‘Speechless’ Stroll “shocked” by first-ever F1 pole at Turkish GP

Lance Stroll says he is “shocked” to have claimed his maiden pole position in Formula 1 during qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix.

In his 75th F1 appearance, the 22-year-old Canadian sealed a sensational first pole of his career in a thrilling and topsy-turvy qualifying session held in wet conditions on F1’s first visit to Istanbul in nine years.

Stroll switched from extreme Wets to Intermediates after his opening run in Q3 and went on to snatch a sensational pole away from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had dominated proceedings until the conditions improved late on.

The result handed Racing Point the first non-Mercedes pole of 2020 as Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas could only take sixth and ninth on the grid, lapping over five seconds off the pace in what was the German manufacturer’s worst Saturday result of the year.

“I can’t really put it into words right now, I’m shocked," said Stroll. "I didn't expect us to be up here after P3.

“There were a lot of things that we weren't sure of coming into qualifying. We didn't look too competitive in P3, but I'm so happy right now.

"I really put that lap together at the end. I was under a lot of pressure and I only had one lap to do it there at the end, because we started on the wet tyre.

“We boxed for inters and I had one lap where Valtteri [Bottas] spun in front of me, and then I had one lap at the end to do it.

"But I had the confidence in the car and I just nailed pretty much every corner, and pieced it together nicely.

"It's such a great way to bounce back after a few rough weeks and since Mugello really it's been a rough ride for me so. Yeah. Feels good. Feels really good right now.”

Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer was delighted with the result as Sergio Perez secured third place on the grid for the Turkish Grand Prix. Szafnauer revealed that it was Stroll himself who made the final call to switch to Intermediates.

“What a lap! What a session for him, he did a great job and put a stunning lap in at the end,” Szafnauer said.

“It was all about the tyres, Lance called it at the beginning of Q3 and said it was going to be intermediates at the end, and he was absolutely right.

“It was difficult to do at the beginning, to say it was going to be intermediate, but we put him on the intermediate and he did the job.

“It’s great for Lance and Racing Point to out qualify Max Verstappen in the wet.”