Lance Stroll took the first pole position of his career during qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix, but for the majority of the wet session it looked like Max Verstappen had the top spot wrapped up. Here’s what went wrong for the Dutchman…
Red Bull’s blunder
Max Verstappen finished the second session of qualifying 1.9s clear of the rest of the field. Mercedes was nowhere, his teammate Alex Albon was his closest competitor but showed no signs of challenging him and Lance Stroll was a massive three seconds off the pace in fourth position. As Q3 got underway, it seemed pole position was Verstappen’s for the taking.
So what went wrong?
Verstappen had found his advantage in Q1 and Q2 using the extreme wet tyres, but in Q3 the intermediates came into play. Parts of the track were starting to show signs of a drying line and that meant the larger contact patch of the intermediates was able to find grip on the track without aquaplaning.
But at the very start of Q3, it was still the crossover point between the extreme wets and the intermediates. Choosing the intermediates was still a big gamble and the only two drivers who tried it from the start were Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Renault’s Esteban Ocon. To underline what a marginal call it was, Perez set the fastest time with the help of the intermediates while Ocon initially set the slowest time and opted to switch back to the safety of the wets.
Seeing his teammate 1.8s clear of him using the intermediates, Stroll radioed his pits to ask for the same tyres. Red Bull also saw the potential of the intermediates, but Verstappen was on a new fastest lap as he was approaching the pits — a lap capable of beating Perez’s existing fastest time on the inters — making the decision harder.
Red Bull pulled him into the pits regardless, and while that may have looked like a mistake as his sector times were the fastest at that moment, they would not have been competitive enough to compete with the eventual top four times. Bringing Verstappen in for intermediates was the right choice as things transpired, although the exact timing of when and where he rejoined did not help his situation.
As he returned to the track on intermediates, Verstappen rejoined behind Kimi Raikkonen’s slower Alfa Romeo, which meant he struggled to get the heat into the tyres that was so crucial to lap time. Nevertheless, the first sector of his fastest lap at the end of the session was a match for Stroll’s and it was only when had a snap of oversteer at Turn 7 that he started to fall back.
“We struggled to turn the inters on compared to the extreme and you can see that these tyres are pretty tricky,” team principal Christian Horner said after the session. “Max had looked supreme in Q1 and Q2 and then got caught behind Kimi on a couple of laps that didn’t allow him to turn those tyres on and that final lap he had a snap [of oversteer] and lost about 0.6s at Turn 7.
“But when you haven’t got the preparation and momentum through the faster corners, particularly with the dirty air from Kimi, it was difficult for him to generate that temperature, and unfortunately the snap at Turn 7 — he was 0.6s faster at that point — put him back to zero, so then had to do it again.”
The key was being on the right tyres and having them at the right temperature when the track conditions were at their best at the end of the session. Stroll, Verstappen and Perez were all on the right tyres in the closing moments of Q3, but Stroll was the only one of those three who nailed a clean lap when it mattered. Even with the later switch to intermediates and the traffic, Verstappen had the potential to take pole but ultimately missed out with his mistake at Turn 7.
Credit where it’s due
Stroll’s lap was impressive regardless of whether Verstappen had the potential to beat it. The Racing Point has not been a match for the Red Bull all year, yet in some of the most difficult conditions all year the Canadian was the one who produced a quick, clean lap worthy of pole position.
He did so while lifting for yellow flags at Turn 7 where his more experienced teammate, who had been on a faster lap up until that point, had spun. The stewards investigated whether Stroll had ignored the yellows, but telemetry and onboard footage clearly showed him lifting off the throttle and coasting through the corner – enough for the stewards to agree he had shown caution as his teammate sat in the run off area.
Stroll still set personal best mini sectors at that part of the track, which is usually used as a barometer as to whether a driver ignored yellow flags, but because the conditions were improving so much at the end of the session, his faster sector times were deemed to be a result of the improving track conditions rather than him pushing on regardless of the yellows. Even with the lift, he still had a 0.290s advantage over Verstappen on the same tyres in the same conditions.
Whichever way you cut it, it was a great qualifying lap.
What happened to Hamilton and Mercedes?
For the first time this year, Mercedes failed to secure pole position. It took a combination of rain, a new track surface and some impressive laps from rival drivers, but Saturday’s session finally proved the mighty W11 is beatable over a single lap.
The key was tyre temperature, and the Mercedes drivers simply couldn’t generate enough of it in the conditions. Whether it was a setup issue or a fundamental weakness in the car wasn’t entirely clear on Saturday evening, but the result is that Lewis Hamilton will start sixth and Valtteri Bottas ninth. The team believes it would have set a faster time if it had persevered on the extreme wet tyres rather than switching to the intermediates (because it was harder to generate temperature in the intermediates) but it still wouldn’t have been enough.
To be fair to Mercedes, the low grip surface at Istanbul Park is a complete outlier on F1’s 2020 calendar that would never have been considered during the car’s design process, so it’s perhaps no surprise that the team struggled to tailor the W11 to the extreme conditions. However, don’t bet against Hamilton and Bottas coming back through the field in dry conditions on Sunday.
Grid penalties
Carlos Sainz – Three-place grid penalty, one penalty point on superlicence for impeding Sergio Perez in Q1.
Lando Norris– Five-place grid penalty, three penalty points on superlicence for failing to slow sufficiently under double-waved yellows in Q1.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
