Lance Stroll conquered the conditions to claim his first Formula 1 pole position in a crazy qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix.
As expected the rain combined with an already slippery track surface made the session a complete lottery at Istanbul Park, with lap times fluctuating massively throughout.
Max Verstappen though was in a class of his own during Q2 and into Q3, only for a change to intermediate tyres by Racing Point to turn it all on its head once again.
As for Mercedes, their 100% pole record in 2020 is firmly gone after a very subdued day for the reigning world champions.
Q1
A drying track saw a mix of tyres as Verstappen and Leclerc went for the intermediates, while the majority, including Mercedes, chose the full wets.
And the latter which was the right call as times improved with each flying lap, with Ocon leading Bottas, Stroll and Hamilton.
More rain would make the track undrivable resulting in a red flag, with Verstappen and Leclerc 15th and 16th.
The weather improved enough for the drivers to head back out, but it wouldn’t be for long as Romain Grosjean went off into the gravel at Turn 1.
With just 3m30s on the clock, the session resumed again and grip levels improved substantially with Verstappen going fastest by over eight seconds initially.
As each car improved, Mercedes suddenly appeared at risk at the back of the queue but Bottas improved to ninth and Hamilton just survived in 14th.
In the drop zone there was actually few surprises with both Haas’ and both Williams’ joined by Daniil Kvyat in 16th.
Kevin Magnussen was 15th and George Russell 17th. Grosjean was 19th and Nicholas Latifi 20th, as the Canadian ended his session in the gravel at Turn 8.
The fallout is likely to continue though, with the stewards set to investigate those who improved despite passing through yellow flag zones.
Q2
Improving conditions saw lap times continue to drop in Q2, with Red Bull and Racing Point gaining seconds with each tour of Istanbul Park.
Verstappen though was in a different league, finishing two seconds clear of Albon with Hamilton third, a further half-second behind.
In the battle to make Q3, Alfa Romeo shined with both cars in the top 10, while Ferrari appeared to hit a ceiling with their car as Sebastian Vettel was 12th and Charles Leclerc 14th.
McLaren also struggled with Lando Norris just missing out in 11th and Carlos Sainz 13th. Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 15 for AlphaTauri.
Q3
Verstappen goes four seconds faster than any other full wet runner on his first flying lap, but the game was soon changed by Racing Point as Perez went fastest on intermediates with Stroll in third.
That triggered Verstappen and many others to switch to the shallower grooved tyre, but they struggled to find the performance of the Silverstone-based team.
In the final minutes, the grip improved again as Perez improved on his initial best, but it was teammate Stroll who found the most grip to set a 1m47.765s to snatch his first career pole.
Verstappen did eventually get some heat into his intermediates and moved upto second with his final lap, pushing Perez down the third.
Alex Albon improved to fourth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. Mercedes were largely absent with Lewis Hamilton the highest placed in sixth and Bottas ninth.
Ocon and Kimi Raikkonen were between the two W11’s in eight and ninth as Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the top 10.
Full results from qualifying can be seen below:
