A damp 2021 Turkish Grand Prix saw Valtteri Bottas take his first Formula 1 victory since the 2020 Russian GP, as the Finn led at Istanbul Park from start to finish.
Everyone started on intermediate tyres and with Hamilton making a charge up the field from 11th place, a late stop dripped the seven-time world champion down to fifth position.
Elsewhere, Sergio Perez did battle with Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to take third position and Max Verstappen had a fairly comfortable afternoon in second place.
F1 Turkish GP 2021 – Full Race Results
| Driver | Team | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:31:04.103 | 26 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +14.584 | 18 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +33.471 | 15 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +37.814 | 12 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +41.812 | 10 |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +44.292 | 8 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +47.213 | 6 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +51.526 | 4 |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +82.018 | 2 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1 Lap | 1 |
| 11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 12 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 15 | George Russell | Williams | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 18 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1 Lap | 0 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 2 Laps | 0 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 2 Laps | 0 |
Reaction from Bottas
It was a straightforward afternoon for Bottas who made no mistakes and converted first place on the grid to first place at the chequered flag to bag his first win in over a year for Mercedes.
“It’s been a while but feels good,” Bottas said after the race.
“From my side, it was one of the best races I’ve had – ever. Apart from that one little slide I’ve had everything under control.
“The car was good in every condition, really good confidence in it. I’m glad everything went smooth for once for me. It was nice.
“When only one drying line, it doesn’t need much to go off. I definitely needed to focus all through the race. A difficult one, but feels like a well-earned victory.”
