Max Verstappen quickest but F1 slower on return to ice-like Turkey track than last visit in 2011

Turkish Grand Prix

Verstappen quickest but F1 slower on return to ice-like Turkey track than last visit in 2011

Red Bull driver three seconds down on pole lap from nine years ago

Ian Parkes

Friday 13 November 2020 14:33

Formula 1's return to Turkey turned into an embarrassment due to a recently-laid new track that left lap times slower than on the sport's last visit in 2011.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen led the way at the end of both practice sessions around an ice-like Istanbul Park, albeit with his timesheet-topping lap in FP2 just over three seconds slower than Sebastian Vettel's pole from nine years ago in the Red Bull RB7.

The first session was particularly farcical, with drivers sliding their way over a greasy surface that had only been laid just 10 days ago.

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The track conditions were exacerbated by the fact the circuit had been washed on Thursday and again on Friday morning before FP1 started.

When the session started the track was still drying in places, notably along the main straight basked in shadow, and not helped by the low temperatures given the time of the year.

Verstappen's leading time of one minute 35.077secs was a remarkable 10 seconds off Vettel's leading qualifying time from 2011.

At the start of FP2, air and track temperatures were still only 16 and 19 degrees centigrade respectively, adding to the ongoing difficulty in getting heat into the tyres.

Even when the drivers switched over onto Pirelli's soft compound rubber it took a considerable period of time before times started to tumble significantly.

But even then, still nowhere near those of 2011, despite the significant improvement in the cars over the intervening nine years.

Verstappen finished with a time of 1:28.330s, four-tenths of a second clear of Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari, followed by Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, with the latter 0.850s behind the Dutch driver.

Hamilton heads into the race knowing he can equal Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles, with sole challenger Bottas needing a minor miracle to extend the battle into the next round in Bahrain.

Red Bull's Alex Albon was fifth quickest, but a full second adrift of team-mate Verstappen, while AlphaTauri duo Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly - in a car reputed now to be the third quickest on the grid - were sixth and seventh ahead of Vettel.

Racing Point's Lance Stroll and McLaren's Lando Norris, on the occasion of his 21st birthday, completed the top 10, with the latter 2.5s off the pace.

Renault pair Esteban Ocon and Daniel Ricciardo struggled notably, with the duo down in 12th and 15th respectively, with the Australian 3.5s down.

Astonishingly, from Ricciardo down, the bottom six all set times slower than Narain Karthikeyan who qualified last for the 2011 Turkish Grand Prix in the woeful HRT.

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