Max Verstappen has set his eyes on pole as Mercedes continue to struggle. Rain was present from the offset and worsened throughout the session. Numerous drivers lost control, but only Antonio Giovinazzi made contact with the barriers.
Unrepresentative Chaos
Lap times for most drivers were unrepresentative as weather disrupted their runs. 5 seconds separated the top 4 and the gap is expected to be much smaller come qualifying.
Red Bull again made the most of the conditions and finished 1st and 3rd. Leclerc was able to split the drivers and came 2nd for the second consecutive session, almost 1s behind. The Monegasque was lucky to escape a penalty after tagging Ocon and spinning him around.
Ocon placed himself 4th, but was 5.4s seconds off the pace. Norris followed him in 5th ahead of Vettel and Perez. Bottas languished in 8th and his Mercedes looked very unstable, even on the long straights at Istanbul Park. Magnussen followed in 9th, a position the driver will be wishing to replicate in qualifying, while Stroll rounded out the top 10, over 8s off Verstappen.
Ricciardo just managed to keep within the 10s barrier in 11th, but Sainz fell to 11s behind in 12th. Giovinazzi almost made a mess of his Alfa Romeo but was lucky to only damage his front wing end plate. The Italian would finish the session an appropriate 13th.
Gasly was the lead Alpha Tauri in 14th while Grosjean and Raikkonen followed. Kvyat took to the radio on numerous occasions to complain of the conditions, and he was the last driver to set a time, 20s behind Verstappen.
Russell, Latifi and Hamilton failed to set a time.
Perhaps the most unusual practice session F1 has held for a long time and one that has failed to provide teams with any learning opportunities. While it is not expected that the grid will be as mixed up, it appears that qualifying will be a hugely entertaining affair.
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