F1: Bottas wins Turkish GP as Verstappen leads Hamilton in race for title – as it happened!

Thank you very much for joining me. Here is the race report.

Hamilton speaks ...

On leaving places: “I didn’t know at the time but I could have assumed. I knew I would lose one perhaps.”

On the tyres potentially lasting: “Ocon’s did, so they probably could.

“The tyres are bald, so you don’t know how far they are going to go. I was losing performance to the guys behind. In hindsight, I should have stayed out or pitted a lot earlier.

“It could be worse.”

Toto Wolff: “We thought we could maybe hang out there and finish third without stopping or hoping for a dry line and going with a soft.

“We saw Leclerc dropping off and Lewis dropping off and we knew we wouldn’t make it to the end.

“It was the right thing to do. If he’d stayed out we would have dropped off more.

“In the car you have a limited amount of information.

“The correct call would have been taking very conservatively, pitting everyone else, coming out behind Perez and fighting for P3.”

On Bottas: “A dominant drive from the get-go. A 10 out of 10 race for me.”

Hamilton is slowly wandering around towards the media. What will he say? I assume it will not be positive but that is what you get from serial winners.

Fine work from Sainz.

“Why did Hamilton suddenly decide to pit so late after ignoring his team’s earlier efforts to have him come in?” asks Rob Rutkowski. “Hamilton should have stayed the course.”

Hamilton asked to delay it but then the big Mercedes boffins and their computer said it was best to do it, although it looks like it was all too late. We will never know if Hamilton could have held onto third, it seems.

Time for some champagne spraying ...

The top three wander up to the podium and offer some lovely waving to the crowd. Bottas is very pleased with himself as the Finnish anthem starts.

Race result.

Perez: “It was quite an intense race. The start was pretty good.

“It was one of those races you need to know when to push at the right times. It was hard to manage the tyres today.”

Verstappen: “It wasn’t very easy. The track was very greasy. I felt like Bottas had a bit more pace and could look after the tyres better.

“I am happy to finish second, as it would have been easy to make a mistake and drop back.”

What was the hardest part for you? “Staying awake.”

“Austin will be a good battle with Mercedes.”

Bottas: “It’s been a while, it feels good.

“From my side, it’s one of the best races ever. The car has been good in every condition. It’s not easy to choose the strategy here but everything went well.

“Where there is only one dry line, it doesn’t take much to go off. It feels like a well-earned victory.

A very good day for Red Bull, not just because Verstappen now atops the championship leaderboard, but due to the fact he is joined on the podium by his teammate Perez on the podium.

Verstappen now has a six-point lead over Hamilton at the top of the championship. For a long time, he looked like it would only be a single point but that ill-advised pit stop ruined Hamilton’s day.

Top six:

1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Sergio Perez
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly

It has been a good day for one half of the Mercedes team, as the Finn cruises to victory after starting on pole. The real story of the day, however, will be about Hamilton’s dropped points.

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Lap 57/58: Hamilton has lost time and will finish in fifth, at best. I would not want to be in that post-mortem later. The tyres never got up to speed after being changed, providing no help, instead becoming a hindrance.

Lap 56/58: Bottas is going for the fastest lap, a sign of his enjoyment of his weekend in Istanbul. He gets it.

Lap 55/58: Bottas is going to win this race, as he is nine seconds ahead of Verstappen. That will not make Hamilton feel any better. He will be fuming if he finishes in fifth or worse.

Lap 54/58: Hamilton moaning again: “We shouldn’t have come in. I told you!” Lewis’ beef is with the team’s logistics operation. In worse news ... Gasly is chasing him down now, as he struggles to get anywhere near Leclerc.

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Lap 53/58: Hamilton is hunting down Leclerc.

1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Sergio Perez
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly

Lap 52/58: Hamilton is fuming on the radio, asking why they gave up places for the pit.

Lap 51/58: Perez overtakes Leclerc to move up to third.

Lap 50/58: Hello ... Hamilton is coming in for a pit. Oooooof! Needs a perfect change and gets it. He has dropped down to fifth coming out. He has some work to do to get back up.

Lap 49/58: Hamilton’s tyres look to be struggling at this point and the track is drying out, giving teams a late decision to make. It looks like Hamilton will stick with what he’s got, though.

Sainz takes the fastest lap.

Lap 48/58:
1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Charles Leclerc
5 .Sergio Perez
6. Pierre Gasly

Lap 47/58: Bottas is back into the lead! He has Leclerc offering a buffer to Verstappen. Hamilton is losing time on Verstappen. Finishing fourth with the Dutchman in third would be a decent result for Hamilton in the circumstance when looking at the bigger picture.

Leclerc is coming in ... allowing Verstappen up to second.

Lap 46/58: Bottas is closing on Leclerc and will be past him soon enough, I reckon.

Lap 45/58: Leclerc asks what position Ferrari for “if you keep Bottas behind you, P1” - good stuff from the team. I could offer that level of dreadful advice.

Lap 44/58: No one has won a race without a pit stop since 2016. Bold stuff from Leclerc. He has locked up twice going into turn 12, giving Bottas an opening.

Verstappen is having some issues with his steering wheel, which is worrying.

Lap 43/58: Leclerc is two and a half seconds ahead of Bottas and dropping. It is a decent gap but will his no-stop plan work?

Lap 42/58: Verstappen is dropping Hamilton, who looks lined up for a new set of tyres. Hamilton is being called in and is not happy about it, so holds it off. Will he relent?

Lap 41/58: Leclerc is going to stick - and twist - by going with the same tyres to the end. A bold move but you have to be in this game.

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Lap 40/58: Leclerc is hoping to go to the end without stopping. His team are now working out if he can, as the Ferrari driver looks for the win.

Lap 39/58: Vettel comes back in for tyres that might work.

1. Charles Leclerc
2. Valterri Bottas
3. Max Verstappen
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Pierre Gasly
6. Sergio Perez

Lap 38/58: Vettel comes out on the slicks ... good luck, mate. He looks like he is fighting the car now and is saying “it’s not worked”. Vettel looks like a danger out on track as he cannot control it.

Lap 37/58: Verstappen comes in to pit ... and it is a quick one. Good work from the Red Bull team. He comes back out in third between Leclerc.

Bottas also pits to back out behind Leclerc after a stop, too.

Lap 36/58: Hamilton is straight back at Perez, who will need to keep his concentration up.

Perez bemoans “he pushed me off” on his radio. I am not sure that was the case.

Lap 35/58: Hamilton and Perez have a proper battle, ending with the Briton failing to overtake. There were wheel-to-wheel for five corners, ending the Mexican ending up keeping fourth spot.

1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly

Lap 34/58: Hamilton is not being helped in the final few corners, as there is little grip in there.

Lap 33/58: There is just under a second between Perez and Hamilton ...

Lap 32/58: Bottas has added another half a second to his lead. Verstappen needs to respond ...

Lap 31/58: Bottas is increasing his lead at the front over Verstappen. It is up to four seconds.

Lap 30/58:

1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly

Lap 29/58: Just over two second between Hamilton in fifth and Perez in fourth. When will he want to make a move?

Lap 28/58: Vettel says it will be able to move onto dry tyres at some point, as the track dries.

Lap 27/58: Sainz wants a one-stop but his team might have to question that, as it is hard for the tyres in these conditions to go for too long.

Lap 26/58: The rain is back after some brief respite, much to the drivers’ chagrin.

Lap 25/58: Ricciardo’s new set of intermediaries are not doing the business, leaving everyone else to consider their move.

Lap 24/58: Leclerc has been ticking along in third and now has the fastest lap to his name.

1. Valterri Bottas
2. Max Verstappen
3. Charles Leclerc
4. Sergio Perez
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Pierre Gasly

Lap 23/58: Sainz now has Stroll in his sights, as he looks to move up to eighth to keep his momentum going.

Lap 22/58: Ricciardo comes into pit first. It is not much of a gamble as he arrived in 16th and leaves two places down with a new set of tyres.

Lap 21/58: Hamilton’s right side is certainly looking bald but it hasn’t stopped him taking the fastest lap.