It was another Lewis Hamilton pole position after an enthralling qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton Pole but Starts P11
A new track record saw yet another Lewis Hamilton pole position. Unfortunately for the Seven-Time World Champion, he starts in 11th place after taking a new internal combustion engine (ICE). Carlos Sainz has taken a full new power unit so starts at the back of the grid.
It wasn’t easy for the drivers, with conditions far from ideal at the start. With the track still drying, the downhill plunge of turn one had many victims. All three sessions saw multiple drivers lose the car and go wide onto the gravel.
Daniel Ricciardo Out in Q1
A tricky session for the drivers threw up some surprising results! Mainly seeing Daniel Ricciardo, who has been in good form, knocked out in Q1. He looked ok to make it into the second session, until a lap on the buzzer from Carlos Sainz pushed the Australian into the bottom five. Frustrating for Monza’s winner, given Sainz will be starting from the back of the grid.
Rain was in the air, meaning every driver wanted early banker laps in. The forecast was wrong and the track went quicker, quicker and quicker! We saw Hamilton go half a second clear to top the timesheets. His title rival Verstappen matched his pace, and was only seven thousandths behind.
Mick Schumacher pulled out an outstanding lap to pull his Haas into P14 to make it into Q2. However, Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kimi Raikkonen and Nikita Mazepin couldn’t make it out of Q1.
George Russell Error Costs Him
Q2 saw most of the top teams qualify on the medium tyres, giving them a free choice on Sunday. That will be crucial for Lewis Hamilton who will start P11 at best (unless people ahead are penalised).
George Russell looked set to make it into Q3 after a top lap. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to finish. He approached the last corner with the top-ten-shootout in his sights, but an error saw him wide in the final corner, he’ll have to settle for P13.
With a full new power unit, Carlos Sainz will start from the back. He opted against setting a time in Q2, but went out on track. This turned into a brilliant piece of timing for Ferrari. He was able to give teammate Charles Leclerc a tow to help him into the top-ten-shootout.
Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon, George Russell, Mick Schumacher and Carlos Sainz were the drivers out in Q2.
Lewis Hamilton Pole – New Track Record
After the first runs in Q3, Valtteri Bottas lead the way from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. An interesting move followed, with the other nine drivers in the pits, Hamilton decided to go out on his own to try and find the 0.022 seconds he was behind Bottas. Three purples for the current World Champion saw him go two tenths up on his teammate. Hamilton’s 1.22.868 lap was a new track record!
Lewis Hamilton’s track record was enough to see him top the timesheet. An impressive session from Hamilton saw him complete a 1-2 for Mercedes on time. However, that engine penalty for Lewis Hamilton sees him drop to 11th for tomorrow’s race. (Unless someone else takes engine penalties overnight).
Valtteri Bottas, who had a Turkish Grand Prix to forget last season, will be much happier this weekend. He starts from pole after Hamilton’s penalty, a good omen for the Finn – the last eight races at Istanbul Park have been won by the pole sitter on five occasions.
Max Verstappen finished third in the session, but is promoted to the front row behind the Silver Arrow of Bottas.
Lando Norris was unable to bounce back from his Sochi heartbreak like he would have wanted. The young Brit could only follow up his maiden pole with P8.
Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso will give us a top five in the race all from five different teams!
Reaction to Lewis Hamilton Pole
After dialling into the circuit perfectly, Lewis Hamilton reacted: “The track is absolutely awesome. The team did a really great job getting us out at the right time. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow [after 10-place grid penalty] and hopefully give the fans an exciting race.”
His teammate wasn’t too far behind in the end, and was satisfied with his work: “Yeah it was a good quali. Not easy conditions, especially Q1 it was a bit on the edge with the damp parts. Lewis with his penalty, that’s the minimum penalty he can have, I’m on pole, so that should be good.”
Max Verstappen wasn’t overly confident with the car’s chances in qualifying, but is ready to fight for the race win: “Conditions were tricky but overall the laps were quite good. We didn’t have enough to fight for pole but I’m pretty happy. Let’s see how the weather is tomorrow and how competitive we can be.”
Full Classification:
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION ⏱️@LewisHamilton quickest in qualifying 🚀
But @ValtteriBottas will start from pole in Istanbul due to his teammate's grid penalty 🚦#TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/YaMFkU9Lhs
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 9, 2021
It’s sure to be an exciting race tomorrow! Can Bottas hold Verstappen up? Where can Lewis Hamilton finish? Let us know below.
Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
