00:01If the rain is coming and it's right round the corner they have to push hard
00:05because this might be the only lap they get and they're gonna have to take some
00:10risks which is great. And that is Verstappen's spin. I tried to take it
00:16careful but it's still no good. Here's Lewis through turn five oh it's I think the
00:22problem is that it's just cold they just can't get the heat into the tires even
00:25on the dry parts of the circuit. Lewis now he has to get a lap in well actually
00:32himself Valtteri and Max have to get a lap in now and just probe and pray that the
00:37rain doesn't come before the end of this lap. It's spitting in the pit lane but not
00:41spitting enough to deny Lewis Hamilton going to the top. One tenth there from
00:45third back to back to sixth and Bottas has just put it second. If it was in Q3 then
00:51Bottas would be the man on pole if he's second on the timing charts because you
00:54don't get polled unless you start right at the front of the race itself.
00:58Verstappen meanwhile 1.26.6 after that early spin. Problem solved for Max Verstappen.
01:05Nikita Mazepin definitely out of qualifying. He's had so many struggles
01:09throughout there. Kimi Raikkonen too. Lap times deleted a plenty for both of them.
01:13Antonio Giovinazzi still very much at risk. He's 15th fastest. Tsunoda is ahead of him
01:18and Tsunoda goes sixth fastest and that's a decent lap from the young Japanese driver.
01:23Sebastian Vettel meanwhile on a personal best lap but is it going to be good enough
01:27to get himself out of that bottom five? Mick Schumacher faces the same equation as
01:32Sergio Perez goes fourth fastest and they see the chequered flag as they cross the line.
01:37Sebastian Vettel moves himself out of that bottom five and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo
01:42is now very much at risk as Mick Schumacher goes 11th fastest. The track drying out
01:46and Schumacher on it at just the right time. George Russell goes ninth fastest overall.
01:51Daniel Ricciardo living very very much on the limit here is currently on the cusp.
01:57Carlos Sainz is in the bottom five. He's going to start at the back of the grid come what may
02:02but he can push Daniel Ricciardo into the bottom five and sadly for Daniel Ricciardo he has done just that.
02:09We are through Mick. We're through.
02:11Yes!
02:12We need to f*** out the time. Nice work buddy.
02:15Ricciardo's time of a 1.25.8 wasn't enough. The track improved and the Aussie was heading for an early
02:22bath.
02:24Charles Leclerc now out on the track and Leclerc has looked pretty pacey and as I say that he now
02:32spins.
02:32Not just today but over the weekend and that has absolutely ruined what could have been a decent lap time
02:39there for Charles Leclerc.
02:42That is the sight of Lance Stroll into turn one. Going wide, going off the track, ruining his lap and
02:50now he's going to be looking anxiously
02:53or his engineer is at the timing screens because there'll be no chance for Lance Stroll to get another lap
02:57in.
02:58Oops. Yeah, mistake.
03:00George Russell who was third on the grid in Sochi last time out makes his way around the final corner
03:06and just like Charles Leclerc.
03:08Oh dear, here at Istanbul Park. Fourteen corners and it was one too many for the perfect lap for George
03:15Russell.
03:16He's out of qualifying. Charles Leclerc is on his way to try and get into the top ten as Sebastian
03:21Vettel, former Ferrari driver,
03:23now puts his Aston Martin tenth overall. Leicester Van Ocon is out of the equation.
03:28Max Verstappen goes second fastest, improves on his previous best time.
03:33Valtteri Bottas now goes second fastest as he crosses the line.
03:36Charles Leclerc puts himself into the top ten, pushes Sebastian Vettel out of it and Lance Stroll looks like he
03:44has survived despite that off.
03:47It was just the final corner that called him out. George Russell could have been in the top ten.
03:56The two Mercedes seem to be out there on their own.
03:59Yeah, they do. And, you know, if it was Lewis's choice, sometimes you just want to be out there.
04:04You have a clean track in front of you. There's nobody to make mistakes in front of you and yellow
04:08flags or lockups and what have you.
04:10So he's just at peace with the track right now and can feel his way around.
04:15Hamilton a tenth up on Bottas through the middle part of this lap.
04:19So still a couple of tenths in arrears as he makes his exit from the final corner.
04:23And here's the time they've all got to chase a 1.23-0. You can see Valtteri Bottas in the
04:28background.
04:29One pole position for him so far this season. Make that a provisional pole and a chance of a second
04:34now.
04:341.23-0 for Valtteri Bottas. Gasly through the middle sector at 29.5, which is a couple of tenths
04:41outside Valtteri Bottas, who's currently on provisional pole.
04:45Leclerc and Tsunoda are third and fourth. Gasly crosses the line and goes third fastest, half a second down.
04:51And can Max Verstappen make up some time on this lap?
04:54It's interesting to see Lewis's first sector wasn't very quick, but second and third extremely quick and both purple.
05:00So maybe he's trying different things right now and not pushing the tyre too hard in the first sector.
05:06I'm sure he'll be told on the radio of what Valtteri did.
05:10A little bit of a moment for Max there. It would have cost him a tenth, I would say, on
05:14the corner exit there.
05:15It's a short drag to the finish line, but would have lost him a little bit of time.
05:19Beautifully through there. Hits the apex on the right-hand side.
05:23And now it's this left corner, last corner, runs a tiny bit wide.
05:26It means he can get the car straight, though. Doesn't have the snap of oversteer. Where's that put him?
05:29Still third, Max Verstappen. He's going to start behind one of the Mercedes, because Valtteri Bottas is ahead of him,
05:36but also increasing his pace.
05:38But whilst Bottas does that, Hamilton's gone purple for the first sector on his latest lap.
05:43Fernando Alonso, fifth fastest for him, as Valtteri Bottas takes the chequered flag and stays second.
05:49But that'll be good enough for pole position. Lewis Hamilton will have to take that engine penalty.
05:53I'll keep reminding you because it's important. Lance Stroll goes ninth fastest overall.
05:58Pierre Gasly stayed fourth fastest, had a bad final sector, could have made further inroads up the grid.
06:04As Hamilton crosses the line, he wins out in qualifying.
06:08But with a new internal combustion engine for the Turkish Grand Prix, he'll go back ten places for the Sunday's
06:16grid.
06:16Charles Leclerc pops his Ferrari up into fourth. That'll be a net P3 on the grid.
06:21It's Valtteri Bottas that will start on pole with Max Verstappen alongside him on the front row.
06:27Still no pole position at Istanbul Park for Lewis Hamilton, who won from sixth on the grid last year.
06:33He's going to try and do it from 11th on the grid in 2021.
06:36But welcome back to the pole spot. Valtteri Bottas, for the first time since Portugal, he's on pole and he's
06:42got a job to do tomorrow.
06:43All right.
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