Hamilton wins as Red Bulls collide

F1 Grand Prix, GP Turkey, Istanbul Park

Lewis Hamilton has won the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul after closely following the Red Bulls until they knocked each other out. Jenson Button was second, while Mark Webber managed to finish third after an extra stop. Sebastian Vettel didn't make it to the finish.

As the lights went out, Mark Webber easily kept his pole position while behind him Sebastian Vettel rolled ahead of Hamilton. 2 Turns later however it's Hamilton again who is in second place. Michael Schumacher jumped Button, only to see the Briton pass again at the end of the backstraight.

5 laps ino the race, Lewis Hamilton is still 0.5s behind Webber. Vettel is two seconds down on his teammate and doesn't have much of a margin on Button either.

Nico Hulkenberg meanwhile is doing some overtakes after having to pit after the first lap due to a start incident. Sebastian Buemi also pitted early on after a right rear puncture. Lucas Di Grassi started the race from the pitlane after more problems on his Virgin car.

As early as lap 11, lots of drivers are pitting, including Alonso, Sutil and De La Rosa. All of them are switching to the harder tyres.

By lap 13 Hamilton is closer than ever to Webber, keeping a better pace through turn 8 and able to keep his options open on the following two straight sections.

Of the 4 fastest cars, Vettel is first to pit in lap 15. Button immediately puts in the fastest S1, trying to get ahead of Vettel after his own stop. One lap later Webber and Hamilton follow each other into the pitlane. Webber's stop however was quite a bit faster and upon rejoining the circuit, he's still ahead. Due to McLaren's hesitation on the right rear tyre in Hamilton's stop though, Vettel managed to move through to second place.

2 laps later Button also completed his stop, rejoining the track right behind Hamilton. 18 lap into the race, and the three fastest cars are seperated only by 3 seconds from the first to the fourth. Hamilton actually attempted a pass on Vettel on lap 20, but as he missed the apex on turn 11, Vettel was ahead again when passing the finish line.

By lap 28 nothing much has at the front, with all four leaders still in the same positions. Michael Schumacher is 5th, 26 seconds behind Button. Rosberg in 6th is 3 seconds further down, with behind him a train with Kubica, Massa, Petrov and also Alonso who, together with Kobayashi, put in better laps on the prime tyres to join the midfield pack.

On lap 36 Trulli parks his car along the track and his teammate Kovalainen stops in the garage. The Lotus cars are therefore the first to abandon this race, both with a hydraulic failure.

Rosberg meanwhile has upped his pace. It appears that his tyres have improved due to the lower track temperatures. Kubica and Massa were able to follow, but Petrov is dropping down as he has his hands full with holding Alonso behind him.

At the front of the race, Vettel has upped his pace as well for several laps and is right behind Webber. Hamilton is slightly less threatening as he is unable to follow Vettel's improved pace.

One lap later Vettel takes the outside on turn 11 and has nearly passed Webber onto the approach of turn 12. Webber declined to move right to the normal racing line, while Vettel tried to and hit Webber with his right rear wheel. Vettel's race was immediately ended while Webber continued for one more lap before taking on a new front wing and rejoining the race in 3rd place, 6 seconds ahead of Schumacher.

By lap 49 raindrop are hitting the track and Button quickly closed the gap to Hamilton, passing him in turn 12 and 13 but having been repassed in turn 1. After that the gap increased a little, probably now keeping their position.

One lap later Button is also told to save fuel, just like Hamilton 5 laps earlier.

On lap 54 Alonso attempts another move on Petrov. The Spaniard is consistently quicker in the final sector and hence was right behind the Renault in turn 1. In turn 3 Alonso passed but caused a right front puncture on Petrov, a disaster for the latter as he loses his likely points finish. He did finish though after stopping for new tyres to complete the final 2 laps. The Russian actually secured quickest lap of the race on the final lap.