Mercedes dominance, a great Leclerc and a surprise from Schumacher – that was qualifying for the Turkish GP

After the classic 3 free practice sessions, the Turkish Grand Prix got down to a battle for positions at the start of the race. Qualifying offered an interesting battle between the Mercedes drivers and Max Verstappen. There was talk of a 100% chance of rain at the start of the battle for pole position, which should have made the fight all the more interesting.

In the first part of qualifying in particular, we couldn’t have counted the reports of rain arriving on our fingers and toes combined. However, apart from a few drops, there was no rain in Istanbul and the drivers were able to compete on a de facto dry track.

The times were constantly accelerating, which is also why the last seconds belonged to high drama. And the very first part of the qualifying had two big surprises. Along with Nikita Mazepino, Kimi Räikkönen, Antonio Giovinazzi and Nicholas Latifi, McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo dropped out, which will be a very difficult job for him after two solid grand prix results.

The second surprise was provided by Mick Schumacher, who finished 14th in a very slow Haas and duly celebrated his progress to the middle part of qualifying with his race engineer. Lewis Hamilton won Q1 by 7 thousandths ahead of Max Verstappen.

Q2 offered a tactical battle with the tyres, as the top ten still start on the tyre specification they advance to from the middle part of qualifying. Mercedes began to show their strength, with a lead of over two tenths over Max Verstappen at the halfway point of the 15-minute battle for positions.

As in the first part, there was much change in the order until the end of Q2. The track was getting more and more rubbery and faster. Ferrari played a key role at the end, as the race-penalised Carlos Sainz took to the circuit and, by creating an air bag for teammate Charles Leclerc, helped the Maranello team to advance to Q3.

That left Sainz (who will start last tomorrow due to a complete unit change – ed.), Mick Schumacher, George Russell, Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel out of the last session. As in the first part of qualifying, Lewis Hamilton won, this time “giving” Valtteri Bottas almost half a second.

The final 12 minutes were very action-packed and a Mercedes win was expected. Even the Red Bulls’ cooperation could not break the dominance of the “Black Arrows”, and so Lewis Hamilton was able to enjoy the victory in qualifying. The Briton will start 11th tomorrow thanks to the replacement of an engine component, so pole position went to Valtteri Bottas.

On the second row will be Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, for whom this is a great achievement. The race starts at 14:00 tomorrow and we’ll see if Hamilton can fight his way back to the front or if Max Verstappen can take the championship lead.

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