Formula 1: Lance Stroll almost had his first pole stripped

Lance Stroll took the first pole position of his Formula 1 career for today’s Turkish Grand Prix at Intercity Istanbul Park, but he almost had it stripped away from him.

In a chaotic and wet qualifying session on Saturday for today’s Turkish Grand Prix at Intercity Istanbul Park, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll took the first pole position of his Formula 1 career and ended a 126-race streak of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull pole positions that dated back over six years.

But his pole position start for today’s 58-lap race around the 14-turn, 3.317-mile (5.338-kilometer) road course in Tuzla, Turkey was almost stripped away from him.

Stroll, whose top lap time in the third and final round of qualifying was 107.765 seconds (110.808 miles per hour), was investigated for failing to slow sufficiently under double-waved yellows in the first round of qualifying as a result of an incident involving teammate Sergio Perez, who went on to qualify in third place.

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The situation slightly resembled last year’s Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, when polesitter Max Verstappen of Red Bull failed to slow for the double-waved yellows after Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas crashed. He was penalized, thus promoting Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to the pole position.

But Stroll was not penalized.

Ironically, who would have taken the pole position for today’s race had Stroll been penalized? Verstappen, who missed out on what would have been his first pole of the season by just 0.290 seconds (0.298 miles per hour) with a top lap time of 108.055 seconds (110.510 miles per hour) in this third and final round of qualifying.

In fact, two other drivers not named Stroll were penalized as a result of the same offense for which Stroll was investigated and cleared.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who initially qualified in 11th place, and Williams’ George Russell, who initially qualified in 18th to run his perfect teammate qualifying record to 35-0 but was set to start in 20th (last) anyway as a result of taking on new power unit elements for the weekend, were both issued five-position grid penalties after failing to slow sufficiently under double-waved yellow flags in the first round.

Norris is set to start in 16th place.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. was also issued a three-position grid penalty for impeding Perez during the first round, although he only dropped two spots, from 13th to 15th place, as a result of Norris’s penalty.

A full starting lineup is available here.

Tune in to ESPN for the live broadcast of the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix from Intercity Istanbul Park beginning at 5:10 a.m. ET this morning.