Hamilton quickest in quali but cedes pole to teammate Bottas on engine penalties; Verstappen third fastest
On an intriguing day of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix featuring rain at Intercity Istanbul Park just prior to the three knockout sessions commenced that then abated with consequent improvement to the grip levels by the time Q3 rolled around, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton unsurprisingly mastered the tricky conditions to set the day’s fastest lap. But while it was a new track record on this newly repaved circuit after last year’s spin-fest on much slicker, older tarmac, Hamilton’s triumph was rather pyrrhic because engine penalties robbed him of a start from pole and the English points leader will have to line up on the grid down in P11. That gifted the actual pole to his Silver Arrows teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who will nonetheless have it all to do tomorrow to keep Red Bull’s Max Verstappen behind him when they line up together on the front row. With Hamilton’s lead in the Driver Standings over the Dutchman a minuscule two points going into this sixteenth round after Max’s remarkable recovery drive in Sochi two weeks ago, it will be imperative for Bottas to not allow Verstappen an easy overtake at the start the race, thereby giving Hamilton time to claw his way to the front. As he showed today, Lewis certainly has the car to fight for the win if he can get back on even terms with Verstappen’s lead Red Bull, so the Mercedes brain trust have got to bring their A strategy game to pick off a few positions in the pits. But then, as we have seen several times this unpredictable season, if the weather is as changeable as it was today it could well be anyone’s race and not just the two championship contenders at that.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc saved his best for last by setting the fourth fastest time while the checkers flew in Q3, just besting the solid P5 time of AlphaTauri’s excellent pilot, Pierre Gasly. Unfortunately for the Scuderia, however, the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz will have to start from the rear after his own set of engine penalties this weekend. Savvy vet Fernando Alonso enjoyed the tricky damp-to-dry conditions and wheeled his Alpine up to the sixth fastest time when all was said and done, impressively one spot better than the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who could only manage a lackluster P7 effort. McLaren’s Lando Norris did decently to recover from his absolute heartbreaker of a race in Russia that saw him lose the lead with just two laps remaining and qualified P8. And Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s second driver Yuki Tsuanoda rounded out the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively. It was the first time the struggling Japanese rookie Tsunoda progressed into Q3 since way back in Round 8 in Austria.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Turkish GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:24.585 | 1:23.082 | 1:22.868 | |
| 2 | 1:25.047 | 1:23.579 | 1:22.998 | |
| 3 | 1:24.592 | 1:23.732 | 1:23.196 | |
| 4 | 1:24.869 | 1:24.015 | 1:23.265 | |
| 5 | 1:24.704 | 1:23.817 | 1:23.326 | |
| 6 | 1:25.174 | 1:23.914 | 1:23.477 | |
| 7 | 1:24.963 | 1:23.961 | 1:23.706 | |
| 8 | 1:25.138 | 1:24.642 | 1:23.954 | |
| 9 | 1:25.511 | 1:24.601 | 1:24.305 | |
| 10 | 1:25.409 | 1:24.054 | 1:24.368 |
Actual grid taking into account Hamilton’s penalty here.
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8 AM Eastern here in the States. With Hamilton having to fight to the front, Verstappen determined to gap Bottas early and more potential rain possible it should be another thriller in a season chock full of them. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!