It has been nine years since the F1 circus last came to Turkey, but after two (very long) qualifying sessions, one can definitely say that it was worth the wait. However, with the Q3 session still to go, one team that will not be in the running is Ferrari.

The Maranello-based outfit had a dismal showing at the rain drenched Istanbul Park. While one may say it isn’t something new for Sebastian Vettel, the Scuderia have been really dealt a gut punch with the ever-reliable Charles Leclerc also getting knocked out in Q2.

Their performance during qualifying at Istanbul was yet another blip in a season full of low points.

While they were far from the only team to struggle through the course of qualifying, they had no real pace whatsoever in Q2. After that disappointing session, Vettel will starting tomorrow’s race in P12, while his teammate Leclerc will lineup P14 on the Grid.

The Tifosi would definitely not be happy about that. What probably hurt, even more, is that they were quite convincingly outperformed by Alfa Romeo.

Alfa Romeo rub salt into Ferrari F1’s wounds

Ferrari’s unofficial junior team (if you want to call it that) have both their drivers in Q3. Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were simply amazing in the rain.

Moreover, they went onto to prove that it wasn’t just a fluke. Raikkonen and Giovinazzi put in some top laps during the third qualifying session as well; however, towards the back end of the session, they got outpaced by the other runners.

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Nevertheless, with Raikkonen starting in P8 and Giovinazzi in P10, they couldn’t be happier. What’s more, Kimi even beat Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, who will be starting the race in P9. This was some performance by the Hinwil-based outfit in very tricky conditions.

With an extremely exciting day of qualifying behind us, it’ll be interesting to see what race day holds in store. Even if we get a race to match today’s qualifying, that would be crazy.

Another top-10 finish for both Alfa Romeo cars tomorrow would massively help their cause as they aim to keep rivals Haas and Williams behind them.