00:01If the rain is coming and it's right round the corner, they have to push hard because this might be
00:06the only lap they get and they're going to have to take some risks which is great.
00:12And that is Verstappen's spin.
00:14I tried to take it careful but it's still no good.
00:18Here's Lewis through turn five. I think the problem is that it's just cold, they just can't get the heat
00:24into the tyres even on the dry parts of the circuit.
00:28Lewis now, he has to get a lap in, well actually himself, Valtteri and Max have to get a lap
00:35in now and just probe and pray that the rain doesn't come before the end of this lap.
00:39It's spitting in the pit lane but not spitting enough to deny Lewis Hamilton going to the top.
00:44One tenth there from third back to sixth and Bottas has just put it second.
00:48If it was in Q3 then Bottas would be the man on pole if he's second on the timing charts
00:54because you don'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 throughout there, Kimi Raikkonen too, lap times deleted a
01:12plenty for both of them.
01:13Antonio Giovinazzi still very much at risk, he's 15th fastest, Tsunoda is ahead of him and Tsunoda goes sixth fastest.
01:20That's a decent lap from the young Japanese driver. Sebastian Vettel meanwhile on a personal best lap but is it
01:26going to be good enough to get himself out of that bottom five?
01:30Mick Schumacher faces the same equation as Sergio Perez goes fourth fastest and they see the chequered flag as they
01:36cross the line.
01:37Sebastian Vettel moves himself out of that bottom five and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who's now very much at risk
01:43as Mick Schumacher goes 11th fastest.
01:45The track drying out and Schumacher on it at just the right time, George Russell goes ninth fastest overall, Daniel
01:51Ricciardo 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*** up the time, nice work buddy.
02:15Ricciardo's time of a 1.25.8 wasn't enough, the track improved and the Aussie while he's heading for an
02:21early bath.
02:24Charles Leclerc now out on the track and Leclerc has looked pretty pacey.
02:29Oh, that's amazing.
02:30And as I say that he now spins, not just today but over the weekend and that has absolutely ruined
02:37what could have been a decent lap time there 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 or his engineer is at the timing screens because there'll be no chance
02:56for Lance Stroll to get another lap in.
02:58Oops.
02:59Yeah, mistake.
03:00George Russell.
03:01George 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, 14 corners and it was one too many for the perfect lap for George
03:15Russell.
03:15He's out of qualifying.
03:17Charles Leclerc is on his way to try and get into the top ten as Sebastian Vettel, former Ferrari driver,
03:22now puts his Aston Martin tenth overall.
03:25Esteban Ocon is out of the equation. Max 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.
03:55The 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, you
04:04have a clean track in front of you.
04:05There's nobody to make mistakes in front of you and yellow flags or lockups and what have you.
04:10So he's just at peace with the track right now and can feel his way around.
04:14Hamilton a tenth up on Bottas, so 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.
04:26You can see Valtteri Bottas in the background, one pole position for him so far this season.
04:31Make that a provisional pole and a chance of a second now, a 1.23-0 for Valtteri Bottas.
04:37Gasly through the middle sector at 29-5, which is a couple of tenths outside.
04:41Valtteri Bottas is currently on provisional pole.
04:45Leclerc and Tsunoda are third and fourth.
04:46Gasly 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' 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.
05:09A 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.
05:28Where's that put him?
05:29Still third, Max Verstappen. He's going to start behind one of the Mercedes
05:34because Valtteri Bottas is ahead of him, but 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.
05:51Lewis Hamilton will have to take that engine penalty.
05:53I'll keep reminding you because it's important.
05:56Lance Stroll goes ninth fastest overall.
05:58Pierre Gasly stayed fourth fastest, had a bad final sector.
06:02Could have made a 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,
06:13he'll go back ten places for the Sunday's grid.
06:16Charles Leclerc pops his Ferrari up into fourth.
06:19That'll be a net P3 on the grid.
06:22It'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 six 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.
06:38Valtteri Bottas for the first time since Portugal.
06:41He's on pole and he's got a job to do tomorrow.
06:43In the first hole.
06:43No park.
06:44Yeah!
06:47In the third hole.
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