Lance Stroll came out of nowhere to take his first pole position in a sodden session at Istanbul Park. Team-mate Sergio Perez managed 3rd while Max Verstappen split the Racing Points. Mercedes could only manage to finish mid-pack, leaving it all to play for on Sunday.
Q1
The cars tip toed around the track attempting to find any semblance of grip. Yellow flags interrupted many laps and getting out of Q1 appeared to be a hard task, even for the Q3 mainstays. However, with 7 minutes to go, the red flag was bought out as the rain became heavier.
The session resumed at 15:55 local time, after almost an hour of no running. The cars came out on full wets, but even that didn’t prevent spinning. Another red flag was called as Grosjean beached his car in the gravel at turn 1. With 3 minutes to go, there was huge pressure on the bottom 5 drivers. They would only have 1 opportunity to get out of Q1.
Verstappen was on the bubble at the restart, but jumped to 1st, clearing Ocon’s time by 8s. This led to a chaotic finish as numerous cars jumped around the standings. Both Williams and Haas cars were unable to escape elimination and Kvyat joined them as well. Hamilton was lucky to make Q2, the Briton finished the session 14th and 10s off the pace.
During his final run, Latifi beached his car and brought out double waved yellow flags. Numerous cars set their fastest times during this incident and a message was broadcast that all times would be reviewed after the session.
Eliminated:
- 16th Magnussen
- 17th Kvyat
- 18th Russell
- 19th Grosjean
- 20th Latifi
Q2
There was no delay to the start of Q2, but the FIA were lambasted on social media for starting the session while the recovery truck was still collecting Latifi’s stricken Williams.
Norris was the first driver to brave the intermediates. However, his lap time wasn’t overly impressive and was deleted for track extending. Lap times started to drop as the track improved, but the wet tyre was still the optimum choice.
Verstappen dominated the session, constantly pulling away from the pack with each flying lap.
Sainz was the first to be eliminated, not improving from 11th. He would later fall to 13th while Norris took the 11th placed slot. Gasly was next, finishing 15th on the road. Shockingly, both Ferraris were unable to climb out of the bottom 15, even though both Alfa Romeos broke into Q3 for the first time this year.
Eliminated:
- 11th Norris
- 12th Vettel
- 13th Sainz
- 14th Leclerc
- 15th Giovinazzi
Q3
The majority of cars started on the wet tyre, but were still having to make minor corrections due to the conditions. Verstappen stormed to provisional pole, 4 seconds clear of Bottas in 2nd. But, Perez came out of nowhere to steal 1st on the intermediate tyre. Mercedes and Red Bull came in immediately to bolt on the green wall tyres.
Perez further improved his time by 3 seconds while Red Bull and Mercedes could not get their tyres warmed up. Stroll launched himself into 2nd with one minute to go while the session reached fever pitch.
Stroll improved again to take pole away from his team-mate and all eyes fell toward Verstappen. The Dutchman could only manage 2nd, the first session this weekend where he hasn’t finished 1st. Perez finished a stunning 3rd, rounding out Racing Point’s best result on a Saturday. The cameras showed just how much this meant to the team with huge smiles and celebrations throughout their garage.
Hamilton and Bottas could only manage 6th and 9th respectively, by far their worst qualifying session of 2020. Meanwhile, Albon and Ricciardo quietly impressed at the lofty end of the grid and will be looking for the podium tomorrow.
Standings:
- Stroll
- Verstappen
- Perez
- Albon
- Ricciardo
- Hamilton
- Ocon
- Raikkonen
- Bottas
- Giovinazzi
Despite the Mercedes domination, the 2020 season has thrown another unpredictable result our way. Lance Stroll will be the first Canadian since Jacques Villeneuve to line up on pole and behind, Max Verstappen will be looking to capitalise on his lack of experience at the front of the grid. Mercedes have it all to do on a weekend where they have looked on the back foot in every session so far. Is it too much to hope for rain tomorrow as well?
Featured Image Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
