By Stephen Burns
Sebastian Vettel's new chassis ended the day in pieces after Red Bull squandered another pole position with a late race clash that handed victory to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
Having converted his 2 previous pole positions into wins Mark Webber's third consecutive pole position seemed to offer a hint as to the outcome but Red Bull's dominance seemed less certain than of late as Hamilton's McLaren occupied second place on the grid with team mate Button in fourth behind Vettel's new car “Mandy.”
From the lights Webber was the first away from the line and Vettel followed into second as Hamilton suffered pulling away from the dirty side of the track, Button also lost ground to the Mercedes of Schumacher. By the time the first lap was complete both McLarens had regained their lost positions, further down the field Sutil's Force India and Hulkenberg's Williams were in the pits for repairs after an early altercation.
Having regained second place Hamilton set about applying pressure to Webber and kept the gap to half a second, with several exchanges of fastest lap. At the end of lap ten Barrichello was the first to stop for tyres from 16th. Webber was still leading, with Hamilton in close attendance. The second Red Bull of Vettel was a second further back with Button a further second back. Schumacher was then leading a train of cars of Rosberg, Kubica and Massa, with Petrov and Sutil rounding out the top ten. Alonso was still in 12th after a poor qualifying session.
On lap 15 the McLaren pit crew emerged from the garage in preparation for Hamilton's stop, Red Bull reacted and at the end of the lap the two leading cars dived for the pit lane It seemed Hamilton's only chance to take the lead would be to beat the Australian away from the stops but a sticking left rear wheel coupled with the teams relative position in the pit lane meant Hamilton rejoined the track not just behind Webber but also the sister car of Vettel while Button for two laps till he too stopped. A lap later Hamilton got a run on Vettel and tried to pass on the inside but carried too much speed and ran wide on the exit of the turn allowing Vettel back through into third
As the race approached half distance there were reports of the possibility imminent rain although this arrived in the shape of very slight rain that had no effect on the race. Webber still led from Vettel with the McLarens holding station behind the Red Bull pair but on lap 40 Vettel attempted a pass on his team mate. The pair spun off, allowing the McLaren pair through, and Webber rejoined in fourth with a damaged front wing. Vettel was to play no further part in the race as the damage to his car rendered it immovable, Webber pitted for a new nose and tyres two laps later and emerged from the pits still in third.
Six laps later it looked as though the McLaren pair were playing the game as Button lunged up the inside of Hamilton into turn12, the battle continued through turns 13 and 14 and Button led onto the start/finish straight. Hamilton dived from his team mates slipstream into the braking zone for turn one and made the pass stick as the team ordered its drivers the slow the pace as the fuel consumption was critical.
Further down the field Alonso had made slow but steady progress from 12th and on lap 53 was pressuring Petrov, as he passed the Renault, the Russian driver clipped the rear of the Ferrari puncturing his right front tyre.
Hamilton crossed the line to score his first win of the season and the teams second one two finish, Webber was disappointed with third and the aftermath of his incident with Vettel will continue for a long time to come as team politics further complicate matters. Ferrari salvaged some points from 6th and 7th to end a poor showing from their 800th Grand Prix event.
Turkish Grand Prix Result
Pos Driver Team Points
1 L. Hamilton McLaren 25
2 J. Button McLaren 18
3 M. Webber Red Bull 15
4 M. Schumacher Mercedes GP 12
5 N. Rosberg Mercedes GP 10
6 R. Kubica Renault 8
7 F. Massa Ferrari 6
8 F. Alonso Ferrari 4
9 A. Sutil Force India 2
10 K. Koyabashi BMW Sauber- Ferrari 1
Further Motorsport News
At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today, Scotland's Dario Franchiti scored his second win in the Indy 500 as British drivers Dan Wheldon and Alex Lloyd filled the podium for the 100th running of the race for the Borg- Warner Trophy. The race ended under caution after a huge last lap crash saw Mike Conway airlifted to hospital with a broken leg after his car was launched into the debris catch fence on the exit of the 1.5 mile tri-oval circuit. Top woman was Danica Patrick who managed to climb to 5th despite starting 23rd.
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