Formula 1: Turkey starting lineup – Lance Stroll takes shocking pole
By Asher Fair
Lance Stroll took a shocking pole position for the 14th race of the 2020 Formula 1 season, the Turkish Grand Prix at Intercity Istanbul Park.
In a wet and chaotic qualifying session, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll utilized intermediate tires to secure his first pole position of the 2020 Formula 1 season and the first pole position of his Formula 1 career for the season’s 14th race, the Turkish Grand Prix at Intercity Istanbul Park.
This race was not initially on the schedule but was added due to other cancellations caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Formula 1 has not raced at the track since 2011, when it was Sebastian Vettel, then driving for Red Bull Racing, who took the pole position and went on to win.
In seven races at the track from 2005 to 2011, the polesitter won five times, with the other front row starter winning the other two events.
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Stroll took the pole position for this Sunday’s 58-lap race around the 14-turn, 3.317-mile (5.338-kilometer) road course in Tuzla, Turkey by recording a top lap time of 107.765 seconds (110.808 miles per hour) in the third and final round of qualifying for this race.
This marks the first pole position for a team other than Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull since Felipe Massa took the pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring back in 2014 when he was driving for Williams. Between then and now, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull had combined to take 126 consecutive pole positions.
Set to start alongside Stroll on the front row for this race is Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the only driver whose top lap time was within 1.5 seconds of Stroll’s. He recorded a top lap time of 108.055 seconds (110.510 miles per hour) in this third and final round of qualifying, which was 0.290 seconds (0.298 miles per hour) off of Stroll’s pace.
The second row is also set to include one Racing Point driver and one Red Bull driver, as Sergio Perez qualified in third place for the former and Alexander Albon qualified in fourth for the latter. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified in fifth.
The top three are, once again, effectively two Mercedes-powered cars and Verstappen, but it was quite different compared to the top three which we have become accustomed to seeing in 2020, given that the factory team were nowhere to be found.
The season’s first 13 races — and 14 races in a row going back to last season — all saw a Silver Arrows driver take the pole position, but neither one of the two factory Mercedes drivers qualified in the top five for tomorrow’s race.
Lewis Hamilton, who has nine pole positions and an additional three front row starts to his name in 2020, qualified in sixth place, while Valtteri Bottas, who has four pole positions and an additional seven front row starts to his name in 2020, qualified in ninth.
Renault’s Esteban Ocon qualified in seventh place and is set to start alongside Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, who had not made it into the third and final round of qualifying all season, in eighth. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, who also had not made it into the third and final round of qualifying all season, qualified in 10th.
Eliminated after the second round of qualifying were McLaren’s Lando Norris, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. They qualified in 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th place, respectively.
Eliminated after the first round of qualifying were Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat, Williams’ George Russell, Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi. They qualified in 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th place, respectively.
Russell outqualifying Latifi makes him a perfect 35 for 35 in terms of outqualifiying his teammates to start his career. The chances of outqualifying a teammate for 35 straight races are 1 in 34359738368 (0.000000002.91038305%).
However, Russell was issued a five-position grid penalty after failing to slow sufficiently under double-waved yellow flags in the first round of qualifying. He had been slated to start from the back anyway as a result of a taking new power unit elements for the weekend and is set to start in 20th place.
Norris and Sainz were also dropped down the grid. Norris was issued a five-position grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently under double-waved yellow flags in the first round of qualifying and is set to start in 16th place.
Sainz was issued a three-position grid penalty for impeding Perez in the first round of qualifying, although he is only set to drop two positions to 15th place because of Norris’s penalty.
Here is the full unofficial starting lineup for the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix at Intercity Istanbul Park.
Starting Lineup
1st – Lance Stroll
2nd – Max Verstappen
3rd – Sergio Perez
4th – Alexander Albon
5th – Daniel Ricciardo
6th – Lewis Hamilton
7th – Esteban Ocon
8th – Kimi Raikkonen
9th – Valtteri Bottas
10th – Antonio Giovinazzi
11th – Sebastian Vettel
12th – Charles Leclerc
13th – Pierre Gasly
14th – Kevin Magnussen
15th – Carlos Sainz Jr.
16th – Lando Norris
17th – Daniil Kvyat
18th – Romain Grosjean
19th – Nicholas Latifi
20th – George Russell
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ESPN is set to broadcast the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix live from Intercity Istanbul Park beginning at 5:10 a.m. ET tomorrow morning.