Bottas takes Turkish GP pole position as Hamilton handed 10-spot penalty

Sports Desk, Oct 9 (EFE).- Lewis Hamilton on Saturday was the fastest at the Turkish F1 GP’s qualifying, but it was his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas who took the pole position as the Briton serves 10-spot grid penalty.

The seven-time world champion lapped the 5,338-meter circuit in one minute and 22.868s, to minimize the damage of the punishment he was handed for changing an engine component, exceeding the F1 limit.

“The track is absolutely awesome,” Hamilton told F1 media afterwards. “The team did a really great job getting us out at the right time.”

“We’ll see what we can do tomorrow [after 10-place grid penalty] and hopefully give the fans an exciting race,” added Hamilton who will start from the 11th spot.

Despite coming 0.130s off the pace, Bottas will start Sunday’s race from the pole position.

“Lewis with his penalty, that’s the minimum penalty he can have, I’m on pole, so that should be good,” the Finn said.

Hamilton’s main title rival Max Verstappen (Red Bull) will share the front row with Bottas.

“We didn’t have enough to fight for pole but I’m pretty happy. Let’s see how the weather is tomorrow and how competitive we can be,” the Dutchman said.

Heading into Istanbul Park’s race, Verstappen trails Hamilton by two points on top of the drivers standings.

 Monaco’s Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) will start from the second row, ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Mexico’s Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) respectively.