F1: Bottas Claims Turkish GP Pole Position As Hamilton Takes Grid Penalty

Valterri Bottas secured pole position in the 2021 F1 Turkish Grand Prix qualifying, despite Lewis Hamilton being the fastest during the session. The defending wworld champion took a 10-place penalty after a plonking a new power unit in his car for the weekend. As a result, Bottas who claimed P2 during the session starts on pole, ahead of Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Hamilton led the time sheets from Q1 setting the time for the day, 0.007s ahead of Verstappen. He repeated the same in Q2, before going to set a new lap record of 1m22.868s in Q3 at Istanbul Park.

Max Verstappen starts on the front row alongside Valterri Bottas for the Turkish GP

Bottas claimed P2 by a margin of 0.130s, while Verstappen starts third by a gap of 0.328s over Hamilton. However, given the penalty will see the British driver start from P11 on the grid tomorrow.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc starts fourth on the grid ahead of Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri driver, with both drivers qualifying within half a second of the pole.

Fernando Alonso qualified sixth ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez with McLaren's Lando Norris at P8. Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda round out the top 10.

Mick Schumacher made it to Q2 for Haas, the second time in his career. He qualified at 14th, behind Williams'driver George Russell. McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo starts at P16 after being disqualified at the end of Q1, and behind Carlos Sainz Jr of Ferrari. However, Sainz also takes a new engine this weekend and will start at the back of the grid with Haas' Nikita Mazepin.