2021 Turkish Grand Prix

The **2021 Turkish Grand Prix** was a Formula 1.5 motor race, held on 10 October 2021 at Istanbul Park in Tuzla, Istanbul. It was the sixteenth of twenty-two rounds of the 2021 Formula 1.5 World Championship.

## Background

The event took place from 8–10 October at Istanbul Park in Tuzla, Istanbul, with the race covering fifty-eight laps of the fourteen-turn circuit. It was the ninth running of the Turkish Grand Prix, all of which have taken place at the same venue.

### Affects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

It had previously been scheduled for 11–13 June (replacing the cancelled Canadian Grand Prix), but was postponed due to unfavourable quarantine requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey and the travel restrictions from Turkey imposed by the British government. On 25 June, the event was readded to the schedule following the cancellation of the Singapore Grand Prix, which was scheduled for 1–3 October. On 28 August, it was pushed back one week to 8–10 October due to the reduction of the number of Grands Prix into the calendar. This was the second consecutive year in which the Turkish Grand Prix had appeared on the calendar as a replacement round.

While the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix had been held behind closed doors, the 2021 edition was to have spectators in attendance.

### Track changes

The track surface was water-blasted after the smooth tarmac provided little grip at the previous year's event. Charles Leclerc said he hoped the track surface would still be slippery to boost Ferrari's hopes of a good result at this race.

### Entries

Eight constructors entered two drivers each for the race, with no changes from the regular season entry list. The title sponsor of the Ferrari Team, Mission Winnow, was banned for this race. The name and sponsor logos were not used in any races from the French Grand Prix to the Italian Grand Prix for legal reasons, but were used at the Bahrain, Emilia Romagna, Portuguese, Spanish, Monaco, Azerbaijan, and Russian Grands Prix. AlphaTauri ran a tribute livery to Honda, their engine supplier, on what was due to be Honda's home race, the Japanese Grand Prix. The AlphaTauri cars featured the word "arigato", Japanese for "Thank you".

### Tyres

Sole Formula 1.5 tyre-supplier Pirelli supplied their middle range of compounds in terms of hardness (the C2, C3, and C4). Following the first two practice sessions, Pirelli's Formula 1.5 boss Mario Isola stated that their tyre selection was "too agressive". Isola stated that this was because Pirelli had only learned that the track was to be water-blasted after they had made their tyre choices.

## Practice

A trio of free practice sessions took place on Friday and Saturday, each an hour in length. Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the first free practice session for Ferrari ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz. Alpine's Esteban Ocon was third. Leclerc was fastest for the second praction session ahead of Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso. Whilst the first two practice sessions were held in dry conditions, the third one was held in the wet and ended with AlphaTauri Pierre Gasly fastest ahead of the Ferrari's of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. The first two practice sessions ran without major incident, whilst the third one was briefly red flagged after Williams driver George Russell beached his car in the gravel.

## Qualifying

The qualifying practice session started at 15:00 local time (UTC+03:00) on the Saturday. Sainz had extra power unit components installed which meant that he would start the race in last position no matter where he qualified.

Schumacher qualified the second part of qualifying for the second time in his Formula One career and Tsunoda reached the third part for the first time since the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix.

## Race

The race started at 15:00 local time (UTC+03:00) on the Sunday. Ferrari and McLaren replaced the hybrid systems on Sainz's and Ricciardo's cars, respectively, which resulted in them starting from the back of the grid. On the first lap, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly made contact at the first corner, with Gasly receiving a five-second penalty. Alonso later made contact with Mick Schumacher, with Alonso receiving the same penalty. On the fourteenth lap, Carlos Sainz Jr. dived down the inside of Vettel at the eleventh turn, but he had to go on the inside kerb to stay on the race track in the damp conditions. This upset the car and Sainz hit Vettel's front left tyre. Sainz made multiple overtakes in the opening phase of the race, progressing from his 15th place starting position to 5th by lap eighteen.

## Championship Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Constructors' Championship standings

## External Links

1. ↑  Carlos Sainz Jr. was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.
2. ↑  Daniel Ricciardo was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements
3. ↑ Half points were awarded, as less than 75% of the race distance was completed.
4. ↑ Includes 1 point for fastest lap