Hamilton fastest in qualifying, Bottas on pole for F1 Turkish GP

With a 10-place grid penalty looming over him for a change of internal combustion engine, Hamilton did all he could to ensure he will start as high up as possible on the grid for Sunday’s race in his bid to limit the damage to Verstappen. 

Hamilton leads Verstappen by just two points heading into the final seven rounds of the season and will line up from 11th on the grid. 

With Hamilton set to drop down the order, it will be Bottas who is officially credited with pole position for the second time this season after ending up just 0.130s down on Hamilton in Q3. 

The Finn will be joined on the front row by Verstappen, who was 0.328s slower than his main title rival. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc left it late to set the fourth-fastest time as he came within 0.069s of beating Verstappen, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was less than a tenth adrift in fifth. 

Fernando Alonso was impressive throughout qualifying on his way to setting the sixth-fastest time in his Alpine, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was a disappointing seventh. 

Lando Norris, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 order for McLaren, Aston Martin and AlphaTauri respectively. 

Sebastian Vettel was two-tenths short of joining his Aston Martin teammate in Q3 as he ended up 11th, ahead of Alpine driver Esteban Ocon. 

Williams’ George Russell was left to rue a wide moment coming out of the final corner for potentially costing him a place in the top 10, leaving him 13th ahead of Mick Schumacher, who was one of the stars of qualifying. 

The German rookie managed to haul his Haas out of Q1 for the first time this season with a brilliant lap in the tricky conditions on a drying track that was still damp in places and went on to take 14th. 

Schumacher could have been even higher on the grid had his second timed lap not been ruined by Stroll, who was recovering from a spin at Turn 1. 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was 15th after he opted to sit out of the session given that he will be demoted to the very back of the grid for Sunday’s race due to taking an engine penalty. 

Daniel Ricciardo was the shock elimination during a hectic Q1 as the threat of rain held off for the opening session, with the McLaren driver only able to set a time good enough for 16th. 

Behind Ricciardo was Nicholas Latifi’s Williams and the Alfa Romeo pair of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen, while Nikita Mazepin suffered two spins at Turn 1 on his way to setting the slowest time of all in his Haas. 

Full qualifying results for the 2021 F1 Turkish Grand Prix.