<p>Canadian conditions suited the Canadian in Saturday's Turkish Grand Prix qualifying as Lance Stroll celebrated a first Formula One pole position on a slippery surface others likened to an ice rink.</p>.<p>"I grew up driving on ice, in my parking lot back home and drifting around, sliding around. It’s got to be in my bones somewhere, I guess," said the Montreal-born Racing Point driver as the shock result sank in.</p>.<p>He was the first Canadian driver to take pole since Jacques Villeneuve on his way to the 1997 world championship with Williams.</p>.<p>The pole, secured with a timely switch from wet tyres to intermediates at the end of the session, put the 22-year-old comfortably ahead of mighty Mercedes with Red Bull's Max Verstappen alongside on the front row.</p>.<p>It also ended a difficult period for a youngster whose wealthy father owns the team as well as Canada's Mont Tremblant circuit.</p>.<p>Stroll finished third in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sept. 6 but has not scored since.</p>.<p>He missed the Eifel Grand Prix through sickness in October and tested positive for COVID-19.</p>.<p>The Canadian crashed out of the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello, on the weekend after Monza, and tangled with McLaren's Lando Norris in Portugal.</p>.<p>His team's technical director Andrew Green had suggested that maybe Stroll needed "a bit of a hug" to recover lost confidence.</p>.<p>"It’s been a rough run for me since Mugello really, since Monza," agreed Stroll.</p>.<p>"We had the puncture in Mugello when we were in the hunt for the podium and contact in Russia, COVID and other things. It’s really been a rough run but to bounce back today with pole, it’s so awesome.</p>.<p>"I do enjoy these conditions. Rain is opportunity. It mixes things up, it spices things up. You never really know what to expect when it rains."</p>.<p>Stroll said he just took it lap by lap.</p>.<p>"Once we were on the intermediates at the end of Q3 (the final phase), I really felt like we were on the right tyre and I had the confidence to attack the lap and put it together and put it on pole."</p>.<p>Verstappen will fancy his chances for Sunday, and Mercedes could come back stronger in a race that looks likely to crown Lewis Hamilton as a seven times world champion.</p>.<p>"They have a much quicker race car. That’s just the reality," Stroll said of the top two. "But that doesn’t mean we can’t score a bunch of points.</p>.<p>"We’re fighting for that third place in the constructors' and tomorrow’s a great opportunity with both cars starting up at the front to pick up some big points."</p>
<p>Canadian conditions suited the Canadian in Saturday's Turkish Grand Prix qualifying as Lance Stroll celebrated a first Formula One pole position on a slippery surface others likened to an ice rink.</p>.<p>"I grew up driving on ice, in my parking lot back home and drifting around, sliding around. It’s got to be in my bones somewhere, I guess," said the Montreal-born Racing Point driver as the shock result sank in.</p>.<p>He was the first Canadian driver to take pole since Jacques Villeneuve on his way to the 1997 world championship with Williams.</p>.<p>The pole, secured with a timely switch from wet tyres to intermediates at the end of the session, put the 22-year-old comfortably ahead of mighty Mercedes with Red Bull's Max Verstappen alongside on the front row.</p>.<p>It also ended a difficult period for a youngster whose wealthy father owns the team as well as Canada's Mont Tremblant circuit.</p>.<p>Stroll finished third in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sept. 6 but has not scored since.</p>.<p>He missed the Eifel Grand Prix through sickness in October and tested positive for COVID-19.</p>.<p>The Canadian crashed out of the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello, on the weekend after Monza, and tangled with McLaren's Lando Norris in Portugal.</p>.<p>His team's technical director Andrew Green had suggested that maybe Stroll needed "a bit of a hug" to recover lost confidence.</p>.<p>"It’s been a rough run for me since Mugello really, since Monza," agreed Stroll.</p>.<p>"We had the puncture in Mugello when we were in the hunt for the podium and contact in Russia, COVID and other things. It’s really been a rough run but to bounce back today with pole, it’s so awesome.</p>.<p>"I do enjoy these conditions. Rain is opportunity. It mixes things up, it spices things up. You never really know what to expect when it rains."</p>.<p>Stroll said he just took it lap by lap.</p>.<p>"Once we were on the intermediates at the end of Q3 (the final phase), I really felt like we were on the right tyre and I had the confidence to attack the lap and put it together and put it on pole."</p>.<p>Verstappen will fancy his chances for Sunday, and Mercedes could come back stronger in a race that looks likely to crown Lewis Hamilton as a seven times world champion.</p>.<p>"They have a much quicker race car. That’s just the reality," Stroll said of the top two. "But that doesn’t mean we can’t score a bunch of points.</p>.<p>"We’re fighting for that third place in the constructors' and tomorrow’s a great opportunity with both cars starting up at the front to pick up some big points."</p>