Stroll takes pole at Turkish GP, Hamilton 6th

A rare sight in Formula One qualifying saw record-breaking Lewis Hamilton struggle and Lance Stroll tame a treacherous track to claim his first pole position yesterday.

Not only did Hamilton miss out on a 98th career pole, the championship leader qualified only sixth at the Turkish Grand Prix as his Mercedes skidded around on a resurfaced and rain-soaked circuit not used in F1 since 2011.

“The track feels terrible, it’s just like driving on ice,” he said. “This whole weekend has been a nightmare, the grip’s so poor.”

Mercedes are so dominant that Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas took pole in the previous 13 races. This time, Bottas was ninth.

The day belonged to Stroll, a much-criticised driver because his billionaire father owns the Racing Point team and because of poor recent form.

Since clinching the second podium of his career at the Italian GP in early September, Stroll failed to finish three straight races and placed 13th in the other.

“It’s such a great way to bounce back after a few rough weeks,” said Stroll, who had the coronavirus last month. “I haven’t scored a point since my podium in Monza. It’s been a rough run, with incidents and COVID. So much has been going on.”

The Canadian driver showed his ability in the wet by placing .3 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and 1.56 ahead of Racing Point teammate Sergio Perez.

“A special moment for me,” Stroll said. “The highlight of my career.”

His jubilation was evident as he threw himself into the arms of his engineers and mechanics, then clenched his fist as he grabbed a Canadian flag with his other hand.

“I can’t really put it into words. I’m shocked,” Stroll said. “I nailed pretty much every corner and put it together.”

Verstappen looked certain to take pole after topping the first two sections of qualifying and had the leading time in Q3 when his team aborted the lap to switch him from wet tyres to intermediate tyres.

The move backfired and Verstappen was angry at the call, using an expletive over the team radio to describe the tyres.

Red Bull’s Alexander Albon finished fourth followed by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, while both Ferraris failed to make it into Q3 – Sebastian Vettel was 12th place and Charles Leclerc 14th.

Embarrassingly for Ferrari, Alfa Romeo drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi both made it into Q3 using Ferrari engines.