Among the most exciting moments of the last Turkish Grand Prix cannot overshadow the wheel-to-wheel duel staged between Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez. The Mercedes Englishman, in full recovery in an attempt to recover positions from eleventh place on the grid, was unable to outclass the Mexican from Red Bull, author of an excellent defense that allowed him to resist the threat of the reigning champion .
The most exciting moment of this battle occurred between the end of the 34th and the beginning of the 35th lap: Hamilton, in the final chicane before the starting straight, in fact seemed to have completed the overtaking on his rival, with this’ the last one who then resumed his position first alongside the British on the straight, and then passing him to the braking of the first corner on the left. Even before this last move, however, Perez had tried to resist the attack of the Mercedes driver until the last, so much so that he went beyond the line that delimits the track from the entrance to the pit lane, then re-entering the track without going through the pits and dribbling the pole placed to indicate the entrance to the pit lane.
A maneuver, this, which then aroused controversy – especially on the part of the German team – for the lack of penalty inflicted on the Mexican, guilty of having exceeded the limit of the pit lane. On the contrary, the director of Red Bull Helmut Marko sided as spokesperson for the pro-Perez faction, defending his driver a Sky Sports and praising him for his defense: “Hamilton pushed him, probably he wanted to send him to the pit lane – commented the Austrian manager – Sergio, on the other hand, defended himself and resisted very well, and I think it was the decisive maneuver for his third place finish. With Verstappen’s podium I can say that we are more than satisfied with how the race ended. It was the best we could get, while Hamilton finished fifth. The engineers also did a great job – he concluded – by constantly informing the drivers about the conditions of the tires, allowing them to set the driving style best suited to the situation of the race in progress, thus maximizing lap times “.