Lewis Hamilton sets new track record in Turkish GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton sets new track record in Turkish GP qualifying

Lewis Hamilton set a new track record today, Saturday, October 9, during the qualifying session for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul. Unfortunately though, his record lap time of 1.22.868 did little to help his grid position, as he will start from 11th position on Sunday.

Having to make an engine change on the Mercedes, his fourth of the season – F1 rules only allow three engine changes in a season – meant the world champion was penalised and handed a ten-place grid penalty. His teammate, Finland’s Valtteri Bottas will start on pole.

Hamilton’s title rival Max Verstappen will join Bottas on the front row in his Red Bull. Charles LeClerc in the Ferrari made another excellent qualifying run to place himself in third. Another blistering drive by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, with a fastest lap of 1.23.326, saw him clinch fourth, and it must only be a matter of time before one of the big teams comes looking to sign the young Frenchman.

“The track is absolutely awesome. The team did a really great job getting us out at the right time. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow and hopefully give the fans an exciting race”, commented Hamilton, full of praise for his Mercedes team.

Valtteri Bottas was happy with pole position for the Turkish GP

Bottas was overjoyed at his pole position, with the Finn saying, “Yeah, it was a good quali. Not easy conditions, especially Q1 it was a bit on the edge with the damp parts. Lewis with his penalty, that’s the minimum penalty he can have, I’m on pole, so that should be good”.

Verstappen will surely be looking to take advantage of his rival’s grid position, as he said, “Conditions were tricky but overall the laps were quite good. We didn’t have enough to fight for pole but I’m pretty happy. Let’s see how the weather is tomorrow and how competitive we can be”, as reported by thesun.co.uk.

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