The Turkish Grand Prix was not the most exciting race. The whole race was spent on the intermediate tyres as the rain before the race, and the light drizzle throughout the race, kept the track constantly wet.

Bottas has finally won a race this season. I wouldn’t say that he has had a bad season, but it did take until round sixteen for him to win a race. It was nice to see him on the top step once again. He started the race on pole and raced a perfect and clean race and I think he really deserved it.

As previously mentioned, it was another wet race. The track never dried and that meant that drivers were on intermediates for the whole race. Sebastion Vettel did try to go on slicks, specifically mediums, on lap 38, but he looked like bambi on ice and came back into the pits the next lap to go back onto intermediates.

Strategy was a huge part of this race, and there were many different ones at play. The pitstop window lasted for half the race with some teams choosing to come in early, and some teams choosing not to come in at all. Since the drivers started the race on one of the wet weather tyres, they were no longer obligated to use two separate compounds like a normal race weekend. For the teams that pitted later in the race the tyres were coined the term slintermediates. Essentially this is when the intermediate tyres lose their grip and become half slick tyres. A great example of this were the tyres of Esteban Ocon at the end of the race, as he did not make a pit stop.

Lewis Hamilton had a ten place grid penalty so he started the race in P11. He was passing people furiously in the first few laps and by lap 12 he was into the top five. However, towards the end of the race, lap 51 of 58, Mercedes decided to bring Hamilton in to pit as they thoughts the tyres were not going to last him. As he emerged P5, down from P3, Hamilton was left extremely angry and stated to the team that the pit stop was unnecessary. In my opinion, I agree with Hamilton and I don’t think the pit stop was a good idea. Let’s say that he didn’t pit and still ended up P5, he at least would have had the chance to try and fit off the people behind him, which is why I don’t think the strategy was the right one.

Red Bull had a great weekend with both Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen finishing on the podium. This double podium, and Hamilton finishing fifth, really helped to close the gap in terms of the Constructor’s Championship. The two teams are now separated by only 36 points. The podium for Verstappen also saw him regain his lead and now he leads the Driver’s Championship by just six points.

Valtteri Bottas, as mentioned, couldn’t keep a smile off his face as he stepped onto the podium to take first place for the first time this year. He was joined on said podium by Verstappen in second and Perez in third. Charles Leclerc finished fourth followed by Hamilton in fifth, Pierre Gasly in sixth, Lando Norris in seventh, Carlos Sainz in eighth, Lance Stroll in ninth, and Esteban Ocon rounding out the top ten.

While this race wasn’t the most exciting, we are back this weekend in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas. It should be a exciting, and dry, race.