Hamilton fastest in Turkish Grand Prix Qualification but Bottas inherits pole position

Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix in the sixteenth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. But Hamilton will take a 10-place grid penalty in the race for a new power unit component. Valtteri Bottas who finished in second position inherits pole position on Sunday.

Max Verstappen was in third position with a big gap of 0.328 seconds to Hamilton. Charles Leclerc finished in fourth position and will be promoted to third because of Hamilton’s penalty.

The qualifying session at the Intercity Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey took place under overcast conditions with air temperatures at 18 degree C and track temperatures at 23 degree C.

Q1: Daniel Ricciardo Eliminated

After a wet final practice session, there was a threat of rain when the session started and rain fell briefly. But the drivers managed to get through the session on the slick tyres.

The drivers struggled to keep the car on the track in the early part of the session. As the track started drying, the times tumbled at the end of the session.

Daniel Ricciardo and Nicholas Latifi who did their final runs earlier than the other drivers were knocked out.

Q1 dropzone: Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi, Kimi Räikkönen, Nikita Mazepin

Q2: Vettel and Sainz knocked out

The track was now quickly drying out and the drivers who made it into the top ten positions were on the medium compound tyres except for Yuki Tsunoda.

Carlos Sainz did not set a timed lap as he will start at the back of the grid because of penalties for a new power unit.

Mick Schumacher made it into the second qualifying session and finished in fourteenth position.

George Russell who has made a habit of getting into the top ten shootout had a big slide to go off the track and was eliminated.

Q2 dropzone: Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon, George Russell, Mick Schumacher, Carlos Sainz

Q3: Hamilton tops the session

Hamilton has been quick all weekend and he topped the session. Bottas took provisional pole position, but Hamilton with his second flying lap went to the top of the time charts.

But the 10-place gird penalty drops Hamilton to eleventh position. Bottas inherits pole position and will be joined by Verstappen on the first row.

Leclerc took fourth position with a last gasp effort and will be joined by Pierre Gasly on the second row. Fernando Alonso who has been quick all weekend finished ahead of the Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Pérez.

Lando Norris, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten positions.

Top 10: Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Pérez, Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda

2021 Turkish Grand Prix Qualification Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:24.585	1:23.082	1:22.868	28
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:25.047	1:23.579	1:22.998	27
3	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	1:24.592	1:23.732	1:23.196	25
4	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:24.869	1:24.015	1:23.265	30
5	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:24.704	1:23.817	1:23.326	24
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	1:25.174	1:23.914	1:23.477	24
7	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	1:24.963	1:23.961	1:23.706	24
8	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:25.138	1:24.642	1:23.954	25
9	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1:25.511	1:24.601	1:24.305	23
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	1:25.409	1:24.054	1:24.368	24
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	1:25.787	1:24.795		19
12	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	1:25.422	1:24.842		18
13	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	1:25.417	1:25.007		20
14	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1:25.555	1:25.200		19
15	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:25.177	DNS		13
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:25.881			10
17	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:26.086			10
18	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	1:26.430			11
19	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	1:27.525			11
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	RAF	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	1:28.449			10