[Race] The GROAT - Round 3 - 2012 Sepang vs 2020 Istanbul Park

[crmalcolm]

2012 Sepang
Forty minutes before the race the pitwall radar read that more than thirty minutes of steady 2-3 (0 = no rain and 4 = heavy shower) intensity rain was expected at 15:50 pm local time (ten mins before race start). All drivers except the two HRT's began the race on the green banded intermediate tyre. The HRT team opted for the blue banded full wet tyres. Grosjean starting from 7th, made a good start and was third into turn 1. Schumacher and Grosjean made contact at turn 4 and both spun, losing several positions in the process and Grosjean eventually retired on lap 4 after spinning into a gravel trap. On the first lap, turn 9 to 11 was almost completely dry but the rest of the track was very wet. Pérez stopped after the first lap to change to full wets in a move that would elevate him to an eventual podium scoring position. With almost all drivers having pitted onto full wets by laps 5, the pitwall radar was shown to read "the intensity will increase to 4 from time to time" meaning heavy rain was still to come.

The safety car was deployed on the 7th lap, purely because of the heavy rain, and the race was suspended on lap 9. This worked in favour of Jean-Éric Vergne, the only driver still running on intermediates, who was able to change to full wets (as required by race officials) without the necessity of a pit stop. The HRT of Karthikeyan benefited from starting the race on full wets, having not needed to pit stop and was in tenth when the race was suspended. Grosjean's car was rescued from the gravel and brought back in the pits during the suspension. The race suspension last around fifty minutes and in that time many drivers opted to leave their car and some (Rosberg) changed footwear. While the cars were suspended on the grid, many teams brought out gazebos to place over their cars to keep them and team equipment (i.e. laptops and tyre warmers) dry.

The race restarted under the safety car around local time 17:15. As the track steadily dried pit crew members attempted to dry the team pit box. After 4 laps behind the safety car, the majority of the drivers once again pitted to change to intermediate tyres, meanwhile Vettel lost his radio so he had to use the pit confirmation button on his steering wheel for most of the race. On lap 15, Jenson Button clumsily locked up the rear wheels and made contact with Karthikeyan, forcing him to pit again to change the front wing, ending his podium chances. Subsequently, he made up a few places but was unable to finish in the top 10. Alonso emerged from this as the new leader when he overtook Sergio Pérez on lap 16, a lead he only briefly relinquished with a lap 40 pit stop. Rosberg was in fourth on lap 23 but slowly slipped backwards when his tyres overheated and he consequently pitted early for more inters. As the track slowly dried further, the top five all had comfortable gaps between them. During this period Senna was posting quick lap times and moving up through the midfield.

By lap 31 heavier rain was again forecast but never eventuated. After being 7.795 seconds behind Alonso in 2nd, Pérez began to set consecutive fastest laps and was closing the gap to the leader. The forecast rain prevented most cars from changing to slicks when the track was dry. An image of Hamilton's front tyre revealed that drivers were essentially racing on slicks anyway as the intermediate tread had worn off. Daniel Ricciardo was the first to take the gamble and change to dry tyres on lap 37. The teams watched his lap times go purple (fastest for the day) for every sector on the timescreens. He set the fastest lap by some three seconds on Pérez and that initiated the change from wet to dry tyres for everyone else. By lap 39, Pérez had excellent pace and cut the gap to Alonso back down to 1.339 seconds. Between laps 39 and 42 there was yet another round of pit stops, this time onto slick tyres. Alonso pitted on lap 40 while Pérez waited until the next lap. In that time Pérez, who prior to the pitstop had been within two seconds, now dropped to 7.180 seconds off Alonso. After the change to slicks, Pérez on the prime tyre, again consistently cut down on Alonso's (medium tyre) lead to within half a second. Controversially on lap 50, Pérez was told on the radio "be careful, we need this position" referring to the 18 points on offer for 2nd place. On the same lap Pérez took too much curb on turn 14 and had a slight off. This cost him at least five seconds and ensured he remain in 2nd position. Commentators questioned whether Sauber - whose engine is supplied by Ferrari - gave a coded message to Pérez asking him to allow the engine supplier to take victory. Sauber denied this emphatically after the race. Late in the race, Vettel received a puncture against the front wing of Narain Karthikeyan, and he pitted from 4th place, finishing 11th; Karthikeyan was given a 20-second post-race penalty for his part in the collision. Pastor Maldonado, who was running 10th, was forced to retire on the penultimate lap when his engine gave way, allowing Michael Schumacher his first points of the season.

Vettel and Red Bull boss Christian Horner criticised Karthikeyan's driving, with Vettel calling Karthikeyan an "idiot". Karthikeyan hit back at Vettel, calling him a "cry-baby". Later, Karthikeyan decided to call a truce with Vettel, stating his respect for Vettel's abilities and saying "I think we have to deal with it in a mature way and forget about it."


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.