[Race] The GROAT - Round 2 - 1982 Monaco vs 2020 Istanbul Park

[crmalcolm]

1982 Monaco
Unlike most visits to Monaco, the start was not that costly, with Arnoux pulling ahead smartly while Patrese lost out to Giacomelli into the first corner. Giacomelli's team mate Andrea de Cesaris made a better start, leaping in front of Keke Rosberg and Michele Alboreto off the line, immediately putting Pironi under pressure. Alfa's joy would not last long, however, as Giacomelli became the first retirement with a transmission failure four laps later.

The order remained the same for the next ten laps, as the usual stalemate around Monaco settled across the field. Then Arnoux, under very little pressure, spun and stalled, giving the lead to his team mate Prost (who had used Giacomelli's dramas to get infront of Patrese). Rosberg took Alboreto during the next few laps, while Pironi took most of his front wing off on a back marker, although this modification did little to reduce his pace. The two Ligier-Matras and the ATSes were the next to fall through individual issues.

The race returned to a dormant state until the 65th lap, when rain began to hit the track. The first car to fall was Rosberg, who took enough damage from the wall to retire, while his team mate Derek Daly removed the rear wing (and some of his gearbox casing) in a spin at Tabac, although the Irishman kept going. Their dramas gave Prost and Patrese some breathing space, with their private battle (which was mainly a case of Patrese trying to catch the Renault) becoming the decider to the race.

This was not the case, however, as on lap 74, two from the end, Prost oversteered into the wall on the exit of the harbor chicane, seemingly handing an easy victory to Patrese. This was not the case, however, as Patrese then spun at the Lowes hairpin on the next lap, dropping down to a distant third. Fortunately for the Italian, he was able to avoid stalling by bump-starting his car on the steep slope down to the entry to Portier. Pironi and de Cesaris swept past, with victory looking to go to one of the Italian teams. Fate had other ideas, however, as Pironi began to slow as he started the final lap, and eventually came to a stop in the tunnel, his Ferrari engine stalled for fuel. De Cesaris then retired at Casino for the same reason (and at almost the exact same time) as Pironi, promoting Patrese back into the lead. The only other cars running at this point were Daly, Mansell, De Angelis, Henton and Surer, each several laps behind the leader. Daly retired moments later at Rascasse, the rear-end of his car heavily damaged from a previous accident.

Patrese crossed the line before Mansell could unlap himself, which meant Pironi and de Cesaris took the other two podium spots despite not finishing. It was a similar story for Daly, who retired a lap after Prost, but was classified as sixth overall as none of the runners behind him could get themselves unlapped.


2020 Istanbul Park
Stroll held onto the lead after starting from pole position, while his teammate Pérez moved up from third place into second. This was the first time Stroll had led a lap of a world championship Grand Prix. Both Red Bull drivers accelerated slowly from the standing start, and were overtaken by other drivers who started behind them, with Verstappen falling from second to eighth place at the start. Much of the grid chose to launch in second gear, but the drivers of the two Honda powered teams (Red Bull and AlphaTauri) all chose to start in first gear.

Ocon and Ricciardo made contact at the first turn, which caused Ocon to spin. Bottas also spun while avoiding a collision with Ocon. Ricciardo apologised to his teammate for the encounter, although Ocon did not think the contact was Ricciardo's fault. Hamilton squeezed past this incident to move into third place. Another incident involving Bottas and Ocon later on the first lap left Ocon with a punctured tyre, and Bottas with steering damage for the rest of the race.

Vettel gained a large number of places on the first lap, moving into fourth place after starting eleventh. Vettel overtook Hamilton to gain third place when the Mercedes driver slid off at the ninth turn. Hamilton rejoined the track in the same sixth position he had started in. Sainz moved up from fifteenth into ninth on the first lap while his McLaren teammate Norris was slow off the line. Starting from an even numbered grid position was seen as a disadvantage due to the lower grip levels on that side of the track.

Leclerc, who was in fourteenth place at the time, made a pit stop to switch from full wet tyres to intermediates on lap six, with the frontrunning drivers doing the same over the following laps. The Ferrari driver's speed on the new tyres convinced other teams to change the tyres on their cars. Hamilton and Vettel made their pit stops on lap eight, while Stroll pitted on lap nine and Pérez on lap ten. A slow pit stop for Pérez allowed Stroll to extend his advantage to ten seconds. Verstappen, who had been unable to pass Vettel, waited until lap eleven to switch from the full wets to the intermediates. This allowed Verstappen to emerge from the pit lane ahead of the Ferrari driver. Albon led a Grand Prix for the first time before he took a pit stop for intermediate tyres on lap twelve.

There was one virtual safety car period during the race. This occurred after Giovinazzi retired with gearbox issues on the twelfth lap. Other drivers were required to slow down while his Alfa Romeo was recovered. Albon had lost a position to Hamilton during the first pit stop cycle, but was able to overtake him once drivers were allowed to return to racing speed as his Red Bull's tyres came up to temperature quicker than those of Hamilton's Mercedes. Albon moved up another position on the sixteenth lap when he overtook Vettel.

The Red Bull and Racing Point cars were the fastest on the track in the earlier stages of the race, with Verstappen and Albon catching up to Pérez and Stroll ahead of them. Verstappen spun at high speed on lap eighteen while trying to pass Pérez. This damaged the Red Bull's tyres, meaning that he had to pit again. This allowed Albon, Vettel, and Hamilton to pass Verstappen. Albon then began to catch Pérez, only to fall back as his tyres wore out.

Some teams hoped that it would be possible to switch onto dry weather tyres, but as the race progressed this was ruled out. At the end of the 30th lap Ferrari brought Leclerc into the pits to change onto a second set of intermediate tyres. Leclerc's pace on the new tyres encouraged others to also stop. Sainz moved up into sixth place after Ricciardo spun on the 32nd lap. Ricciardo pitted for new intermediates at the end of that lap, with Sainz and Vettel doing the same a lap later. Vettel's pit stop lasted five seconds, slow by modern Formula One standards. Tyre wear caused Albon to spin on the 34th lap, which allowed Vettel and Hamilton to overtake him. Albon came into the pits at the end of that lap, then struggled to find grip on his second set of intermediate tyres.

Stroll led for all but three of the first 35 laps, briefly relinquishing it during the first pit stop cycle before regaining it as other drivers came in for their first pit stops. He lost the lead on lap 36 when the team brought him into the pits for a new set of intermediate tyres. After this he fell to ninth place by the end of the race. According to the Racing Point team, this was due to damage to his car's front wing that caused a loss of aerodynamic downforce, which in turn damaged the tyres. Stroll had told his engineer before the pit stop that he did not want to change tyres. Norris also pitted on the 36th lap.

Pérez briefly led after Stroll's pit stop, but Hamilton overtook him a lap later using the drag reduction system, which had been enabled on lap 30. Hamilton caught up to Pérez after Vettel (who Hamilton had been unable to overtake on track) made his second pit stop. As Stroll struggled on the new set of tyres the team decided against replacing the tyres on Pérez's car. Leclerc followed Vettel past Stroll after the Racing Point driver made an error on the 39th lap, before using the drag reduction system to overtake his Ferrari teammate on the next lap. Leclerc was in ninth place before his pit stop, but was in third by the end of the 43rd lap.

Hamilton went on to win the race from Pérez by a margin of half a minute, having completed the 309.396 kilometres (192.250 mi) in one hour, 42 minutes, and 19.313 seconds at an average of 181.425 kilometres per hour (112.732 mph). On the final lap Leclerc attempted to pass Pérez for second place, but made an error and was passed by Vettel. Leclerc said his inability to see behind him due to dirt on his wing mirrors contributed to his mistake. This was the second time Hamilton had won the event; the first was the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. It was his 94th Grand Prix victory, and his tenth of 2020. This was Vettel's only podium in 2020, and Pérez's best result since the 2012 Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton and Pérez had continued without stopping again on heavily worn intermediate tyres. Pérez said his tyres were close to failing at the end. The Mexican driver had used the same set of tyres for 48 laps, while Hamilton had used his for 50 laps. Hamilton chose against changing his tyres as he did not want to repeat what had happened at the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix, where an accident while entering the pit lane on worn tyres cost him the championship. Most of the tread had been worn off of Hamilton's tyres by the finish, leaving them nearly slick. The lack of safety car periods and the slow drying of the track surface allowed Hamilton to manage his tyre wear and temperatures effectively throughout the race.

The rest of the top ten all finished on the lead lap. Sainz passed both Stroll and Albon to finish in fifth place as the latter two both lost time to graining tyres. Verstappen, who finished in sixth place, made a third pit stop on lap 43, after which he was unable to catch Sainz. This proved to be the only race of the season where Verstappen neither retired nor finished on the podium. Albon finished in seventh place, behind his teammate, who had passed him with seven laps remaining. Sainz's teammate Norris overtook Stroll to gain eighth place during the closing stages of the race. Norris also scored the bonus point for fastest lap, which he set on the final lap of the race with a time of one minute and 36.806 seconds at an average speed of 198.508 kilometres per hour (123.347 mph). Ricciardo claimed the final points paying position in tenth after a spin allowed Norris to pass him.

There were six other drivers who were still running at the end of the race, all one lap down. Ocon finished eleventh after dropping to the back on the first lap. The AlphaTauri drivers finished twelfth and thirteenth after a difficult weekend for the team. Hamilton's Mercedes teammate and sole remaining title rival Bottas finished in fourteenth place after spinning six times during the race. Räikkönen dropped to fifteenth at the finish due to a lack of grip from his front tyres. Russell finished in sixteenth after struggling for tyre temperature.

Giovanazzi, Latifi, and Grosjean were the only drivers to retire from the Grand Prix, while Magnussen was classified as finishing despite not completing the race. Latifi and Grosjean both retired in the pits with damage following a collision. Grosjean's teammate Magnussen, who had been running as high as eleventh until he lost two laps to a botched pit stop, withdrew late in the race while experiencing problems with poor visibility.

[S griffin]

Istanbul 2020 was exciting in it's own right, but Monaco 82 will always be remembered for the bizarre way it ended. So I'm going for Monaco

[BTCC frog]

I am surprised to see Istanbul winning so far, as Monaco 1982 is an absolute classic, even if all the action happened in the final laps.

[crmalcolm]

We have another tie-break. My vote goes to 2020 Istanbul Park for this one.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

My vote goes to 2020 Istanbul Park for this one.

You're the boss, Boss.