing, and on the 40th lap, he made his move. At the exit of the next corner, the cars were side by side.

Unfortunately, the next turn was to the left and Vettel, in order to enter it better, started moving towards the right – as a result, Sebastian collided with Webber’s car. After the collision, Vettel’s car remained in the gravel trap without a wheel, and Webber with a damaged rear wing was able to finish the race in third place.

After the flag, none of the drivers did not admit their guilt. According to Hamilton, who witnessed the incident, Vettel is responsible for what happened, because Webber continued to follow his trajectory and did not move anywhere.

2020 Season: slippery track, rain, and Lewis Hamilton’s seventh title

Only two weeks before the race, the organizers laid down a new tarmac, which came as a big surprise to Pirelli. The tire supplier was not aware of the asphalt replacement and therefore mainly brought hard tires to the race. At a track temperature of 17-18 degrees, the rubber simply did not warm up to operating temperature and even on a dry track, the cars could hardly stay on the track. Furthermore, it started raining on Saturday and the track eventually turned into an ice rink.

In qualifying, Lance Stroll, thanks to a successful switch to intermediate tires, claimed pole position, while his teammate Sergio Perez finished third. In the race, the two Racing Point cars led for almost two-thirds of the distance. Opponents tried to challenge them, but the front two cars were initially set up for extreme wet conditions. A double victory for the future Aston Martin team seemed within reach, but the weather intervened once again.

At the end of the race, the track began to dry up and all the advantage of the pink cars faded away. Stroll started to complain about tire wear and he stopped at the pit stop. In the end, Lance will only finish in ninth place and his teammate miraculously managed to climb onto the podium. The victory goes to Lewis Hamilton, along with his seventh world championship title.