ISTANBUL, Turkey — Lewis Hamilton led a McLaren 1-2 at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday after a dramatic run-in between teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel denied Red Bull a sweep.
The Red Bull pair touched as Vettel looked to pass along the Istanbul Park Circuit’s fastest section, causing the German driver to spin out of the race. Webber, who had led for the entire 40 laps to that point, recovered for third behind Jenson Button as Red Bull’s pit-lane team looked on in astonishment.
The McLaren team also tensed up near the end as its drivers exchanged the lead but Hamilton eventually earned his first win of the season — and the British team’s second top-two finish this season — by 2.6 seconds after rain had sprinkled the circuit.
“It was quite an exciting race,” said Hamilton, the 2008 champion. “It was great to watch — it was like an action movie.”
Webber’s disappointment was obvious as he looked set for a third straight victory from pole.
“It can happen sometimes. We’re both at the front and it’s not ideal . . . but it happens,” Webber said. “There was a long way to go in the race so it wasn’t a guaranteed victory. It was an interesting few metres between us on the track.”
Red Bull was heading for a second straight 1-2 that would have given the Austrians a big lead in both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings. Neither driver accepted the blame, with Vettel insisting he had the right of way as he moved up the inside, and Webber believing his teammate closed too quickly.
Webber labelled it “a disaster.”
“There is no fight. This is something that happens,” Vettel said. “We do not need it but there is nothing we can do now.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was “hugely disappointed” with his two drivers, saying they both deserved part of the blame.
“They’re big boys and if you look at the McLaren drivers they gave each other room, they raced each other hard and I didn’t see two McLarens in the fence,” Horner said. “From a team point-of-view, it’s the worst possible thing you can see. We gave it to them on a plate today.”
Webber still leads the drivers’ standings with 93 points, while Button moved into second with 88 points — four more than Hamilton. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished eighth to improve to 79 points and Vettel stayed on 78. McLaren moved one point ahead of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.
The race was filled with excitement following the incident between the Red Bull drivers.
Vettel moved inside Webber as the two raced down the last straight but appeared to try to close his teammate off early. The pair touched wheels, sending Vettel sliding into the gravel as bits of his car — including his rear left tire — went flying off.
Vettel raised his hands at Webber, who returned to the track but lost ground on the McLarens after pitting to repair the damage.
“Obviously I am not very happy,” Vettel said. “I was inside focusing on the braking point, we touched and that was it.”