Lewis Hamilton promises a maximum attack from 11th on the grid at the Turkish Grand Prix

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ISTANBUL – Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton promised “maximum attack” at Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix and is not ruling out winning from 11th on the grid.

The Mercedes driver was fastest in qualifying at Istanbul Park, but a 10-place penalty for exceeding his season’s engine allocation, a strategic move, left the Briton with plenty of overtaking to make in the race.

Hamilton won in Turkey last year, in wet and slippery conditions, after starting sixth.

He also stood out in his pre-F1 days when he came back from 19th to second in a dry GP2 race in 2006.

This time he risks losing his championship lead unless he finishes ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is two points from drift with seven races to go and lines up in the front row with Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes on pole.

“I was already third at turn one last year, so that made a little difference,” said Hamilton, who is now chasing a record eighth title.

“It’s a very different weekend, a very different track grip, so we face different circumstances this weekend,” he added.

“My eyes are still solely on winning the race. It’s going to be very difficult, from 11th place, but not impossible … so I will stay vigilant and make sure to deliver the maximum attack tomorrow. “

Hamilton has three other Red Bull drivers ahead of him on the grid, with Verstappen’s Mexican teammate Sergio Perez in the third row, while Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri are fourth and ninth.

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McLaren’s Lando Norris, who ranks seventh, said he expected to stay ahead of Hamilton by just a couple of laps.

“I’m not going to say I’m going to beat him because I’m not going to,” said the 21-year-old, who started from pole in Russia and almost won.

Hamilton said he would only take one step at a time and that he had to get through the first lap safely first from his midfield position.

“If I can be higher from the start, then great. I have to avoid the problems, of course, and that will probably be my priority at first, and then see if it is possible to eliminate them one by one. “

Reference-torontosun.com

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