The Most Surprising Pole-Sitters in F1 History

In most cases, the battle for pole position in every season comes down to the usual suspects. However, sometimes the planets align and a less fancied runner hooks up a "Godly lap." For some of the drivers in this list, this pole represents their career's biggest highlight.

Nico Hulkenberg at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix - We start with Hulkenberg, who is currently in the center of attention, replacing Sebastian Vettel (tested positive for Covid-19) for two races at Aston Martin this season.

That Saturday's qualifying at the Interlagos circuit proved extremely challenging for all the drivers due to changing weather conditions. Q1 and Q2 were full of rain, but the sun rose by the end of Q3, and it was good enough for dry tires. Hulkenberg benefited the most, having the right ones at the right time.

Lance Stroll at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix - Turkey wasn't even supposed to be in the calendar that season, but was drafted into a makeshift schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Torrential rain hit the track on Saturday, making it almost impossible for the competitors to drive.

By the end of Q3, Lance Stroll and Racing Point made a gamble that really paid off. They switched off from wet tires to intermediate, beating everybody by a considerable margin.

Pastor Maldonado at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix - Arguably the most incredible weekend of his entire life. All the planets were aligned for the Venezuelan driver, taking his first and only career pole position on Saturday and his only career win one day later.

Still, on qualifying day, Maldonado went from ecstasy to agony and then back to ecstasy again. He was the quickest in Q3, but only for a few seconds, because Lewis Hamilton smashed Maldonado time. However, after the session was over, Lewis was disqualified due to having insufficient fuel on his McLaren, meaning Maldonado would start from P1.

Sebastian Vettel at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix - Before he was a four-time World Champion, Sebastian Vettel was a young boy from Germany looking for recognition. And that's what he did at Monza in 2008. Back then, the German was driving for the Red Bull sister team, Torro Rosso (now Alpha Tauri). At best, Torro Rosso was a midfield team with no expectation for poles, wins, or even podiums.

Usually, in torrential rain conditions, true champions show their real skills. At 21 years old, that is precisely was Seb did, outpacing everyone on a soaked track. Dancing on the water like in qualifying, Vettel was untouchable on race day, becoming the youngest winner in the history of Formula One.

Andrea de Cesaris 1982 Long Beach Grand Prix - In Saturday's qualifying, the cars running on Michelin tires had a decided advantage over the Goodyear teams. However, the Michelin man had all learned from Lauda's times on Friday that their harder race tires were faster than the qualifiers.

After Niki Lauda crashed into a wall early on, Andrea de Cesaris took his only ever pole position in his 208 race starts by .012 seconds. At that moment, de Cesaris was the youngest to achieve pole position, a record beaten only 12 years later by Rubens Barrichello.

Giancarlo Fisichella 2009 Belgian Grand Prix - Until now, all the pole-sitter had something going for them, from interchangeable weather to disqualified competitors. However, at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, the sun was all over the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella took the top place on the timesheets at the legendary Spa track after driving the wheels off his Force India. After a second place in the race, this represented the best race weekend in their ten-year existence.

This list is another reminder of how unpredictable Formula One is, with any driver being capable of overturning the result.