2010 Turkish Grand Prix

The 2010 Turkish Grand Prix (formally the VI Turkish Grand Prix) was the seventh round in the 2010 Formula One season. It was held in Istanbul on 30 May 2010. The race was most notable for the collision between both Red Bull Racing drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, which resulted in Vettel's retirement and Webber's loss of the lead. Ferrari identified the race as their 800th Grand Prix. The race was won by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who finished ahead of team-mate Jenson Button with Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing finishing third. Vitaly Petrov managed to set the fastest lap of the race after putting on fresh tyres following a collision with Fernando Alonso.

Background
Several teams brought major upgrades to the race, including Red Bull and Force India, both of whom debuted their version of McLaren's "F-duct" system. Virgin Racing also finally managed to procure the longer-wheelbase version of the VR-01 for Lucas di Grassi after the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull prevented them from having two cars prepared in time for the previous race.

Free practice
The McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button topped the first practice session, followed by the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. The Red Bulls were 5th and 8th, split by the impressive Renaults, while Ferrari were uncharacteristically slow, with Fernando Alonso 9th and Felipe Massa 13th.

Button was fastest in second practice, while an improved performance from Red Bull put Mark Webber second and Sebastian Vettel third ahead of Hamilton in 4th. A slight resurgence from Ferrari saw Alonso fifth and Massa tenth, split by the well performing Mercedes and Renault squads, with Robert Kubica ahead of Vitaly Petrov in the French team.

Saturday's third practice session saw Vettel break the McLaren deadlock ahead of Rosberg, Hamilton, Webber, Kubica and Alonso. Schumacher was again ahead of slow Button and Massa, who were 9th and 10th respectively.

Qualifying
The first qualifying session saw the three teams expected to fail to make the cut (HRT, Virgin Racing and Lotus) all do so, and they were joined by the Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi. This meant that the bottom seven were Liuzzi, Trulli, Kovalainen, Glock, Senna, Di Grassi and Chandhok.

There were yet more surprises in session two when the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso failed to make it though to session three and he wasn't even the fastest of the cars that didn't make it through, that honour went to Adrian Sutil in the Force India. Sutil was close to getting through but he just couldn't find the time he needed. So Sutil will start 11th on the grid followed by Alonso, de la Rosa, Buemi, Barrichello, Alguersuari and Hülkenberg.

Sebastian Vettel had topped the timing sheets in the first two sessions and was on course to be fastest in the final session until a broken anti roll bar on his car cost him considerable time at the end of the lap, placing him 3rd on the grid. His team-mate Mark Webber managed to claim pole position continuing Red Bull's record having been on pole at every race so far this season. Alongside him on the grid will be the improved McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. At one point Hamilton looked like he might claim pole but an error in the middle sector let him down. This middle sector was where Red Bull held their advantage, being able to go through Turn Eight which caught out many a driver over the weekend with full throttle whereas other teams had to lift off through there. Hamilton's team-mate and current world champion Jenson Button will start fourth on the grid followed by the two Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. The Renault's of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov will be 7th and 9th respectively, sandwiching the sole remaining Ferrari of Felipe Massa and rounding off the top ten was an impressive qualifying performance from Kamui Kobayashi in the BMW Sauber.

Race
At the start, Mark Webber led from pole into the first corner whereas Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were overtaken by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher respectively, although both picked the places up again by the end of lap one. Down the mid-field of the pack, Rubens Barrichello in his Williams dropped back to 20th after an overheating clutch, the second time it had affected him in the season. The Red Bulls and McLarens then pulled away from fifth-placed Michael Schumacher and fought amongst themselves for control of the race. Schumacher and team-mate Nico Rosberg led a train of cars making up the midfield, whilst the newer teams once again squabbled towards the back. First-lap incidents resulted in Sébastien Buemi and Nico Hülkenberg being forced to pit, whilst contact between Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa saw the edge of Kubica's diffuser carve a furrow into Massa's front wheel, though the damage was not considered to be critical. The Red Bulls and McLarens ran together at the front, pulling away from fifth-placed Schumacher. Schumacher led a train of eight cars – his teammate Rosberg followed by Kubica, Massa, Vitaly Petrov, Adrian Sutil, Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso. At the front, Vettel opened the round of pitstops on lap fourteen, a move which put him ahead of Hamilton and into second place when the Briton had a slow stop. Reigning world champion Button inherited the lead when Webber pitted, but surrendered it when he pitted on lap sixteen, re-emerging in fourth.

After the pitstops, Webber led from Vettel, Hamilton and Button, as the Red Bulls and McLarens stayed interlocked at the front. Schumacher was fifth, with Rosberg, Kubica, Massa and Petrov maintaining sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively, whereas Alonso was tenth. The middle stages of the race saw few troubles, save for the retirements of both Lotuses with mechanical woes. With Hamilton losing second place to Vettel, the top nine drivers remained in the same positions in which they had qualified, and as the race continued, the threat of rain intensified with heavy clouds brewing to the west of the circuit. The stalemate at the front was broken on lap 40 when Sebastian Vettel attempted a pass on Webber for the lead at turn twelve, but collided with his team-mate, ending his own race and spoiling Webber's in the process. Webber was forced to pit for repairs as the McLarens inherited first and second, but with a thirty-second buffer to the now fourth-placed Michael Schumacher, Webber was able to retain third place.

The expected rain only manifested as a very light drizzle in the later phase of the race. With nine laps to go, Jenson Button overtook Hamilton for the lead at turn twelve, only to have his teammate and compatriot reclaim the position at the first corner on the next lap. Button said recently that the battle was a misunderstanding, because Lewis "was told to turn his engine down but I didn’t know." The McLarens then put some distance between each other, and held position until the end of the race, with Webber salvaging third after Vettel's passing attempt. Further back, Schumacher was fourth, and Rosberg was fifth ahead of Kubica and Massa. Fernando Alonso spent the majority of the race unable to find a way past Petrov in eighth position, though he finally broke through in the dying laps. The two connected and Petrov suffered a puncture and lost a points-scoring position as a result, but claimed the fastest lap of the race after pitting as a consolation prize. Timo Glock just managed to make it to the finish line after spending the last five laps stuck in fifth gear. This left Adrian Sutil and Kobayashi to round out the top ten, the latter taking his first point of the season and his first since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when driving for Toyota.

Post-race
Hamilton's victory gave him his first triumph since the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix, and his first for nine races. The result was McLaren's second one-two finish of 2010. This victory also made him the 5th different race winner in 7 races in 2010.

Predictably though, much of the post-race debate centred on the Red Bulls' clash at the front of the field on lap 40. Both Webber and Vettel blamed each other for the crash. Team boss Christian Horner implied Webber remained partially responsible for failing to give Vettel enough room on the run to the corner, yet he was noticeably frustrated and angry at both his drivers for wasting a potential one-two finish. Red Bull later revealed Mark Webber had gone into fuel-saving mode on the lap of the crash, and therefore lost performance. Sebastian Vettel, however, still had one lap left on the higher setting, and therefore opted to attack at the last window of opportunity. Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko insisted the team did not favour Vettel through this strategy, and also offered the perspective that Vettel had to attack for fear of backing off and into the clutches of Lewis Hamilton behind.

Meanwhile Mercedes GP maintained they had achieved what the car was capable of with fourth and fifth place finishes for Schumacher and Rosberg respectively. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was disappointed with the team's performance in their 800th start, yet looked forward to upgrades in the following races. James Key, the technical director of BMW Sauber was happy with the double finish and point picked up, courtesy of Kamui Kobayashi.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.