autoevolution
 

Mark Webber Scored 3rd Consecutive Pole Position in Turkey

Mark Webber continued his dominance in the 2010 Formula One championship on Saturday, when he clinched his 3rd consecutive pole position of the season, in the Turkish Grand Prix. The Australian driver waited until Q3 to get back on top of the timing classification and, after a thrilling battle against McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, managed to score the best time of the afternoon, 1:26.295.

For the second time in 3 European races, the first row will not be formed only by Red Bull Racing drivers, as Hamilton’s late surge in Q3 got him a well-deserved 2nd place on the grid – 0.138 seconds slower than Webber – ahead of German driver Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull-McLaren sandwich was completed by 4th place Jenson Button, who had a low-profiled afternoon in Istanbul.

Michael Schumacher scored the 5th best time of the Q3 and will once again start an F1 race ahead of his much younger teammate Nico Rosberg, but the 41-year old experienced a difficult last lap on the Turkish circuit. Schumacher lost control of his car and spun into the run-off area, avoiding however a last-second crash into the tire barriers.

Behind 6th placed Nico Rosberg was not the 3-time winner of the Turkish Grand Prix Felipe Massa, but Renault’s Robert Kubica, who managed to cross the finish line 0.081 seconds ahead of the Ferrari-an, demoting him to 8th place. The Top 10 was completed by Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi.

Although praying for a mistake-free weekend in Turkey, Fernando Alonso was the first and most important victim of the qualifying session, as he failed to get into Q3 after a late mistake in Q2. While in his flying lap, Alonso made a mistake and briefly lost control of his Ferrari F10, but managed to keep it on the track and eventually make it to the garage in one piece. However, it did cost him a good place on the grid on Sunday, as he’ll start from 12th place, behind Adrian Sutil.

BMW Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi, Williams’ Rubens Barrichello, Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari and Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg completed the grid all the way to 17th place, while Vitantonio Liuzzi once again failed to get passed the Q1, scoring a poor 18th place.

Lotus’ duo Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen once again topped the new entry teams’ standings in 19th and 20th place, while Virgin’s Timo Glock had to settle for 21st place. He was followed by HRT F1’s Bruno Senna, Virgin’s Lucas di Grassi and HRT F1’s Karun Chandhok.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories