Lewis Hamilton may have finished qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix with the fastest time, but he won't be credited with his 102nd pole position – something that seemed to catch the Mercedes driver off guard following the session. The Briton was handed a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's race at Istanbul Park after Mercedes fitted his car with a new engine on Friday. As a result, Hamilton's efforts in qualifying would always be an attempt to limit the damage, rather than taking pole position. Hamilton did just that, finishing with the fastest time, which means he'll start from P11 on the grid, while teammate Valtteri Bottas is promoted to pole. After qualifying, Hamilton asked if he would still be credited with pole, but was disappointed to find out that won't be the case. "Well, I still... I recorded the pole, right? No? Ah, dammit!" Hamilton told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media after qualifying. "So he [Bottas] gets the pole?" Bottas was happy to oblige, responding: "So you need to give the tyre [trophy] to me." Championship rival Max Verstappen, who starts from P2, was quick to note that although Hamilton won't add another trophy to his collection, he isn't lacking in that department. "Lewis has a few spare. He's going to start his own tyre factory," the Dutchman concluded. Hamilton leads Verstappen by two points in the standings heading into the race.
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