Turkish GP : Stroll Pole
Stroll takes scintillating Turkish GP pole in chaotic, rain-hit qualifying
Lance Stroll produced the best lap of his career in wet and extremely challenging conditions to take a shock pole position for Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix, fending of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as world champions Mercedes struggled…
Turkish GP track : All rain and icy
A resurfaced Istanbul Park was proving tricky in dry conditions, and the challenge became even harder when the rain fell ahead of and during qualifying, with drivers struggling to find grip and keep the car pointing in the right direction.
Racing Point aces it
Racing Point didn’t look too competitive in final practice and even as they moved through the first two segments of qualifying, they looked reasonable without being stellar, but when they bolted on intermediates in Q3, the cars came alive.
Sergio Perez was the first man to set the time sheets on fire with a blistering lap on the intermediate tyres, that comfortably put him top. That inspired Red Bull to ask Verstappen to abort his lap on wets, even though the first two sectors were quickest of all, in favour of changing his full wets for intermediate tyres.
Stroll headed in too and took the intermediates and after warming up the tyres, he pulled out an incredible lap to take the first pole position of his career, becoming the first Canadian to take P1 since Jacques Villeneuve in the 1997 European Grand Prix.
Max topped all practice sessions. So disappointed with P2
Verstappen was struggling to get temperature into the intermediates as well as running close to Kimi Raikkonen, which hampered his lap time. And though he managed to improve on his final lap, he could only slot into second.
Perez dropped down to third, as he failed to improve at the death, with Alex Albon equalling his best-career start with a strong fourth to ease the pressure. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo slotted into fifth for the second consecutive race, ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Struggle for Mercedes in the wet conditions of Turkish track
Mercedes struggled throughout in the wet conditions, and never really looked like they were a threat for pole position. Hamilton’s sixth was his worst qualifying performance since Germany 2018 with team mate Valtteri Bottas ninth.
Both Alpha Romeo in Q3 for the first time in 2020
Esteban Ocon was seventh, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who gave Alfa Romeo their best qualifying performance since Brazil 2019, with team mate Antonio Giovinazzi 10th to make it two Alfa Romeos in Q3 on the occasion of Sauber’s 500th Grand Prix.
Ferrari looked good in the practice sessions. A track and condition where raw power is not needed should have been ideal for Ferrari. They however bungled up, both the cars did not make it to Q3.
Same with the McLarens, as neither Sainz nor birthday boy Lando could jump into Q3.
Turkish GP Quali Classification
