FORMULA 1

STROLL TAKES SHOCK POLE POSITION FOR THE TURKISH GRAND PRIX LCH IN SIXTH PLACE.

Stroll beat Max to take a shock maiden pole position in a wet qualifying session for Formula 1’s 2020 Turkish Grand Prix.

The session was heavily disrupted, with Q1 suspended for nearly 45-minutes after the rain intensified following the opening 10 minutes, and when it did get going again it was quickly red-flagged for a second time when Grosjean became stuck in the Turn 1 gravel after spinning off in his Haas.

Max largely led the way throughout the session, with Esteban Ocon spending the long Q1 delay at the head of the times after impressing during the initial running, be he appeared to be caught out by a Q3 switch from wets to intermediates.

The Red Bull driver’s first Q3 lap was a 1m52.326s, which was over two seconds slower than Verstappen had gone to top Q2, but he looked to be going massively faster with two opening purple sectors on his next lap.

But Verstappen abandoned that run after Sergio Perez had shot to P1 with a 1m52.037s using the green-walled inters, and so Verstappen came in to take that tyre.

But he although Verstappen found time at the very end of Q3, he was not in command as he had been before, with Perez and Racing Point suddenly looking to be the pole favourites

Perez, who had spun on his next lap after seizing P1, was eventually shuffled down to third after Stroll, who had headed out on the wets early on in Q3 in a different approach to his teammate, put in a 1m47.765s to rise to the front.

Verstappen had to find a way past Kimi’s Alfa Romeo before he final run, where he climbed from third to second, but wound up 0.29s behind Stroll.

Alex Albon took fourth in the second Red Bull ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who stayed on the wet tyres throughout Q3.

Lewis Hamilton was the lead Mercedes in sixth, having trailed behind teammate Valtteri Bottas throughout the sessions leading up to Q3 and during their initial laps on the wets in the last session.

But after Mercedes called its drivers to take the inters, Hamilton was able to improve more, as Bottas set a personal best on his final run but still ended up down in ninth.

Ocon and Raikkonen ended up ahead of the second Mercedes, with Antonio Giovinazzi rounding out the top 10.