Racing Point’s Lance Stroll Secured Pole Position In Rain Affected Turkey Qualifying.
Stroll On Pole
As F1 returned to Istanbul Park for the first time since 2011, it was Canadian Lance Stroll who came out on top.
Snatching pole from the clutches of Verstappen and team-mate Pérez in the dying seconds.
Lance Pole!#TurkishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/WumsmY2cJ1
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 14, 2020
Stroll: “I can’t really put it into words right now, I’m shocked”
“It’s one of the biggest highlights of my career for sure, we dream about these moments growing up and it’s pretty special.”
“Slippery When Wet”
Throughout practice drivers suffered with extremely low grip levels due to the recently resurfaced asphalt.
Once the partially red flagged sessions got underway it was Max Verstappen who looked poised to take his first pole position of the season.
But a strategic call to equip the intermediate tyre allowed Stroll to secure the outfits first pole position since Giancarlo Fisichella in Spa 09′.
Mistanbul
A disgruntled Max Verstappen was forced to park his Red Bull into second in parc fermé.
“I am disappointed,” said Verstappen.
“When you’re first for a long time and you come out second, it is not what you want.”
Following Verstappen was the other Racing Point of Sergio Pérez who claimed third after initially taking provisional pole on the penultimate Q3 laps.
Pérez: “A great result for the team, something we were not really expecting. I definitely prefer third than second, I think tomorrow at the start that will be a good difference.”
The Mexican finished ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Alexander Albon.
Whom of which he is touted to be replacing next season in Milton Keynes.
“Fourth is good but I think with how competitive we’ve been this weekend we are most probably a bit disappointed as we could have been higher.”
The Honey Badger
Daniel Riccardo narrowly escaped the chaos of Q1 to take fifth on the grid for his Renault team.
The Australian has taken both of his podiums with Renault this year at venues which weren’t originally planned for the calendar.
“It was by far the slipperiest conditions we’ve ever experienced in Formula 1.”
“It was so unpredictable and I wasn’t getting much feedback from the track either. It’ll be an interesting race tomorrow regardless if it’s wet or dry.”
Mercedes Misfortune
While the ‘Pink Mercedes’ shined in Istanbul, it’s supplier of the works Mercedes group faltered.
As neither Lewis Hamilton nor Valtteri Bottas could break into the leading positions throughout the weekend.
With the duo ultimately settling for sixth & ninth respectively in Turkey.
Esteban Ocon in the other Renault claimed a somber seventh.
Whilst Alfa Romeo partners Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi helmed the eight & tenth positions.
Alfa Romeo put on a super Saturday, with both cars in Q3 for the first time this season! ?#TurkishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/W1BDZAaAH1
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 14, 2020
Veteran Räikkönen said post-qualifying he has only ever experienced conditions that trethurious once in his career.
“This morning,” said the Finnish native.
Snakebitten
McLaren’s bid for third in the constructors championship took a blow as both their drivers bowed out of qualifying in Q2.
Lando Norris ended eleventh while Carlos Sainz Jr. was thirteenth.
But the blow came when both were handed a five-place & three-place grid penalty respectively.
Norris’ penalty was for ignoring yellow-flags under the team’s instruction.
Whilst Sainz’s penalty was issued due to his impedance of another driver.
Similarly to McLaren, Ferrari failed to progress into Q3 as neither of it’s drivers made the cut despite their strong pace up until Q2.
Sebastian Vettel who out-qualified team-mate Charles Leclerc for the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix, finished twelfth as Leclerc took fourteenth.
Fortunately for the Scuderia, McLaren’s penalties sees them promoted to eleventh & twelfth respectively on tomorrow’s grid.
“We struggled to get tyre temperature.” said Vettel.
“It was a tricky session, so disappointing we didn’t make it through because, even though it’s slippery, we looked okay the whole weekend. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow”.
Saturday was tough for a lot of teams, with both Ferraris and McLarens knocked out in Q2 ?#TurkishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/FmBMws8iBn
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 14, 2020
The AlphaTauri’s struggled for grip immensely throughout qualifying.
Pierre Gasly could only manage fifteenth in his AT-01, with team-mate Daniil Kvyat down in seventh place.
Gasly will however move up to thirteenth on the grid once penalties are applied.
“It was a very disappointing day for us,” said the Frenchman.
“We’re usually pretty fast in the wet but today we couldn’t get the tyres to work.”
Qualifying Highlights
