Lance Stroll upstaged Formula One’s title-chasing Lewis Hamilton on Saturday when he grabbed the first pole position of his career at the Turkish Grand Prix.
The 22-year-old Canadian made the most of drying conditions on a treacherous track to end Mercedes’ 13 race domination of qualifying this year.
Stroll delivered a dazzling fastest lap for Racing Point in one minute and 47.765 seconds in the closing seconds to usurp his team-mate Sergio Perez and then resist a last surge from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The disappointed Dutchman was second, three-tenths behind Stroll, but ahead of Mexican Perez who claimed his career-best starting position after finishing fourth nine times in the past.
Stroll was the first Canadian to take pole since Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez and it was the Silverstone-based Racing Point team’s first pole since, racing as Jordan, they did so at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.
The outcome left Mercedes well-beaten on the weekend when Lewis Hamilton bids to seal a record-equalling seventh drivers’ championship and draw level with seven-time champion Michael Schumacher.