Lance Stroll made the best hair of his career in wet and extremely challenging conditions to take a shocking pole position for Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix to save world champion Mercedes from struggling Red Bull’s Max Verstapen.
A revitalized Istanbul park was proving difficult in arid conditions, and as the rain fell ahead and during qualifying the challenge became more severe, with drivers struggling to find a grip and steer the car in the right direction.
The racing point didn’t seem very competitive in final practice and as they advanced to the first two parts of the qualifying, they seemed reasonable without being stellar, but when they bolted the intermediaries in Q3, the car came alive.
Sergio Perez was the first man to set fire to the timesheet with a spotted rug on the central tire, putting it comfortably on top. It prompted the Red Bull to ask Verstapen to drop its hold on the Vets, however, all were quick in the first two areas, in favor of changing its full Vets for intermediate tires.
Stroll also stepped forward and took intermediaries and after warming up the tires, he opened the incredible opening to take the first pole of his career, becoming the first Canadian to take a P1 from Jack Villanueva at the 1997 European Grand Prix.
|
. Lance Stroll STR Racing points |
1: 47.765 |
|
2 Max Worstapen VER Red Bull Racing |
1: 48,055 |
|
3 Sergio Perez To Racing points |
1: 49,321 |
|
4 Alexander Alban ALB Red Bull Racing |
1: 50.448 |
|
5 Daniel Ricardo RIC Reno |
1: 51.595 |
Worstapen was struggling to get a temperature in the middle as well as running close to Kimi Raikkonen, which hampered his lap time. And although he managed to improve in his final lap, he could only stay in the second.
Perez went down to third, as he failed to improve at the time of his death, while Alex Alb started with the best fours of his career to ease the pressure. Renault’s Daniel Ricardo finished fifth in the race for the second time in a row, ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes eventually struggled in wet conditions, and never seemed to be in danger of pole conditions. Hamilton had the sixth-worst qualifying performance since Germany teammate Valteri Botas was ranked ninth since 2018.
Esteban O’Connor was seventh, ahead of Kimi Rકikkn, who gave Alfa Romeo his best qualifying performance since Brazil 2019, with teammate Antonio Giovinazzi making it to the 10th and Safa Bar’s 500th Grand Prix in Q3 with two Alfa Romeos.
2020 Turkish Grand Prix qualifying red flag salute in treacherous situations
Q1 – Worstapen overcomes difficult situations, as Grozian is caught out
The overnight rain returned during final practice and then extended to qualify, meaning there were combinations of moderate and wet rubber choices as the car drove forward for an hour-long shoot-out.
The conditions were treacherous, the slippery track surface also became difficult due to continuous rain, the drivers really fought with the wheel to keep the car inside the white line and to draw attention in the right way.
Esteban O’Connor set the starting pace in Renault, dropping the entire area by seven seconds, but as the rain intensified, many drivers suffered spins, including the Alfatouri pair of Pierre Gasley and Daniel Quitt.
Seven minutes to go, and as the situation worsened, FIA F1 race director Michael Auntie threw a red flag to stop the session. At the time Charles Lakelake and Pierre Gasley were in the drop zone with Worstapen on the bubble. Forty minutes later, the rain stopped and the track was still wet but with the water standing for a while, the action resumed.
Within a few hundred meters, Kimi Ryakkon had a charming moment, before catching him and moving on – but Roman Grozian was not so lucky, the Haas driver lost the car at turn 1 and he came out of the red sitting on the gravel. Flag.
Which increased the pressure in and around the drop zone, when the action resumed it was only three minutes 30 seconds on the clock – and it only took two minutes to turn to that position.
Leclerc and Gasley pulled themselves out of the drop zone as Worstapen advanced quickly, conditions improved all the time, Hamilton failed to improve on his final run after a good wide at turn 1, but passed in the 14th, dropping one or two places from the top. Zone.
Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Cavat, George Russell, Grossian and Nicholas Latifi failed to cut the double yellow flag in the final minutes. Steward said he would check all lap times scheduled under the yellow flag after the session.
Knocked out: Magnusen, Kevya, Russell, Grozian, Latifi
Clock: Grossgen beaches his smile at Q1
Q2 – Worstapen on a song that McLaren and Ferrari missed
McLaren was bold for the start of the Q2, sending both Normis and Signs to intermediate tires, leaving the rest of the field in favor of wet-weather rubber – but it soon became clear that this was the wrong decision and they hit the box a few moments later. Take the Vets.
Next, Worstapen focused on ease in difficult situations, the Red Bull driver was comfortably clear at the top, teammate Alban was in second place, albeit two seconds after the pace.
As the season entered its final four minutes, time was running out as the dryer line began to appear, Mercedes would eventually show some momentum, with Botas and Hamilton in second and third place. Stunning fifth with Alfa Romeo Antonio Giovinazzi and excellent with Kimi Rકikkનnen P8.
For Ferrari and McLaren, mind, it wasn’t so good, as they weren’t driving in the queue, as they struggled to get wet tires to produce enough tire temperature, five seconds from speed, Alfatouri also losing their final car. Signs were also called to confess to bringing irregularities to the racing point Perez.
Knockouts: Norris, Vettel, Sains, Leclerc, Gasley
VAT: The lacquerler skillfully jumped out of the gravel in Q1
Q3 – Like the Mercedes Clash, the racing points make the field spectacular
O’Connor and Perez became bold with the midfielder early in the final session, and at first it seemed like the wrong move as O’Connor struggled to turn the tire.
But then Perez crossed the line and went all fast – and even though the car got lost on the next time lap, it all came together, the next time it would move three seconds clearer, faster in the surrounding area.
At the time, it looked like the Mexican had a stunning first career for the F1 pole position, although his teammate Stroll had other ideas.
The Canadian, who has raced hard for skull results, kept his focus and took his first pole by keeping up with three business sectors, becoming the fifth youngest person to do so, aged 22 years and 17 days.
Walk on the pole! Lance Stroll takes the shock P1 for the Turkish Grand Prix
Racing Point also now has his first pole under this banner, he had four races before becoming Aston Martin, and in 2009 when the Belgian Grand Prix was run as Team Force India, Giaccarlo Fisichela won the P.I.
Key price
“I can’t really put it into words right now,” Lance Stroll said. “I’m shocked, I don’t expect to come here after FP3. There were a lot of things that we weren’t sure we qualified for and we don’t look competitive in P3 but I’m glad. Right now. I’ll really dig it out there together at the end. Put there. “
What’s next
The Turkish Grand Prix kicks off at 1310 local time, which is 1010 UTC. Stroll will try to hold the Red Bull and Mercedes behind for his first Grand Prix win while Lewis Hamilton will focus on securing his seventh world title ahead of teammate Valetri Botas of the Mercedes team.
