The change of motor in its W12 involved a penalty of 10 posts, but Lewis Hamilton does not give his arm to twist so easily. Not even in Istanbul, a slight track for him, where until now he had not added a single pole. The one achieved this Saturday, 102nd of the unabarcable palmarket of him, serves as a warning for Max Verstappen, who could not overcome Valtteri Bottas either. It seems that Mercedes can count this time with the work of Finn, with a good rhythm on a track between dry and wet. Under those delicate conditions, Fernando Alonso was coupled with the fastest.
"It's been my best classification of the season," said Alpine's leader, sixth in the table and fifth on a grill that will close Carlos Sainz, after the propeller change announced on Thursday. The aggressiveness of Fernando attacking the vertices was reflected in the first sector, where he established a couple of times the best record. The progression of A521, however, could not take advantage of Stephen Ochon, twelfth classified.
And it was not that the only concern in Alpine, since almost an hour after the end of the session, Marcin Budkowski received a circular from the FIA. Alonso had to appear a few minutes later before the Commissioners, for not respecting the double yellow flags at the start of Q1. Finally, the matter remained at all and the time sheet will capture the superiority of the Ovetense on OCON.
The role of the squires, precisely, seems essentially essential this Sunday, where Bottas must temper the rushes of Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, sixth on the grill, tap, as far as possible, to Hamilton. Because nobody should discard the British in the fight for victory. Not only because of the chrono that earned him the pole (1: 22,868), but because of the sufficiency with which he dominated the adversaries of him.
The exemplary team work in Ferrari also favored Charles Leclerc, a quarter classified after leaving ahead in Q2 thanks to Sainz's disinterested work, which went on track only to offer a couple of flabgers. Before, Madrileño had also collaborated to leave Daniel Ricciardo out of combat, without confidence in the McLaren of him. The main surprise of that Q1 was Mick Schumacher, able to get between the top 15 for the first time since the GP of France, while his partner in Haas, Nikita Mazepin, linked tromp with track outlets.
In the last free session, Pierre Gasly had marked the best time on an soaked asphalt, just ahead of the Red Bull. Three hours later, the sky was still overcast and the track presented that kind of difficulties for those who do not know very well at what to attend. "The rain is going to be dissipating and from now on, conditions should be improved," they had on Radio to Verstappen, with difficulties to follow the rhythm of Hamilton.
The most compromised point was on the drop towards curve 1 although it did not agree to be distracted either in the last curve, where they passed more than a hurry George Russell and Leclerc. The next Mercedes pilot lost all the options of him on that last rig. "No, no, no, no. It was a good turn," he lamented on Radio.
All favorites had opted for the average tire, which alonso extracted optimal performance. The Asturian was able to anticipate a couple of times until the third place, only behind the two aspirants to the World Cup. The early elimination of Ricciardo, added to the change of Motor of Sainz and the titubeos of Lando Norris, even with the Soychi Fiasco on the head also cleared the path to Bicampeón, which was applied with fantastic solvency.
Date Of Update: 09 October 2021, 12:52
