The Racing Point team surprised Red Bull to pull ahead in Q3 of a chaotic and rainy qualifying session at the Turkish GP which resulted in Lance Stroll on P1. In the process, he became the first Canadian driver since former world champion Jacques Villeneuve to score P1. His teammate Sergio Perez also managed P3 while Red Bull's Max Verstappen who had led every practice session, Q1 and Q2, and came in at P2.
The Red Bull ace was looking good for pole till he was pipped by Stroll
Red Bull dominance started waning as the track started drying up. Verstappen who was leading the field with a massive gap on the wet tyres suddenly found himself in P2 when Sergio Perez used the intermediate tyres to go to P1 who was further usurped by Stroll on the same tyres. Verstappen just couldn't get the intermediate tyres to work as well.
This also meant, for the first time there wasn't a Mercedes on pole position or on the front grid this season. Verstappen, for once got better support from his teammate Alex Albon who managed P4 on the second Red Bull. Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault scored P5, while Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes managed on P6 in the chaotic session. Esteban Ocon in the second Renault car was on P7. Perhaps, the biggest surprise of the session was the fact that both Alfa Romeo Sauber cars in their 500th race were in the top 10.
The Mercedes team for the first time didn't manage to get pole
Kimi Raikkonen again showed why he is considered one of the best drivers on the grid despite his age by coming P8. The Fin tailed Verstappen for the majority of the session till falling behind when the track started clearing up. His team Antonio Giovinazzi managed P10, while Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas just managed P9 in the second Mercedes.
Lando Norris finished a disappointing 21st birthday finishing P11, not managing to bring the car into Q2. Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari for once managed to out-qualify his teammate Charles Leclerc by coming P11, while the upstart just managed P14. Leclerc's teammate for the 2021 season Carlos Sainz Jr split him with his current teammate at P13. Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri topped off the top 15. His teammate Daniil Kvyat just managed P17 after crashing in Q1. Kevin Magnussen in the Haas managed P16, but his teammate Romain Grosjean had a fate similar to Kvyat as also crashed in Q1 which caused a red flag. He managed P19, splitting the two Williams cars with George Russell qualifying in P18 and Nicholas Latifi qualifying last.
Qualifying results:
1 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:47.765
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.290s
3 Sergio Perez Racing Point +1.556s
4 Alex Albon Red Bull +2.683s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault +3.830s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +4.795s
7 Esteban Ocon Renault +4.857s
8 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing +4.980s
9 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +5.493s
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing +9.461s
11 Lando Norris McLaren 1:54.945
12 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:55.169
13 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:55.410
14 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:56.696
15 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:58.556
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2:08.007
17 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri 2:09.070
18 George Russell Williams 2:10.017
19 Romain Grosjean Haas 2:12.909
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams 2:21.611
