Charles Leclerc will start from pole position in the United States Grand Prix of Formula 1 in Austin. Max Verstappen was the fastest in yesterday’s qualifying, but his best lap was invalidated for exceeding track limits.
Qualifying summary
The Q1 started the qualifying in Austin, with Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) being the fastest. The big surprise was the double elimination of the Aston Martin team, with Fernando Alonso in 17th and Lance Stroll in 19th. The free practice had been difficult for the British team due to brake problems.
It was less unusual for Williams to be left out with both drivers, with Alexander Albon in 18th and Logan Sargeant in 20th place. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) went wide in the last corner of his final attempt, which demoted him to 16th and also left him out of Q2. The German was 22 milliseconds behind the last qualifier, Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri).
As for Q2, it was Leclerc (Ferrari) who set the pace, approaching the 1m34s mark… as well as Verstappen (Red Bull), who was only four milliseconds slower. In terms of eliminations, there was nothing unusual this time.
Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) was 11th and missed out on a spot in Q2 by just 18 milliseconds, immediately behind Sergio Pérez (Red Bull). Alfa Romeo was absent from the rest of the qualifying with Guanyu Zhou in 12th and Valtteri Bottas in 13th, while Kevin Magnussen (Haas) was 14th and the American team fell short in this home qualifying. Ricciardo was 15th, losing a final lap that would have been enough for Q3 due to going wide at the exit of turn 19.
Finally, Q3 arrived. Leclerc took the lead after the first flying laps, with Verstappen in third place behind Hamilton. However, the gaps were small, especially between Leclerc and Hamilton (0.056s).
The Monegasque managed to improve to 1m34.723s on his last attempt, but Verstappen was five thousandths faster. However, this time was immediately invalidated due to track limits violations at turn 19, and thus Leclerc secured the pole position.
The Ferrari driver was 130 thousandths faster than Lando Norris, who continues McLaren’s good momentum. Hamilton finished third, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) fourth, and George Russell (Mercedes) fifth. With his best time deleted, Verstappen will start from sixth.
Next up are the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, with Pérez in ninth on the grid. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) couldn’t match his teammate Norris and will start from tenth.
Results:
