All info you want to see before the next Turkish Grand Prix starts
Lewis Hamilton and Formula 1 history. Those two seem to be synonyms right now, and it is not a coincidence. The six-time World Champion has yet another date with motor racing history; this time, he has the first chance to seal his record-equalling seventh Formula 1 World Championship at the Intercity Istanbul Park.
The 2020 Turkish Grand Prix will be the 14th round of an unprecedented Formula 1 schedule, which had celebrated only European rounds until this weekend. It will be the first Turkish Grand Prix since 2011, and the majestic track will offer compelling images to the fans, especially with this era of cars.
With an 85-point advantage over his teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton will have his first match-point of the year at Turkey. To seal his seventh Formula 1 World Championship on Sunday, the British legend needs to have a 78 point advantage (due to the points for Fastest Lap) over Bottas. For that to happen, Hamilton needs Bottas to not win with Fastest Lap or to finish at least second if Bottas wins without Fastest Lap.
A World Championship has not been decided at Turkey yet, but it might happen this weekend if the British maestro is not outscored by Bottas with a margin of at least eight points.
Keep in mind that the current points allocation is 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1, while a point is awarded for the driver with the Fastest Lap of the race if that driver finishes in the Top 10 of the race.
Title permutations for Hamilton
If Bottas wins the GP and achieves FL (26 points), Hamilton will not tie Michael Schumacher’s seven titles in Turkey.
If Bottas wins the GP without FL (25 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC finishing second (18 pts).
If Bottas is second with FL (19 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least fourth (12 points).
If Bottas is second without FL (18 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least fourth (12 points) or fifth with FL (11 points).
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas
If Bottas is third with FL (16 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least fifth (10 points).
If Bottas is third FL (15 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least sixth (8 points) with or without FL.
If Bottas is fourth with FL (13 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least seventh (6 points).
If Bottas is fourth without FL (12 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least eighth with FL (5 points).
If Bottas is fifth with FL (11 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least eighth (4 points).
If Bottas is fifth without FL (10 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least ninth with FL (3 points).
If Bottas is sixth with FL (9 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least ninth (2 points).
If Bottas is sixth without FL (8 points), Hamilton will win his seventh WDC if he finishes at least 10th (1 point).
If Bottas finishes seventh or worse, Hamilton will secure his seventh WDC regardless of his result on Sunday.
Can Mercedes be stopped on Saturday at least?
Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen & Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes has scored every Pole Position of the year and has 11 wins in 13 rounds. A new track can always bring some change to the pecking order, but as we have seen in the last two rounds at Portimao and Imola, that is not always the case. The W11 continues to be the most consistent car of the year, and in Turkey, it can produce some more stunning results.
Hamilton has nine poles to his name this year, and it would not be a surprise to see him
at the top on Sunday.
Red Bull is the only team that can upset Mercedes on Saturdays. Max Verstappen is the only Red Bull driver that can produce a worthy lap on Saturdays, so the Dutchman is the only ‘hope’ for non-Mercedes fans to stop the German brand’s streak of 14 straight Pole Positions (going back to last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix).
Can Red Bull be competitive on Sunday?
In reality, Red Bull should have won the last two Turkish Grands Prix (2010 and 2011) if their drivers did not decide to crash into each other in the 2010 edition of the race. Of course, many things have changed in the pinnacle of motorsport in the last nine years, and Red Bull now is a team hopeful of a win instead of the dominant force.
Red Bull has been on and off this year in terms of how close they get to Mercedes. Last race weekend, they were quite close to the Mercedes, and Verstappen was running second before a tyre blowout caused him to retire from the GP at Imola.
They might be close for this race, but Mercedes has shown weekend after weekend that they can find a higher gear than before and continue to be the most consistent squad.
The fight for P3 in the World Constructors’ Championship is heated
Renault, McLaren, and Racing Point are involved in an unbelievable fight for the third spot in the World Constructors’ Championship in the 2020 Formula 1 season.
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Renault F1 Team RS20 on the grid
The French brand (135) leads McLaren (134), and RP (134) by the slimmest of margins and really anything can decide that battle. Renault has been the most consistent lately, and Daniel Ricciardo’s two podiums have been huge for the French team in the last three races. While Lance Stroll’s absence for Covid-19 in the Eifel Grand Prix and not scoring points in the last five races have been a big hit to Racing Point’s hopes.
McLaren has been fairly inconsistent in this season, but they still have the chance to overcome those difficulties by closing out the season with strong results in the last four rounds.
Can Williams score points in Turkey?
George Russell’s unforced crash behind the Safety Car last time out at Imola might have thrown away his best chance to score points since his F1 career started, and it might well be his and his team’s last chance to score in the 2020 season.
Williams has come a long way since their 2019 woes, but they are still far from an ideal place, and Russell’s unforced error was a big blow for the team, which still has no points in 2020.
Can Turkey be their first point-scoring race of the year? It will be difficult, but anything can happen. Of course, Williams is no favorite to score, but the right circumstances can help. Former World Champion Nico Rosberg is the only driver to date to score points in Turkey for Williams (2007, 2008, and 2009).
2020 Turkish GP Facts & Figures
The 2020 edition of the Turkish Grand Prix will be the eighth Formula 1 World Championship race held at the country.
Turkish Grand Prix, Race, Istanbul Park, Turkey, Sunday 8 May 2011.
The first-ever Turkish Grand Prix was celebrated in 2005, with Kimi Raikkonen taking the victory for McLaren-Mercedes. The following three Grands Prix were dominated by Ferrari and Felipe Massa, with the Brazilian taking three Pole Positions and three wins in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Jenson Button won in 2009 for Brawn GP, while Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren the last of their two wins at Turkey, before Sebastian Vettel won for Red Bull in 2011.
Felipe Massa is the leader among drivers with three victories, while Ferrari leads the teams’ standings at Turkey with three victories in the seven Turkish GPs celebrated so far.
The race did not return after 2011 due to financial issues between F1, the organizers, and the Turkish government.
Intercity Istanbul Park
The Intercity Istanbul Park is one of the greatest Formula 1 tracks in the world. The 5.338 track was designed by Hermann Tilke and is probably his best circuit.
The circuit is formed by 14 corners, the Istanbul Park has one of the best corners in the Formula 1 calendar, the triple apex Turn 8, which will surely gives unique images of the 2020 Formula 1 cars going at full speed.
The track saw Felipe Massa take his first-ever Grand Prix win in 2006 for Ferrari, and the Brazilian went on to dominate in 2007 and 2008.
Also, the 2010 edition of the GP is highly remembered after the Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, collided while fighting for the lead, turning a Red Bull 1-2 into a McLaren 1-2 led by Hamilton, ahead of his then teammate Jenson Button.
The lap records at the Istanbul Park was established by Juan Pablo Montoya, driving for McLaren in 2005, with a 1:24.770 min lap for McLaren.
2020 Turkish Grand Prix - Tyres
The dry tyres for the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix will be the C1 as P Zero White hard, C2 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C3 as P Zero Red soft.
Pirelli explained their choice to go with the hardest option with a statement in a press release: “The renowned Turn 8 is famously demanding: a very long multi-apex left-hander that’s quite similar to Turn 3 at Sochi (which it inspired) and puts a huge amount of energy through the tyres, particularly the front-right. The surface has been re-asphalted very recently and nobody knows exactly what the new asphalt will be like. In the absence of precise data regarding the new asphalt, a more conservative choice has been made.”
“Last but not least, there won’t be any support events throughout the weekend, which means that the track might be very “green” and dirty: especially on Friday.”
The tyre allocation will be three sets of hard, three sets of medium, and seven sets of soft tyres.
2020 Turkish Grand Prix - Weather Forecast
Friday, Nov 13th - FP1 & FP2
Conditions: Partly sunny
Max. temperature: 17°C
Chance of rain: 10%
Saturday, Nov 14th - FP3 & Qualifying
Conditions: Cloudy
Max. temperature: 14°C
Chance of rain: 50%
Sunday, Nov 15th - Race
Conditions: A passing afternoon shower
Max. temperature: 16°C
Chance of rain: 30%
Who will be on the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix podium?
A new track can always give us surprises on race weekend, and with some rain in the radar, even more.
Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas & Lewis Hamilton
This time, we will go with the surprise and predict a non-Mercedes Pole Position. However, predicting Mercedes to fail on Sunday might be a tough task for 2020, especially seeing Hamilton’s dominant race pace throughout the year.
An interesting fight between Hamilton and Verstappen can be a possibility, and that kind of battle on the Istanbul Park would be unreal to see.
Another amazing fight can be the struggle between Renault, McLaren, and Racing Point. Renault is the favorite to reach P3 in the WCC in the end of the year, but the situation between those three teams is variable and it has been difficult to really predict a result from that battle.
Out of the 21 drivers we have seen this year, nine have achieved at least one podium. Mercedes, Red Bull, and McLaren have podium finishes with their two drivers, while Renault (Ricciardo), Racing Point (Stroll), and Ferrari (Charles Leclerc) have finished on the podium with one driver from their lineups. One name that surprisingly has not featured on a podium is Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, but it does not mean that the Mexican has not done a great job.
Last race at Imola, Pérez had a golden chance to finish on the podium, but pitting behind the Safety Car and Renault deciding to maintain Ricciardo out and establish track position was not favorable to the Mexican racer.
The prediction for the top three of the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix is 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lewis Hamilton, 3. Sergio Pérez.
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I love how Liberty Media/F1 are against racism but have no problem with ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan and Turkey are trying to wipe out peaceful Christian Armenians (Armenia is the first Christian nation in the world at 301AD) from Arstakh. I never watch the Turkish or Baku races and refuse to ever do so. Money is all the matters to Liberty Media, except when it comes to racism. That's where they draw the line. Genocides on the other hand, no problem, just show us the money. Looks like they would be fine with a Nazi Grand Prix too.