In what was expected to be a wet qualifying session, that never was, Lewis Hamilton controlled the day by setting the fastest time in all three of the sessions, with his lap of 1:22.868s proving to be the best of the day.
However, his ten-place grid drop for his fourth Internal Combustion Unit, ICE, means the fastest driver of the weekend will start in 11th, promoting Valtteri Bottas onto pole position. Bottas has trailed Hamilton throughout the weekend yet his lap was just 0.130s from his teammate.
Mercedes have certainly have the upper hand this weekend, with a reasonable advantage that has rarely been seen this season. With Hamilton having to cut through the field, which he is expected to do, Bottas will have to fend off Max Verstappen at lights out.
Verstappen and Red Bull have struggled in Turkey when it comes to the balance of their car, but the Dutchman managed to secure third place, 0.328s away from Hamilton’s time. Of course, this promotes him onto the front row of the grid, but he remains doubtful of being able to challenge Mercedes on race day. Despite being out front, Verstappen is wary of being on the dirty side of the grid – and rightly so.
With wet patches on track after overnight rain, being on the dirty side will be a worry for the drivers starting there – something that Charles Leclerc would want to take advantage off.
Ferrari have shown promising pace throughout the weekend, and Leclerc managed to back that up by securing the third place slot on the starting grid. The Ferrari man saw his late lap just 0.059s away from Verstappen. Pierre Gasly’s form did not look like stopping, as the Frenchman secured his 12th top six start of the season by securing a starting place of fourth, within half a second from the fastest time.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso made it six different constructors in the top six grid positions. The Spaniard was unable to get on terms with the five in front, but still managed to gap Sergio Perez’s Red Bull by over two tenths of a second.
Speaking of, this was a weekend where Perez had to show his traits for Red Bull, and despite looking more comfortable with the RB16B then Verstappen, the Mexican finds himself starting in sixth, eight tenths of a second down. With his start of the race already compromised, Red Bull will be hoping that their driver can disrupt the Mercedes of Hamilton when they find each other to track, or at least do a better job then Bottas did in Russia.
Lando Norris had a quiet qualifying, yet was the sole McLaren through to Q3 with seventh on the grid – a full second away from the front. The team seem to have lost ground to their rivals, Ferrari, after the Italian team’s recent engine upgrade. Leclerc has definitely had the upper hand on Norris throughout the weekend.
Like Norris, Lance Stroll was the only driver for his team – Aston Martin – that progressed through to the final qualifying session, but could not get further then eighth. The Canadian scraped through to Q3 by the skin of his teeth after seeing his final run in Q2 scrapped after running off at the opening corner.
All drivers inside the top eight will begin the race, if it is to be dry, on the medium tyres.
For the first time since Austria, Yuki Tsunoda made it through to the final session by securing ninth on the grid. Tsunoda’s performance was not only needed for himself, but means that there are four Honda powered cars within the top ten. He is the only runner in the top nine spots to start on the soft tyres.
Schumacher runs, as Ricciardo trips
Mick Schumacher certainly threw his name in the cap for lap of the day, after securing a spot in Q2 and managing to set a time that was sufficient for 14th on the grid, less then a second from the final session. Not bad going for Haas. The German saw his final run aborted as soon as it started after Stroll’s adventure at turn one brought out the yellow flags. One happy rookie.
Sebastian Vettel was unable to match his teammate, Stroll, in the tricky conditions that saw lap times fall as the drivers ticked on in Q2. Vettel narrowly missed out on a Q3 spot by placing 11th, but will be the final driver promoted from Hamilton’s penalty.
As Vettel tried and failed, Esteban Ocon tried to progress on the medium tyres but, also failed and will line up in 12th. One place ahead of George Russell who was left to rue his missed chances. Russell had a Q3 slot in his hands approaching the final corner, but a snap of oversteer saw the Williams driver slide off track. Unsurprisingly, he was kicking himself as the 13th position has his name on it.
Grid penalties have become rather popular recently, as Carlos Sainz will start the race from the back of the grid after exceeding his allowance on power units. Sainz progressed from Q1, but settled for 15th – which turns into 20th. Sadly for him, this has been a weekend in which his team is enjoying. Yet, Leclerc has shown why Sainz needed to take this penalty in order to get his hands on the new engine.
On the positive side, this promotes Daniel Ricciardo. On the negative side, the Australian will line up in 15th. Q1 saw lap times continuously improve as the track conditions improved, but Ricciardo and McLaren timed their runs wrong. With the conditions obviously at it’s best at the end of the session, Ricciardo was unable to set a last lap, having done so already the lap before. This left his name falling down the order until he was eliminated.
At one point, Nicholas Latifi had his name in seventh as Williams were on course for a double Q2 appearance. It did not last much longer though, with Latifi slipping down to 17th – comfortably ahead of both Alfa Romeo’s who were….bad.
Antonio Giovinazzi outqualified Kimi Raikkonen, but both drivers found themselves a mile away from the pace as Giovinazzi trailed Ricciardo’s time by six tenths, with Raikkonen a further second back.
Nikita Mazepin fills his place on the last row of the grid, with the Russian also a long way away. Being nine tenths away from the car in front is not a good look, but that image becomes worse when he trailx his teammate, Schumacher, by 2.9s in the opening session.
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