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Lance Stroll claimed pole position at the Racing Point Turkish Grand Prix, the first in Formula One. Stroll overcame the dangerous and wet conditions and his team carried out a good tire strategy at the Istanbul Park Circuit to clinch the first Market Stall. Max Verstappen was second for Red Bull, with Stroll’s teammate Sergio Perez third. Lewis Hamilton, trying to secure his seventh title here, was sixth, but crucially against his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was ninth. Alexander Albon’s Red Bull came in fourth and Daniel Ricciardo’s Renault in fifth.
In the final races of Q3, on a track that was still wet but drying out, the drivers came out on completely wet tires and continued to spin as the water cleared and the times dropped. Verstappen had shown a real advantage throughout, seconds ahead of his rivals in the early stages, and held the lead early in the final laps. However, Racing Point took the risk of putting their drivers on intermediate tires, which were difficult at first, but soon turned out good.
With visibility still difficult from the spray, these were test conditions and very tense as the clock ticked forward and Perez threw the glove with the fastest lap in interest. Following his lead, the other teams changed too, but the two Racing Point drivers had the extra hot laps on their tires and it was crucial.
Pérez seemed to be at the top but it was the Canadian, in his fourth season in F1, who put it together perfectly on the last lap. He finished with a time of 1min 47.765sec, almost three tenths above Verstappen.
Mercedes, which lost its 100% pole record for the season, could not master the lack of grip and had not challenged for the top spots during qualifying, but Hamilton is still in all positions to close out his seventh world championship and equal Michael Schumacher’s record. . Having already broken Schumacher’s pole and win record, he will ensure that he is the most successful driver in the history of the sport.
Hamilton leads Bottas by 85 points and if he is 78 ahead after this round, the title is assured. A victory would seal him, as would any final position against the Finn. Bottas must finish eight points clear of Hamilton to extend the title fight to another round.
This has not been an easy weekend for either team. The great anticipation upon returning to Istanbul Park, which has not hosted a race since 2011, turned to disappointment when the track suffered a lack of grip. The circuit was re-paved just two weeks ago and the new asphalt is proving to be very slippery. Tires do not reach their operating temperature window and many drivers have noted how treacherous the subsequent lack of grip is proving.
Hamilton described it as “terrifying” to drive on Friday. Lap times in practice were three seconds lower than in 2011, while the increased pace and downforce on these cars should have seen them go much faster. Verstappen led both sessions on Friday, and Red Bull coped better with the conditions. Saturday morning rain only exacerbated the problem on a track that had very little rubber, and the drivers did few laps, but once again Verstappen was up, with Hamilton doing just three laps and Bottas four.
The cars started to clear the water during Q2 as the times started to drop lap by lap. However, the two Mercedes drivers were still not occupying the top of the timesheets, which Verstappen and Red Bull were leading.
The rain had stopped when the session started, but the track was already soaked and the low temperatures were also compounding the lack of grip, making conditions exceptionally difficult. A tough challenge was made even more difficult when the rain returned, causing the session to come to a halt eight minutes into Q1.
The rain cleared as did the skies to some extent and the session resumed 45 minutes later, only to be stopped again when Romain Grosjean ran aground his Haas in a gravel trap.
Renault’s Esteban Ocon was seventh and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi in eighth and tenth.
Lando Norris was in eleventh place for McLaren and his teammate Carlos Sainz in thirteenth. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc were 12th and 14th for Ferrari and Pierre Gasly 15th for AlphaTauri.
Kevin Magnussen’s Haas started in 16th, with teammate Grosjean in 19th. Daniil Kvyat was 17th for AlphaTauri, with George Russell and Nicholas Latifi 18th and 20th for Williams.
