2021 Turkish Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres

2021 Turkish Grand Prix

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The Turkish Grand Prix was all about tyre strategy – but not in the way that we might be used to looking at it.

Rather than a question of which compound would be best to use when or whether to run a one or two stop race, the decision was entirely down to timing, with a few drivers and teams getting it notably right – or wrong.

Before the race, Pirelli had been looking at whether it would be possible to do a one-stop race. In the end, every driver bar Sebastian Vettel did. And his strategy, of switching to medium compound slick tyres while others pitted for more intermediates, was, he acknowledged, a mistake.

In terms of single pit stops, however, the variation in how long drivers went on their initial stint was high. Daniel Ricciardo was the first in, after 21 laps, while the final driver to pit was Lewis Hamilton, on lap 50.

Esteban Ocon drove the whole race on a single set of tyres. He fell one lap short of full distance having been lapped. Does his example show Lewis Hamilton should have avoided pitting when he did?

The Alpine driver’s lap times indicate that, as frustrated as Hamilton may have been with the late pit stop, he was right to pit in the final laps of the race. Ocon’s pace dropped off sharply in the final stages of the race. Over the final eight laps he lost 22 seconds to his team mate Fernando Alonso, illustrating the kind of loss Hamilton faced if he hadn’t pitted.

Daniel Ricciardo was in similarly dire straights despite having fitted fresh intermediates earlier in the race. He was suffering severe tyre degradation, lapping two seconds slower than even Ocon on the final tour.

Ocon salvaged a point with his bold strategy. Team mate Alonso’s first-lap misfortune ruined his afternoon. However Carlos Sainz Jnr made a superb recovery after starting from the back of the grid, climbing 11 places to eighth.

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2021 Turkish Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2021 Turkish Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

Position change

DriverStart positionLap one position changeRace position change
Lewis Hamilton1126
Valtteri Bottas100
Max Verstappen200
Sergio Perez623
Lando Norris710
Daniel Ricciardo2027
Lance Stroll81-1
Sebastian Vettel100-8
Esteban Ocon1212
Fernando Alonso5-11-11
Charles Leclerc30-1
Carlos Sainz Jnr19211
Pierre Gasly4-1-2
Yuki Tsunoda91-5
Kimi Raikkonen1745
Antonio Giovinazzi1645
Mick Schumacher14-1-5
Nikita Mazepin18-1-2
George Russell13-1-2
Nicholas Latifi15-5-2

2021 Turkish Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2021 Turkish Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Valtteri BottasMercedes1’30.43258
2Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari1’31.9211.48949
3Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’32.4462.01450
4Sergio PerezRed Bull-Honda1’32.4592.02753
5Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’32.5862.15450
6Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1’32.6082.17658
7Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1’32.7302.29854
8Charles LeclercFerrari1’32.7372.30557
9Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’32.7592.32753
10Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’32.7632.33152
11Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1’32.8142.38250
12Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda1’32.8442.41254
13Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’32.9042.47257
14Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1’33.2522.82055
15Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1’33.2552.82334
16George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’33.3992.96753
17Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1’33.6723.24048
18Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1’34.2093.77752
19Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1’34.5844.15224
20Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari1’35.4385.00652

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2021 Turkish Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3
Valtteri BottasIntermediate (37)Intermediate (21)
Max VerstappenIntermediate (36)Intermediate (22)
Sergio PerezIntermediate (37)Intermediate (21)
Charles LeclercIntermediate (47)Intermediate (11)
Lewis HamiltonIntermediate (50)Intermediate (8)
Pierre GaslyIntermediate (39)Intermediate (19)
Lando NorrisIntermediate (34)Intermediate (24)
Carlos Sainz JnrIntermediate (36)Intermediate (22)
Lance StrollIntermediate (39)Intermediate (19)
Esteban OconIntermediate (57)
Antonio GiovinazziIntermediate (40)Intermediate (17)
Kimi RaikkonenIntermediate (37)Intermediate (20)
Daniel RicciardoIntermediate (21)Intermediate (36)
Yuki TsunodaIntermediate (35)Intermediate (22)
George RussellIntermediate (35)Intermediate (22)
Fernando AlonsoIntermediate (30)Intermediate (27)
Nicholas LatifiIntermediate (34)Intermediate (23)
Sebastian VettelIntermediate (36)C3 (1)Intermediate (20)
Mick SchumacherIntermediate (39)Intermediate (17)
Nikita MazepinIntermediate (35)Intermediate (21)

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2021 Turkish Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Max VerstappenRed Bull22.44236
2Sergio PerezRed Bull22.4630.02137
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes22.6840.24250
4Valtteri BottasMercedes22.9620.52037
5Daniel RicciardoMcLaren23.0280.58621
6Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo23.1500.70840
7Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo23.1640.72237
8Lando NorrisMcLaren23.2390.79734
9Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri23.3290.88735
10Sebastian VettelAston Martin23.5001.05836
11Sebastian VettelAston Martin23.5141.07237
12George RussellWilliams23.5511.10935
13Charles LeclercFerrari23.6461.20447
14Nikita MazepinHaas23.8291.38735
15Mick SchumacherHaas23.8921.45039
16Nicholas LatifiWilliams24.1041.66234
17Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari28.3535.91136
18Fernando AlonsoAlpine29.1166.67430
19Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri29.3106.86839
20Lance StrollAston Martin35.50913.06739

2021 Turkish Grand Prix

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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5 comments on “2021 Turkish Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres”

  1. Very helpful – can see pretty clearly Lewis was starting to lose his tires and if he got what he wanted and stayed out he would lose what Ocon and Ricciardo did at the end – he would have been behind Norris and maybe even Sainz.

    In hindsight where MB got it wrong was they needed to be even earlier; it really looks like the ideal strategy was to stop when Lando did on lap 34, he would have come out w clear track especially as Perez was holding him up – likely would have been 2 MBs rather than RBs on the podium.

    1. I have an opinion
      10th October 2021, 22:29

      The “slicktermediate” as it has been described elsewhere really is a fascinating tyre. It took 20-25 laps to reach peak performance in the first stint when the track was wetter / cooler, and about 15 in the second stint for drivers pushing. Additionally, the performance was transiently worse initially in the second stint (for about 8 laps) while the tyres were losing tread. Bottas managed his tyres really well in the second stint, while Hamilton may not have had that luxury in chasing Max. Clearly, pitting on lap 37 for mediums was not the way to go, but could Hamilton have done better with a late stop on softs?

  2. Nell (@imabouttogoham)
    11th October 2021, 3:10

    I doubt Hamilton would have been able to hold off Perez, Leclerc, Gasly, maybe Norris and even Sainz if he didn’t pit. The mistake wasn’t pitting, it was pitting too late, and that’s on Hamilton.

    My guess is he would’ve been losing at least 3.5 seconds to that quintet in the final 5 laps or so.

  3. https://en.mclarenf-1.com/2021/gp/s8118/lap_times/821-482/

    Here’s the lap times, this is a verstappen-hamilton comparison I made, before stopping he was losing 8, 4, 9, 5 tenths, then 1,6 sec, then he pitted, he lost around 17 sec out of that (which is not a lot), he could’ve continued losing 2 sec per lap, so more or less same result as he had, with the difference he could’ve defended.

    I don’t see how you can assume tyres would start dropping off, drivers manage tyres differently and his times were a lot better than leclerc’s and ocon’s.

    1. @esploratore1
      What really matters here is the clearly worsening trend on his lap times, similar to Ocon’s. And the Alpine driver who followed a non-stop strategy was actually in the verge of a tyre failure.

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