Hamilton wins seventh title in style with victory in Turkey

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Lewis Hamilton wrote his name in Formula One history alongside Michael Schumacher by securing his seventh world title with victory from sixth on the grid at the Turkish Grand Prix. 

Hamilton's win was enough to secure an insurmountable points lead in the championship over teammate Valtteri Bottas with three races remaining. It also brought him level with Schumacher's record of seven world titles and was his fourth championship victory in a row since his former teammate Nico Rosberg won the title in 2016. 

"I definitely am a bit lost for words," Hamilton said after the race. "Naturally, I have to start with saying such a huge thank you to the guys here and back at the factory. The journey we have been on has been monumental.

"I also want to say a big thank you to Team LH for sticking with me all these years, and to my family. We dreamed of this when I was young, but this [seven titles] was way beyond our dreams." 

The opening 36 laps of the race were led by Racing Point's Lance Stroll, who started on pole position and showed impressive pace in wet conditions. But as the circuit started to dry, the race came to Hamilton and a decision to stay out on track on a set of well-worn intermediate tyres when others pitted saw him take the lead from Stroll's teammate Sergio Perez on lap 37 and build a large lead that he held to the finish. 

Although the race was hard to predict for the majority of the 58 laps, the championship result looked secure from the opening corner when Bottas -- Hamilton's only remaining title challenger at the start of the race -- was forced into a spin by Esteban Ocon as he battled for fourth place. Bottas then spun another two times in the opening 21 laps, dropping him to 17th from where he could only recover to 14th place having been lapped by Hamilton.

Perez took second place for Racing Point, 31 seconds behind Hamilton, after holding off a last lap challenge from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the final three corners. Leclerc's attempt to take second ended up dropping him behind teammate Sebastian Vettel, who secured his first podium of the season in third place.

Carlos Sainz took fifth for McLaren ahead of the two Red Bull's of Max Verstappen and Alex Albon. Both Red Bull drivers looked as though they had the potential to win the race when it was wet, but spins while battling the Racing Points saw them both drop down the order and they failed to recover to the podium.

Lando Norris took eighth place and the fastest lap in the second McLaren ahead of Stroll, whose chances faded when he made a late pit stop for fresh intermediates and struggled for pace. Daniel Ricciardo took the final point on offer in tenth place.