He should not have won… Lewis Hamilton should not have won the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix. On a recently resurfaced, barely used, rain-affected low grip race circuit Mercedes struggled to find their expected imperious race form. The usually dominant Mercedes W11 looked dormant in the Turkish rain as Racing Point secured pole position. Ironically in a car that is an undercover 2019 spec Mercedes. Lance Stroll of all drivers claimed pole position. Lewis Hamilton struggled to 6th, 5 seconds off the pace.

The Red Bulls looked strong all weekend, particularly Max Verstappen. So did Ferrari in the hands of Charles Leclerc. Despite Racing point taking pole, the odds looked good for a battle royale between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Ferrari turned up ready for the weekend ahead with a number of updates and front running pace for the first time this season. The race didn’t start too well for Hamilton. He managed to avoid a first lap, first corner melee between the spinning duo of Bottas and Ocon and slip-slide his way into third.

Hamilton couldn’t avoid the fact that his Mercedes was struggling to generate grip in cool wet conditions. He soon fell victim to Sebastian Vettel who charged from 12th on the grid to third. Hamilton struggled to even tip-toe his way around while the Ferrari flew away from him. Everybody struggled on the freshly resurfaced, barely used race circuit. But Mercedes, for all their dominance, unexpectedly struggled the most.

Hamilton slowly fell back down the order, at one point being overtaken by the Red Bull of Alex Albon. All seemed lost. At the front Lance Stroll and teammate Sergio Perez appeared to be in a race of their own. Until lap 37 when Stroll pitted for a fresh set of intermediates and thereafter struggled to find any pace from the tyres. Hamilton decided to stay out on worn intermediate tyres and soon thereafter took the lead from Sergio Perez.

By now Hamilton found that worn tyres worked best for his Mercedes which proved too much for anyone else to mount a serious challenge. At this point, his rivals were spinning off on tricky track conditions when it mattered the most. Bottas had a dreadful race, here again, was an opportunity to show his metal against the might of Hamilton. He spun twice on the opening lap and once more for good measure during the race.

Hamilton lapped his only realistic title challenger on lap 48, Bottas would go on to finish 14th. Hamilton won the Turkish Grand Prix with a 31-second advantage over second-placed Sergio Perez. In doing so he secured a record-equalling 7th drivers championship and he did it against the run of form. The record books will show Hamilton as a legendary statistic, but they will never show the measure of the man when it matters most.

How did Lewis Hamilton win the Turkish Grand Prix? we don’t really know, not even Hamilton can explain it.

2020 Turkish Grand Grand Prix: Results:

Note – Norris scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.