Turkish GP 2011 – Race Results

The defending world champion won his third race out of four this season, having started from pole position for the fourth time in a row this year.

Mark Webber had an up-and-down race and tussled with Nico Rosberg and then Fernando Alonso before finishing strongly to take second.

Alonso took a creditable third for his first podium finish of the season, but the McLarenduo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Buttonwere unable to gain any places on their qualifying positions.

Hamilton settled for fourth and Button sixth, separated by the Mercedes of Rosberg.

The Renault pair of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov were next, followed by Sebastian Buemi’s Toro Rosso.

And Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi picked up a point with tenth place – a remarkable effort given that technical problems in qualifying had forced him to start at the back of the grid.

There was plenty of incident from the very beginning, with Rosberg leapfrogging Webber at the first corner and Hamilton running wide and dropping back trying to follow the German through.

Michael Schumacher began a turbulent afternoon by losing his front wing trying to defend his seventh position against Petrov – dropping well out of contention.

But the DRS zone late in the lap in Istanbul proved very effective, allowing plenty of passing manoeuvres.

Rosberg started slipping back as Webber and Alonso timed their assaults, while Button and Hamilton swapped places in the battle behind.

A slew of pitstops began early as most drivers settled on a four-stop strategy.

Hamilton and Massa came within a whisker of colliding on lap 10 as they took their on-track battle into the pit lane, but Hamilton eventually emerged ahead.

Button tried to go against the trend, opting for three stops, but hiccups for both McLaren drivers as engineers tried to change their tyres meant they lost crucial seconds at just the wrong moments.

Alonso, meanwhile, was making bold strides forward, extracting more pace from his Ferrari than it had managed all season, and sweeping by Webber to take second place midway through the race.

“We are in the right direction but this is only the first step,” he said.

Vettel, all the while, was peerless, content to let the battles unfold well behind him and drive undisturbed from the front.

It looked as if he could make his tyres last until the end of the race, but with Alonso and Webber fighting for second and changing their tyres, the German had the luxury of making a final stop and still emerging well ahead.

Webber got the better of Alonso with better pace in the final stint.

“The fight with Fernando was a little unexpected, he drove brilliantly but in the end I had a fresher set of tyres and got the job done,” said Webber.

“Seb is obviously on a fantastic run at the moment.”

Button, whose tyre conservation looked as if it might at one point pay off, lost his pace and had to yield his fourth place to Hamilton and then fifth spot to a charging Rosberg late on.

Vettel opened up a 34-point lead in the overall standings from Hamilton with the win, while Webber jumped to third as Red Bull assumed total control of the constructors’ championship as well.

With such an emphatic showing, it is hard to see how any of Vettel’s rivals can bridge the gap with just two weeks until the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Eurosport

2011 FORMULA 1 DHL TURKISH GRAND PRIX

Drivers Championship

Constructors Championship