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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

The hidden factors that thwarted Hamilton's bid for Turkey glory

Starting 11th after his engine change grid penalty, Lewis Hamilton faced a tough task to repeat his Turkish Grand Prix heroics of 2020 - despite making strong early progress in the wet. Instead, his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas broke through for a first win of the year to mitigate Max Verstappen re-taking the points lead

What a difference nearly 11 months make.

In Valtteri Bottas's case, that and several other critical factors were enough to have him go from "probably the worst race of my career" in the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix, to a dominant "one of the best" victory in similarly damp conditions in 2021 at Istanbul Park.

This time around, he was starting from an inherited pole. And he was sharing the front row with one of Formula 1's best wet-weather drivers: Max Verstappen. The pre-race signs did not look good.

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