Lewis Hamilton is hoping for rain to support his fight across the field in Turkey

Lewis Hamilton hopes it will rain at Max Verstappen’s parade at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Mercedes driver starts nine places behind his championship rival after having served a penalty of 10 places after changing the engine.

Hamilton drove the fastest lap ever seen here in Istanbul Park, beating Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in first place, while Verstappen finished third.

Lewis Hamilton, left, and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas (Umit Bektas / AP)

But his penalty will have him start from the precarious position of 11th, with Bottas being put in pole position and Verstappen joining him in the front row.

A brief rain shower hit the first moments of qualifying, although the prognosis for the race on Sunday was uncertain.

And Hamilton, who went from sixth to first in the wet race last year to seal his record-breaking seventh world crown, believes the mixed forecast could be his best bet to keep Verstappen from retaking the championship lead.

Woo! Let’s do the job tomorrow, LH. pic.twitter.com/scUASkYyDx

– Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@ MercedesAMGF1) October 9, 2021

Hamilton, who is two points ahead of the Red Bull driver, said: “It’s a long race and I hope some rain will come.

“We knew that with this punishment it would be difficult and tomorrow it won’t be easy to fight my way through, but if the will is there there is a way.

“It’s not that easy to overtake at the moment, so I imagine it will be difficult to move up. But we have the long straight at the back and we’ll see what we can do. “

STARTRASTER: TURKEY

After Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz have imposed the field penalties, the drivers will line up for the race on Sunday

# TurkishGP

# F1 pic.twitter.com/N5IEkvafDR

– Formula 1 (@ F1) October 9, 2021

Hamilton’s Mercedes team has decided to give its superstar driver its fourth engine – one more than allowed for the season – in Turkey.

Mercedes believes the risk of engine failure – and a potentially devastating DNF in Hamilton’s pursuit of eighth place – outweighs its low starting position.

The all-conquering team also rates Istanbul as a more desirable route to overtake than any of the following six laps.

“There has been a lot of discussion over the past week and a half and I’ve been pushing to hopefully keep engine number three,” added Hamilton.

Max Verstappen comes second (Umit Bektas / AP)

“But on Thursday evening they made the decision to change. We knew that at some point we probably had to just to be one hundred percent sure, so it didn’t matter whether we take it here or elsewhere. “

Mercedes has had the upper hand all weekend so far, and Hamilton hopes team-mate Bottas Verstappen can keep their distance.

Bottas, who finished 0.130 seconds behind Hamilton, said: “As a team result, it was as planned. But tomorrow I will concentrate on my own race and so I can attack it if you start from pole. “

However, despite the Finn’s claims, it is unthinkable that Mercedes will not use him as a pawn to slow Verstappen and get Hamilton into the race in these closest championship bouts.

* BEEEEP * YES!

# HaasF1 #TurkishGP #Quali pic.twitter.com/0zfQqnlBSw

– Haas F1 Team (@ HaasF1Team) October 9, 2021

Behind them, Charles Leclerc starts third for Ferrari in front of Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri and the double world champion Fernando Alonso.

Mick Schumacher delivered the best lap of his F1 career, only to move up into Q2 for the second time.

The young German finished Q1 ahead of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and was almost three seconds faster than Haas team-mate Nikita Mazepin. He will start on Sunday 14th.