Turkish GP 2010: Red Bull crash hands Hamilton the win

Lewis Hamilton won the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Jenson Button, giving McLaren a one-two. Pole-sitter Mark Webber finished third. The race was decided on lap 40, when the two Red Bull cars collided while fighting for the lead. Sebastian Vettel retired, while Webber carried on with a damaged car.

It was Hamilton's first win of the season and, according to grandprix.com, the twelfth of his career. The seventh race of the year thus produced a fifth different winner.

At Istanbul Park, Webber kept the lead from pole position at the start. Behind him things were hectic: Vettel, who had started third, squeezed past Hamilton on the inside at Turn 1. The Briton, however, reclaimed second place around the outside as early as Turn 3. Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes also briefly got past Button. Button, though, struck back while still on the first lap.

Further back, Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) and Nico Hülkenberg (Williams) touched at Turn 7. Both had to pit early. In the opening laps, Hamilton repeatedly tried to attack Webber. According to Wikipedia, his F-duct helped him close in on the back straight, but never close enough to make a move. Around lap 10, McLaren noticed higher fuel consumption than planned and switched both cars to leaner engine settings.

All the front-runners stopped only once, switching from the soft to the harder tyres. Vettel pitted first, with Webber and Hamilton following a lap later. McLaren had a problem with a rear wheel. As a result, Hamilton rejoined not only behind Webber but also behind Vettel. Sources differ on the exact laps.

Button stayed out a little longer and, according to our data, briefly led the race from lap 16. After his stop, Webber retook the lead from lap 18. The order was then Webber, Vettel, Hamilton and Button. According to Wikipedia, the quartet had a gap of around 15 seconds over Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica in the Renault.

For a long time, a comfortable Red Bull one-two looked on the cards. But the McLarens stayed in touch and the situation came to a head. According to Wikipedia, Webber asked the team on lap 39 to have Vettel slow down. Because of the pressure from behind, Red Bull refused. Webber now had to save fuel, while Vettel had around one kilogram in reserve and was allowed to run a more powerful engine setting.

On lap 40, Vettel got a better exit out of Turn 11 and pulled alongside Webber on the inside down the back straight. Approaching Turn 12, the two touched at high speed. Vettel spun and retired with a damaged rear wheel. Official reason according to our data: collision. Webber continued with a damaged front wing and picked up a new nose in the pits. He held on to third place because his gap to Schumacher was big enough.

The question of blame remained open. According to grandprix.com, Red Bull were left with two angry drivers. According to reports, team principal Christian Horner was unhappy with both of them for throwing away a safe one-two.

The accident suddenly put Hamilton in the lead, but things did not calm down. Shortly after the crash, light drizzle began to fall. McLaren once again told Hamilton to save fuel. Button closed in steadily and went around the outside of his team-mate at Turn 12 on lap 48.

Hamilton responded immediately. He built up momentum on the start/finish straight and got back past at Turn 1, with the two McLarens only narrowly avoiding contact. According to Wikipedia, Hamilton had been told over the radio that Button would not attack him. After that, both drivers had to look after their fuel and tyres. Hamilton won by 2.6 seconds from Button. Webber finished third, 24.2 seconds behind.

Besides Vettel, four drivers from the new teams retired, all with technical failures:

• Jarno Trulli (Lotus): after 32 laps, hydraulics
• Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus): after 33 laps, hydraulics. According to Wikipedia, the power steering had failed, after which the gearbox, clutch and throttle also stopped working.
• Bruno Senna (HRT): after 46 laps, fuel pressure
• Karun Chandhok (HRT): after 52 laps, fuel pump. He was nevertheless classified 20th.

The biggest gainer was Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India), who climbed from grid position 18 to 13th. Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari went from grid position 12 to 8th, a gain of four places. According to Wikipedia, Ferrari contested its 800th Grand Prix in Istanbul but put in a weak performance. Felipe Massa was only seventh. Jaime Alguersuari and Lucas di Grassi (Virgin) also gained four places each. Schumacher, fourth ahead of Rosberg, repeated his result from Spain, his best so far since his comeback.

The big loser was Vettel, who came away with no points from grid position 3. Vitaly Petrov was also unlucky. According to Wikipedia, he and Alonso touched on lap 54 while battling for eighth place. Petrov suffered a puncture, had to pit and dropped from grid position 9 to 15th. On fresh soft tyres, he did at least set the fastest lap of the race. Kamui Kobayashi finished tenth to score the first point of the season for Sauber.

Despite the crash, Webber stayed top of the drivers' championship with 93 points. Button moved up to second with 88 points, Hamilton to third with 84 points. Alonso (79) and Vettel (78) dropped to fourth and fifth. Vettel thus lost 15 points to his team-mate.

In the constructors' championship, McLaren took the lead with 172 points, one point ahead of Red Bull (171). Ferrari followed with 146 points. The race made it clear that while Red Bull often had the fastest car, they could also cost themselves points. After Istanbul, the rivalry between Vettel and Webber became one of the big talking points of the 2010 season.