Racing Point’s Lance Stroll surprised the lot with F1 Turkish GP pole from Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Q1:

The weather conditions in first part of F1 Turkish GP at Intercity Istanbul Park continued to be treacherous to drive as driver tip-toed around the wet circuit. It was a mixed strategy with some going for full wets and some on intermediates.

There were plenty of spins with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen starting the action. There were spins/offs for Williams, Haas, AlphaTauri and Ferrari drivers as well. The session was eventually red-flagged with Renault’s Esteban Ocon leading with a 2m06.115s lap.

He headed Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in the Top 10.

The rest half was led by Antonio Giovinazzi in 11th, followed by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, Red Bull’s Verstappen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ George Russell & Nicholas Latifi.

After a brief break, the Q1 session in F1 Turkish GP resumed with 6m56s remaining on the clock. It was Albon leading the pack as Raikkonen had a half spin on his out lap. There was another moment on the flying lap for Leclerc at Turn 1.

And at the same corner, Grosjean was unfortunately beached to bring out another red flag. The session re-started with 3m30s on the clock as Verstappen ended up fastest with 1m57.485s as Albon ended up second and Raikkonen third.

An off for Hamilton put him only 14th as spins for Kvyat (2m09.070s) and Latifi (2m21.611s) ended their chance of making it in Q2, as they were 17th and 20th respectively, where Magnussen (2m08.007s) was leading the charge in 16th.

The Dane complained about drivers setting their quick lap under yellows, which will be investigated after the session. He led the Russian with Russell (2m10.017s) ending up 18th – with an engine penalty – as Grosjean (2m12.909s) was 19th still.

Q2:

The second part in F1 Turkish GP started under double-waved yellows as marshals were still recovering Latifi’s car, which prompted Raikkonen to speak about the same on the radio. Everyone were on the wet tyres but the McLaren drivers opted for the intermediate.

It didn’t work out for both Norris and Sainz as they pitted to switch on to wets. It was Verstappen in the lead with a 1m50.293s as he led Albon and Hamilton in the Top 3 but it was disaster for both the McLaren and Ferrari drivers in Q2.

Both of their drivers were knocked out with Norris (1m54.945s) 11th as he led Vettel (1m55.169s), Sainz (1m55.410s) and Leclerc (1m56.696s) in one-by-one formation, while Gasly (1m58.586s) ended up only 15th, as both the Alfa Romeo cars made it in.

Adding more misery on McLaren, the FIA stewards put Sainz and Perez under investigation for impeding in Q2 – which is to be investigated after the qualifying.

Q3:

The third part in F1 Turkish GP started in tricky conditions still with the whole field on the used wet tyres except Ocon and Perez. The Mexican went fastest to take provisional pole from Verstappen and Stroll, which forced others to take into intermediate too.

Both the Red Bull drivers along with Mercedes, Stroll and Giovinazzi changed to that but the former lost some pace, while the Racing Point duo continued their surge ahead. It was Perez leading for major part until his teammate went quickest.

Stroll set a 1m47.765s to register his first F1 pole in Turkish GP as Verstappen (1m48.055s) could only manage second in the end after getting stuck behind Raikkonen. The duo pushed Perez (1m49.321s) to third as Albon (1m50.448s) was fourth.

Ricciardo (1m51.595s) sneaked in, to end up fifth as Hamilton (1m52.560s) could only manage sixth in the end after he was also not comfortable enough on the intermediate. He had Ocon (1m52.622s) behind with Raikkonen (1m52.745s) in seventh.

The Finn was on the wet compound as was Ocon and Ricciardo. The Top 10 was rounded out by Bottas (1m53.258s) and Giovinazzi (1m57.226s), where the Finn had a spin as Stroll revealed – it wasn’t aired on TV.

UPDATE: The initial list of summons for yellow flag had Stroll and Norris, where the former was in for a single yellow while the latter was for double.

UPDATE 2: Following the investigation, the FIA stewards found that Sainz did impede Perez in Q2. As a result, the Spaniard has been handed a three-place grid drop, which drops him to 16th, promoting Leclerc, Gasly and Magnussen.

UPDATE 3: Following investigation into the incident involving Stroll, the stewards deemed no further action. At the same time, Norris was handed a 5-place grid penalty for setting his best time under double-waved yellow flag.

UPDATE 4: The FIA stewards handed a 5-place penalty to Russell for not having full control during Q1 while passing Kvyat spinning. More drivers were checked but did what was required – the drivers included Hamilton, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Stroll, Gasly, Perez and Bottas.

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