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Lewis Hamilton clinched a seventh world championship and became the most successful racing driver in history with a masterful victory at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Mercedes driver equaled Michael Schumacher’s achievement in terms of titles, after surpassing the German’s number of victories last month.
The victory on a treacherously wet and slippery Istanbul Park track in a reverse race was the 94th of the 35-year-old Briton’s career.
When he received congratulations from his team, Hamilton was almost overwhelmed with excitement in the car after the race, saying, “To all the kids, dream the impossible.”
Once out of the car, he added, “Seven is just unimaginable, but when you work with such a great group of people and really trust each other, what we can do together is infinite.
“I feel like I’m just starting out, it’s really weird.”
Hamilton, who does not yet have a contract for next year, added that he would “love to stay” in F1 and wanted to continue campaigning for change when it comes to human rights, diversity and environmentalism.
How Hamilton won it in style
It was an impulse commensurate with the monumental nature of Hamilton’s achievement.
Hamilton stepped carefully in the early stages of the race and even made a couple of small mistakes as the drivers struggled for grip in wet conditions.
Five laps away, he was in sixth place more than 20 seconds behind the leader, in the hands of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez.
After all the leaders made an early stop for new intermediate tires, Hamilton was trapped behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, faster but unable to overtake due to a lack of grip off the line.
But the race opened up for Hamilton around half the distance as he once again made decisive strategic decisions on the tires from the cockpit and drove with the skill and class that has allowed him to put himself in this position.
Paseo and Pérez began to be caught by those behind.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the first to put pressure on them, but he got out of contention when he lost control and pivoted behind Perez on lap 18, destroying his tires and needing to stop again.
Then Red Bull’s Alex Albon was running third, ahead of Ferrari and Vettel’s Hamilton.
Ferrari faced Vettel for new tires on lap 33, having seen how fast his teammate Charles Leclerc was going on his fresh intermediates, and then Albon spun into turn four.
That gave Hamilton a clean run to attack Racing Points and he told his team: “Don’t box [pit] I men “.
Despite Stroll saying he didn’t want to change tires, Racing Point slowed the Canadian on lap 36, knocking him out of the lead, and soon after, Hamilton took the lead from Perez and never looked back.
Hamilton and Perez were left out on worn tires as the Mercedes driver drifted away in the lead, his only concern was whether his worn intermediate tires would last.
And Hamilton’s excellence was put into perspective by his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
The Finn entered the race knowing that he had to overcome Hamilton by at least eight points to keep the championship alive. But he had a terrible day, turning at least five times and finishing 14th, traded by Hamilton.
When told there were four laps left at the end of the race, a dejected Bottas said: “I wish it were less.”
What happened to Stroll?
It was a heartbreaking day for Stroll, who confidently led the first 36 laps after the first pole position of his career, only to see his career unravel after he made his stop for new tires.
But while the Canadian was unable to get the new tires to work on his car and fell to ninth at the end, a second pit stop mid-race worked well for both Ferrari drivers.
Pérez held on to second place, after briefly losing place to Leclerc on the final lap, only for the Monegasque to slide wide into the final chicane, allowing teammate Vettel to reach last position. from the podium, the first of the season.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pushed Perez hard from the start, but a turn around the corner on the back straight dashed his hopes.
Driver of the day
What happens next
Hamilton has clinched the title with three races to go, two in Bahrain starting in two weeks and then a final in Abu Dhabi in mid-December.
