Turkish GP: Bottas gets pole as fastest driver Hamilton takes grid penalty
Oct 09, 2021
Istanbul [Turkey], October 9 : Lewis Hamilton went fastest in qualifying for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix but will take a 10-place grid penalty for his Mercedes engine change, meaning P2 qualifier Valtteri Bottas will start on pole position on Sunday ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The 100 per cent risk of rain predicted ahead of the session manifested in the form of light drizzle in Q1 but the clouds soon dissipated and the track matured to see Lewis Hamilton take the top spot in that session, just 0.007s ahead of Max Verstappen. Q2 saw Hamilton repeat the feat, and he delivered again in the final session with an ultimate effort of 1m22.868s - a new lap record at Istanbul Park.
Bottas was 0.130s off in P2, which will be pole when Hamilton's engine penalty demotes him to P11 - while Verstappen was 0.328s off top spot in third.
That left Charles Leclerc fourth on the grid for Ferrari ahead of Pierre Gasly, the AlphaTauri driver within half a second of pole.
Fernando Alonso out-qualified Red Bull's Sergio Perez, and the Alpine driver will have a tough task to keep not only the P7 qualifier behind him but also Lando Norris of McLaren (P8) away too.
Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.
Mick Schumacher made it to Q2 for Haas for only the second time. He qualified a career-best 14th behind Williams' George Russell, whose Q3 hopes were dashed with a late off at the final corner in Q2. McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo was a shock elimination from Q1 in P16 having set his fastest lap before the track rubbered insufficiently.
Qualifying 15th was Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, but penalties for his new engine mean the Spaniard will start last alongside Nikita Mazepin of Haas.
