• Turkish Grand Prix

Hamilton leads McLaren 1-2 as Red Bulls self destruct

Laurence Edmondson May 30, 2010

Lewis Hamilton led home team-mate Jenson Button for a McLaren 1-2 in the Turkish Grand Prix, capitalising on a collision between the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel as the pair appeared on course for another dominant victory.

Webber recovered to take third but looked livid on the podium as he reflected on what might have been. The incident happened entering turn 12 on the 41st of 58 laps as Vettel had a run on Webber down the long back straight and attempted a move up the inside for the lead. Webber pushed Vettel close to the grass but the German kept his foot in and then drifted back across the track for the entry to turn 12. The pair clipped wheels with Vettel coming off significantly worse and suffering a rear puncture and suspension damage that put an end to his race.

The McLarens took the lead as a result, but the race was far from over. After Hamilton and Button had been told to save fuel, Button attempted a move on Hamilton into turn 12. Hamilton put up a fight and they went through the next two corners wheel-to-wheel. Button managed to hold the lead out of the final part of the chicane but Hamilton had a better exit and barged his way back past into turn one. Button had to concede ground and ran a wide to avoid an accident. A curt reminder to the pair over their radios ensured the remaining laps were less eventful.

From that point onwards the action at the front died down and Hamilton, Button and Webber held formation to finish one-two-three. In fourth was Michael Schumacher with a season best result ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. Robert Kubica finished a respectable sixth for Renault and, although he looked quicker than Rosberg at times, never got a run at the Mercedes for position.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa had a quiet race to seventh, one place ahead of team-mate Alonso, who pitted early from 12th to move up through the field and eventually finish eighth. To gain the last position he had a very tight battle with Vitaly Petrov, in which the Renault rookie came off worse and had to pit for a new front tyre.

Adrian Sutil recovered well from a slightly disappointing qualifying position to score two points for Force India in ninth. He pulled an impressive move on Kamui Kobayashi in the closing stages to take tenth, making use of the long back straight to slipstream the Sauber into turn 12. Kobayashi eventually finished in the top ten but only after Petrov's accident dropped him down the field. Outside the points, Pedro de la Rosa acted as a rear gunner to his Sauber team-mate and held off Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso in the final laps.

Only four other cars retired alongside Vettel, with both HRTs ending their races in the garage and the two Lotuses succumbing to hydraulic faults.

Laurence Edmondson is an assistant editor on ESPNF1

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