STROLL HAS KEPT HIS POLE POSITION

Stroll set the quickest lap during a rain-hit qualifying session at Istanbul Park to beat Max Verstappen to a shock pole position on Saturday.

Lance Stroll has kept his pole position for Formula 1’s Turkish Grand Prix after being cleared of an alleged yellow-flag offence in qualifying.

The Racing Point driver earned a stunning pole in F1’s wet session at Istanbul, but was summoned to the stewards accused of not respecting yellow flags during the top-10 shootout.

His team-mate Sergio Perez, another candidate for pole, had spun at Turn 7 on Stroll’s penultimate flying lap – on which Stroll improved, although it was not the lap that eventually topped the session.

The stewards said drying track conditions meant Stroll’s sector time was misleading as he “clearly” took action to slow down at the scene of the single-yellow flag.

Stroll’s telemetry showed he “clearly came off the throttle, coasted into the corner, and then accelerated when clear of the incident”.

He will therefore line up on pole for Sunday’s race, the first pole of his F1 career.

Stroll’s alleged infringement is not the same as others that risked being investigated after qualifying.

Nicholas Latifi crashed at Turn 8 in Q1 and brought out yellow flags, but several drivers went onto improve.

That enraged Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who was set to progress to a rare Q2 berth but was knocked out as others set personal bests despite the caution.

McLaren’s Lando Norris is the only driver to have been summoned for a yellow flag offence there.

STROLL KEPT HIS POLE POSITION STROLL KEPT HIS POLE POSITION

TURKISH GP QUALIFYING – STROLL CLAIMS MAIDEN POLE AND BEATS VERSTAPPEN

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