2020 Turkish Grand Prix

The 2020 Turkish Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020) was a Formula One motor race held on 15 November 2020 at Istanbul Park in Tuzla, Istanbul. It was the fourteenth round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship, and the eighth Turkish Grand Prix. The event was added to the revised 2020 calendar after other races were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 58-lap race had low-grip conditions due to a smooth new track surface and rainfall before the start. Racing Point driver Lance Stroll took the first pole position of his career and led most of the race, but finished ninth after his car was damaged. Lewis Hamilton won for the Mercedes team, having started in sixth place. Stroll's teammate Sergio Pérez finished second and Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel came third, with both Pérez and Vettel getting their first podium finishes of the season.

Going into the race only Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas remained in contention for the World Drivers' Championship, with Hamilton holding an 85-point lead. By winning the race, Hamilton claimed his seventh World Championship title, equalling the record set by Michael Schumacher. Hamilton's title also marked the seventh consecutive time that a Mercedes driver had won the World Championship.

The meeting, officially called the Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix 2020, took place over the weekend of 13–15 November at the Istanbul Park circuit, and was the fourteenth of the seventeen rounds of the 2020 Formula One World Championship. It was the eighth Turkish Grand Prix held since the inaugural running of the event during the 2005 season, and the first since the 2011 season. The race had not previously taken place in the autumn. No undercard races were held. The event was privately funded.

The 2020 season was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the originally planned Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed, prompting the sport's governing body, the FIA, to collaborate with stakeholders on drafting a new calendar. The Turkish Grand Prix was added to the schedule in late August. It was held on the same date that the cancelled Brazilian Grand Prix was previously due to take place on. Initially, it was planned that as many as 100,000 spectators could attend. However, due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, organisers announced that it would take place behind closed doors.

The venue is located in Tuzla, Istanbul, at the outskirts of the city on the Asian side of the Bosporus Strait. It was the first Grand Prix of the year to take place outside of Europe. The race took place two weeks after the previous round in Italy and a fortnight before the following round in Bahrain. While teams had driven their cargo to previous editions, the plan for the 2020 meeting was to fly it to Turkey.

A lap of the fourteen-turn circuit measures 5.338 kilometres (3.317 mi). The lap record was set in 2005 by Juan Pablo Montoya with a time of one minute and 24.770 seconds at an average of 226.693 kilometres per hour (140.860 mph). A second drag reduction system (DRS) zone was added on the straight between the final and first turns, with the goal of aiding overtaking. The detection point was established after turn thirteen. During the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix, only the DRS zone located between turns eleven and twelve was used.

The venue, which had not hosted a major racing event for several years, was renovated in the lead up to the race. Barriers and kerbs were upgraded, and the track was resurfaced. Tilke Engineers & Architects oversaw the resurfacing. The organisers of the Grand Prix hoped that it would lead to future events being scheduled for the venue, although they would not want to hold them during Ramadan. While the event was popular with competitors and television audiences, low in-person attendance and the high cost of hosting the race were responsible for its absence from the previous eight seasons.