2021 Turkish Grand Prix Qualifying Report & Highlights: Bottas claims pole for Turkish GP as fastest driver Hamilton takes grid penalty

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in qualifying for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, but will suffer a 10 grid-place penalty for his Mercedes engine change, meaning P2 qualifier Valtteri Bottas will start from pole position on Sunday ahead Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

The 100% risk of rain predicted before the session manifested as a light drizzle in Q1, but the clouds quickly dissipated and the track matured to see Lewis Hamilton taking first place on this session, only 0.007 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. The Q2 saw Hamilton repeat the feat, and he delivered again in the last session with a final effort of 1m22.868s – a new track record at Istanbul Park.

AS IT HAPPENED: Relive all the action of qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul

Bottas was 0.130s behind P2, which will be on pole when Hamilton’s engine penalty downshifts him to 11th – while Verstappen was 0.328s from first place in third.

This left Charles Leclerc fourth on the grid for Ferrari ahead of Pierre Gasly, the AlphaTauri driver half a second off pole.

Fernando Alonso overqualified Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, and the Alpine driver will have the difficult task of keeping not only the P7 qualifier behind him, but McLaren’s Lando Norris (P8) as well.

Lance Stroll from Aston Martin and Yuki Tsunoda from AlphaTauri round out the top 10.

Mick Schumacher only reached Q2 for Haas for the second time. He qualified 14th, his career best, behind George Russell of Williams, whose Q3 hopes were dashed by a delay at the last corner of Q2. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo took the shock off Q1 in P16 after completing his fastest lap before the track was sufficiently rubberized.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz qualified 15th, but penalties for his new engine mean the Spaniard will start last alongside Nikita Mazepin of Haas.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Hamilton finishes just 0.007 seconds ahead of Verstappen, Ricciardo suffers a shock

Light drizzle in the air, the pilots struggled for traction at the start of Q1, with Max Verstappen’s first spin serving as proof as Lewis Hamilton’s first flight effort was ruined as he struggled to stay on the right path. The Briton was understandably impatient for pole position, a penalty of 10 grid places for his new Mercedes engine only adding to that desire.

The rain quickly subsided and the championship rivals traded blows for the fastest time. It was Hamilton who came out of Q1 in P1, his time of 1m 24.585s giving him 0.007s ahead of Verstappen – while Pierre Gasly took third place for AlphaTauri ahead of fourth Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, levels grip increasing rapidly.

Sergio Perez (Red Bull) completed the top five ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in P6, McLaren’s Russian poleman Lando Norris in seventh and Fernando Alonso in eighth for Alpine. Despite an imminent grid return penalty for Carlos Sainz thanks to his new Ferrari engine, he emerged for qualifying and spun to ruin his first flying effort, before moving up to 9th place.

Yuki Tsunoda traded his ends out of Turn 1 to compromise his chances of making Q2, but finished 10th with a late flying effort, finishing ahead of Williams’ George Russell in 11th and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in 12th.

Improving conditions paid off for Mick Schumacher (P14) – who reached Q2 for Haas for the second time in his career – and fellow Aston Martin Sebastian Vettel (P15), who profited while the McLaren winner at Monza Daniel Ricciardo (P16) and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (P17) was eliminated.

Behind them were the two Alfa Romeo and Nikita Mazepin of Haas, who suffered two trips off the track at Turn 1 – but it will be Sainz who starts last Sunday.

KO: Ricciardo, Latifi, Giovinazzi, Raikkonen, Mazepin

Q2 – Hamilton and Bottas are clear as Schumacher takes the lead

Ferrari’s Sainz missed this session with that penalty in mind, so 14 drivers took to the track for Q2 – which started with a lap from Perez at Turn 1. All drivers except the mediums equipped with Tsunoda, Russell and Schumacher.

And it was Hamilton who set the early pace of 1m 23.595s, despite his complaint that “it takes too long to get [tyre] time ‘on the difficult surface. He improved to 1m 23.082s to pass Bottas, second, by half a second with Verstappen third and 0.650s.

Fourth was Gasly, the AlphaTauri rider joined in Q3 by his teammate Tsunoda (P8), the rookie doing the last session for the first time since Austria. Between them there was Alonso in P5, Perez in P6 and Leclerc – whose first effort was aborted with a spin in the last corner – in seventh for Ferrari.

Stroll, ninth place, survived to move into Q3 despite a blockage at Turn 1 on his running lap, and it was Norris who completed the top 10 to leave Vettel in P11 and Ocon in P12 as the Frenchman suffered an oversteer in the turn 4 in his last lap.

Russell swapped the softs for the mids, but his last flying effort was ruined when he ran wide on the final turn, leaving him frustrated and exited in P13. Schumacher finished two tenths off P14 – his best F1 qualifying to date – after giving up his flight effort to slow down for Stroll.

KO: Vettel, Ocon, Russell, Schumacher, Sainz

Q3 – P1 for Hamilton but Bottas takes pole

The track had more to give, just like Hamilton. He clocked a first lap of 1’23’093 to finish second, just 0.022s behind first leader Bottas, but 0.2s ahead of Verstappen. Oddly enough, Hamilton went out on his own after the first few laps to complete another round which saw him move to P1 with a time of 1m 22.868s and a track record.

Hamilton would not improve, but his teammate Bottas would end up losing 0.130 seconds off his teammate for P2 and what will be pole position on Sunday. Verstappen, more than three tenths off the pace, will still start first when Hamilton’s 10-place grid penalty kicks in.

Ferrari’s Leclerc managed 4th place – his late race giving him a second row start on Sunday – ahead of AlphaTauri’s Gasly in 5th place, while Alpine’s Alonso took 6th place to ensure there was will have five different teams in the top five grid spots on Sunday.

Perez could only handle P7 for Red Bull, with Norris P8 as the best-placed McLaren – while Stroll and Tsunoda completed the top 10, swapping positions after their first rounds of Q3.

The key quote

“It was a good quali – not easy conditions – especially the Q1 was a bit at the limit with the wet parts, and still the Q3, the first corner was a little wet but also the turns 3 and 4. But some good ones turns.

“The last lap that I missed a bit in the last sector started to gain understeer, but other than that the lap was really nice, I enjoyed it and obviously as a team result like we really expected it. Lewis with his penalty now gets the minimum penalty he can, and I’m on pole so that should be good.

“I will focus on my own race tomorrow. I think that is the way to go when you start in front so I will not give up a good place” – Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes.

And after?

The Turkish Grand Prix awaits, with a lot of intrigue from top to bottom of the peloton, from the start of Sainz at the back row, the P14 charge of Schumacher and Hamilton hoping to make up for the delay of the P11 – to the starters of the front row Bottas and Verstappen at the head of the line. F1.com will have live coverage and up-to-date reaction.