Lewis Hamilton will have a chance to make history this weekend as Formula One returns to Turkey for the first time in nine years.
All eyes will be on Hamilton at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. The British driver needs to finish ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in order to win his seventh F1 championship and equal Michael Schumacher’s impressive record.
A win for Hamilton will see him wrap up the 2020 championship with three races to go, which would cap off what has already been a historic season of racing.
Formula One returning to the Istanbul Park circuit has been well received by both drivers and fans, with the high-speed circuit providing more overtaking opportunities than the average track.
The circuit also boasts one of the most popular corners anywhere in the world, the infamous turn eight. Turn eight is home to a completely unique quadruple apex left-hander which will be comfortably flat out in these extremely grippy F1 cars, which could see forces of up to 5G.
The track has recently been resurfaced with fresh asphalt, meaning we may see the drivers struggling for grip in the first couple of practice sessions on Friday, just like we saw in Portimao a few weeks ago.
Only four of the current drivers have ever driven at the Istanbul Park circuit. Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel are the only ones to have experience on this track, which could give them an advantage heading into this weekend as the rest of the grid find their feet around it.
This weekend is a big one for Red Bull’s Alexander Albon too, as he will be hoping he can prove he deserves to stay at the team for the 2021 season. The Thai-British driver’s seat is under serious threat after a number of poor performances this term.
Albon currently sits ninth in the drivers’ championship heading into this race weekend and is a whopping 98 points behind team-mate Max Verstappen. It’s fair to say that confidence-stricken Albon is massively under-performing in what is comfortably the second fastest car out on track this campaign.
Helmut Marko, the Head of Red Bull’s Driver development programme had previously said that the Turkish GP was for Albon to prove his worth. However, in a recent interview with Motorport-Total.com Marko eased pressure on Albon – admitting the young driver now has until the final race of the season to show he’s good enough.
He said: ‘We will give him a little more time. He even has Abu Dhabi to prove his worth and then we will make an internal decision on whether to follow or look for someone from outside.
‘But there are many drivers in the market, so we will not be rushed.’
The Turkish Grand Prix promises to be action packed as always, and history could be made if Hamilton was to take the chequered flag to win his seventh Formula One world title.
By Liam Davies
