Max Verstappen reacted in the best way to yesterday’s lost pole position in qualifying in Austin, achieving pole position for the sprint race of the United States Grand Prix in Formula 1 this Saturday. It was a session of intense emotions, in which the top three were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
The Sprint Shootout summary
SQ1 was led by Verstappen (Red Bull), but with a slight margin of two thousandths over Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – which anticipated an interesting battle throughout the session. The big surprise was the third place of Alexander Albon (Williams).
With less than five minutes to go, Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) were in the elimination zone, but both managed to get out of there. Fortune that Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), and Logan Sargeant (Williams) did not have, finishing 17th, 18th, and 20th respectively.
With Stroll and Ricciardo saving themselves, Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) finished in 16th place, only 12 thousandths away from advancing, and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) finished 19th.
SQ2 started with Verstappen quickly taking the lead, with Leclerc in second and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) in third. This would be the order that would prevail until the end. The Dutchman would have a scare later in the session, with a off-track moment where he had to perform a “donut” to get back on the right direction.
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) managed to enter the top ten, but couldn’t stay there due to improvements from his rivals in the final minutes and ended up in 12th place. Ricciardo was also left out, although very close to advancing: he finished 11th behind Albon by 0.031s.
Equally unable to move forward were Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), meaning that Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri, and Aston Martin were left without representation in the SQ3.
It was only five minutes before the end that the drivers went out on the SQ3 track. But it would take until the last two minutes to see timed laps, so there was only one attempt for most of the drivers.
With his first lap, Verstappen placed himself at the top, followed by Leclerc at 0.055s. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was third, 69 milliseconds behind, beating Lando Norris (McLaren). Oscar Piastri (McLaren) finished fifth.
They were followed by Sainz and Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), with George Russell (Williams) in eighth, Albon in ninth, and Pierre Gasly closing out the top ten in the best Alpine.
Results:
