Q1. The forecast was for rain after the first five minutes. All the cars queued up at the pit lane exit to get out immediately on Soft slick tyres. The cold tyres made life difficult and it was hard to set a competitive time on the first run.
On his second flying lap, Charles did a 1’28”054 and Carlos managed a 1’29”364, but both laps were cancelled for exceeding track limits. Leclerc then did a 1’27”341 getting down to 1’26”218 ending up with a time of 1’25”727. Carlos’ best was a 1’26”759.
Both drivers then pitted for a new set of Softs for a final run. On these tyres Leclerc lapped in 1’24”869 to end the session in fourth place. Sainz did 1’25”177, ninth best, at the same time pushing Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren out of the Q2 zone.
Q2. No more risk of rain and Carlos stayed in the garage. Charles came out on Medium tyres and set a 1’29”424 and then a 1’24”989. He then spun at the last corner on a quicker lap, so he came in for another set of new Mediums. He then did just one flying lap with the team having sent Carlos out to give his team-mate a tow down the fastest part of the track. It worked to perfection and helped Charles post a 1’24”015, to go seventh and through to Q3 and able to start tomorrow on the preferred Medium tyre.
Q3. In the final session, Charles went out on used Softs, setting a 1’24”145 before pitting for a new set of Softs. He did two warm-up laps and posted an excellent 1’23”265 which was good enough for fourth fastest. It means that, at 3pm tomorrow, he will start the Turkish Grand Prix from third on the grid after Hamilton is moved to 11th after the penalty is applied.