2021 Turkish GP, Ferrari qualifying report: Charles P4, Carlos P15. Ferrari qualifying report.

Lewis Hamilton’s 1:22.868 was enough to top qualifying session for the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, a tenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas. But a penalty for Hamilton means he’s set to start tomorrow’s race from 11th.

The track was almost dry for the start of qualifying, with only a few wet patches. But drivers were told that rain was on its way and of course everybody tried to complete some laps on soft tyres. Due to the cold tyres, several drivers run wide on different parts of the Istanbul Park, including Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as well as championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Time was certainly of the essence with rain starting to spot down around the track after just a few minutes.

At the end of a chaotic scenes first part of qualifying, Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) and Nikita Mazepin (Haas) were eliminated. Great job by Ferrari Driver Academy member Mick Schumacher to make it through to Q2.

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Despite the threat of rain, the track remained dry for the start of Q2: as a result medium tyres were ready for many drivers, looking to start tomorrow’s race on that compound. It was a difficult moment for Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc who confirmed on the team radio that he was struggling on the mediums with the kind of downforce he had on his SF21 car. In his final flying lap, Charles was up to seventh, knocking his former teammate Sebastian Vettel out of Q1, alongside Esteban Ocon, George Russell and Mick Schumacher.

Carlos Sainz did not take part in Q2 due to the fact that he will be starting from the back of the grid for exceeding the allowed number of individual components within the power unit, as the Spanish driver got the upgrade engine for this weekend’s event.

12 minutes remained to set the grid for tomorrow’s race: in Q3 Charles Leclerc once again put in a cracking performance to finish fourth, which means he will start from P3 as a result of Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, behind Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen. A wonderful last lap from Charles lifts him ahead of Gasly, Alonso and Perez. Lando Norris, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda round off the top 10.

Full Q1, Q2 and Q3 results from qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix, Round 16 of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship.