Photo: Daimler Media
When following a racing series, or any kind of sport for that matter, it's never fun to have a single dominant player in the game. Seeing Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen going head-to-head this year has been quite exciting. If they can keep this up until the end of the season, most F1 fans would be extremely happy.
As of now, Lewis is leading the championship, with a total of 246.5 points. But Max is just 2 points behind him! The fight for 3rd place seems to be slightly more intense, with drivers like Bottas, Norris, Perez, and even Sainz trying to secure that position. This weekend marks the last race on European soil for the 2021 season. From Turkey, the drivers will be flying to North and South America, and then to the Middle East.
Lewis Hamilton has had a strong start to the weekend. On Friday, he was the fastest man in both the free practice sessions. He drove for 56 laps in total and managed to get down to 1:23.804. Teammate Valtteri Bottas managed to squeeze in an extra 3 laps compared to Lewis but had to settle for P3, with a time of 1:24.214. Even so, Lewis Hamilton got himself a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend's race.
Due to reliability concerns, the team decided to swap in a new internal combustion engine on Friday, going over the regular allocation of 3 units per season. But Hamilton continued to push hard during yesterday's qualifying session, in an attempt to minimize the effects of the penalty. He was once again the fastest driver in all three qualifying sessions, managing to improve his lap times by almost one second.
Bottas may not be racing for the team next year, but that didn't affect his rhythm. He was almost as fast as Lewis, setting a lap time of 1:22.998, which puts him in P2. But with Lewis having to start from P11, Valtteri will be leading the pack today, in just a few hours from now. Max Verstappen will be starting from P2, which means he has a strong chance of regaining the championship lead.
Charles Leclerc is not far behind in P3, and Ferrari fans must be thrilled to see their favorite fighting for the podium once again. This should compensate, at least partially, for the fact that Carlos Sainz will be starting from P20. Also, everyone's excited for Mick Schumacher, who is fighting to get his first F1 points after his Q2 appearance yesterday. The weather seems to be holding up, and with any luck, it shouldn't rain today at Istanbul Park.
Lewis Hamilton has had a strong start to the weekend. On Friday, he was the fastest man in both the free practice sessions. He drove for 56 laps in total and managed to get down to 1:23.804. Teammate Valtteri Bottas managed to squeeze in an extra 3 laps compared to Lewis but had to settle for P3, with a time of 1:24.214. Even so, Lewis Hamilton got himself a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend's race.
Due to reliability concerns, the team decided to swap in a new internal combustion engine on Friday, going over the regular allocation of 3 units per season. But Hamilton continued to push hard during yesterday's qualifying session, in an attempt to minimize the effects of the penalty. He was once again the fastest driver in all three qualifying sessions, managing to improve his lap times by almost one second.
Bottas may not be racing for the team next year, but that didn't affect his rhythm. He was almost as fast as Lewis, setting a lap time of 1:22.998, which puts him in P2. But with Lewis having to start from P11, Valtteri will be leading the pack today, in just a few hours from now. Max Verstappen will be starting from P2, which means he has a strong chance of regaining the championship lead.
Charles Leclerc is not far behind in P3, and Ferrari fans must be thrilled to see their favorite fighting for the podium once again. This should compensate, at least partially, for the fact that Carlos Sainz will be starting from P20. Also, everyone's excited for Mick Schumacher, who is fighting to get his first F1 points after his Q2 appearance yesterday. The weather seems to be holding up, and with any luck, it shouldn't rain today at Istanbul Park.
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