Lewis Hamilton matches F1 history after Lance Stroll achieves career first

The story of 15 November 2020 remains one of Formula 1's most remarkable afternoons.

Six years ago to this day, Lewis Hamilton clinched his seventh F1 drivers' championship in treacherous conditions at Istanbul Park, equalling Michael Schumacher's long-standing record, on the very day Lance Stroll started from pole position for the first time in his F1 career.

The Turkish Grand Prix had been added to the championship's pandemic-reshuffled calendar almost as one of many stand-ins, but it produced one of the defining days in the sport's history.

Stroll topped a chaotic qualifying session on a newly resurfaced, low-grip circuit made worse by rain, putting his Racing Point on pole ahead of Max Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez. Hamilton could only manage sixth for Mercedes, over four seconds off Stroll's pace.

Come race day, Stroll converted pole into a lead he held for 32 laps. But his car suffered a loss of pace that baffled him in the immediate aftermath.

"It was kind of the right thing to do but then the next set grained again, and we just went further back, so it's really hard to understand what happened," the Canadian said.

Racing Point later established the cause: a broken strake had lodged beneath the front wing, costing Stroll crucial front downforce. He eventually finished ninth.

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Hamilton's gamble on worn rubber

As others pitted for fresh intermediates, Hamilton did the opposite, running his tyres down to near-slicks and refusing to change them. The decision, counterintuitive on a drying but still damp track, proved decisive: worn intermediates gripped better than cold, grooved replacements prone to severe graining.

Hamilton later explained the thinking behind staying out.

"I was thinking about moments when it went wrong before, like China 2007 when I lost the championship on worn tyres in the pit lane," he said, reflecting on his title-deciding retirement 13 years earlier. "All these things I've learned along the way, I was able to apply today."

He crossed the line to win by over 31 seconds from Perez, who claimed his first podium of the season after a last-lap pass on Charles Leclerc, with Sebastian Vettel completing the podium in third, his only rostrum of the 2020 campaign.

Vettel admitted the podium came as something of a surprise. "It was quite intense, quite long, but good fun," the German said.

"Obviously it was very intense in the last lap and yeah, a bit of a surprise to snatch the podium in the end but certainly very happy."

Perez, for his part, revealed just how close his tyres had come to failure. "I told my team on the radio, 'I think one more lap on those tyres, I think they would have exploded,'" he said. "The vibrations were extremely bad towards the end, but I think it also made our race."

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A seventh crown for Hamilton

The win sealed Hamilton's seventh F1 drivers' title with three rounds still to run, Valtteri Bottas having entered the weekend as the only other driver mathematically in contention, 85 points behind.

Hamilton, visibly emotional afterwards, struggled to process the achievement.

"I'm definitely a bit lost for words," he said. "I dreamed of this as a kid. This is way, way beyond our dreams."

Over the radio moments after crossing the line, he had already found the words he wanted the world to hear. "That's for all the kids out there who dream the impossible. You can do it too, man! I believe in you guys!"

Team principal Toto Wolff framed the win as proof of Hamilton's composure under pressure. "It shows how he's capable of coping with the situation that went against him at the beginning," Wolff said. "He was the only one who kept it on the road; that is the difference today."

Asked later about matching Schumacher's benchmark, Hamilton reflected on how distant the number seven had once seemed.

"I remember watching Michael winning the championships, and just to get one, or two, or three, it's so hard to get," he said. "Seven is just unimaginable."