Ferrari pull the magic out at COTA to try and keep any hopes of the constructors title alive for them. Carlos Sainz grabs his 2nd career pole, beating out Charles Leclerc by .065 hundredths of a second, with Leclerc losing it on the track with a wiggle out of the final corner. Leclerc grabs P2 on track but will fall to P12 tomorrow thanks to his incoming grid penalty.
With the impending crowing of their team, Red Bull couldn’t pull out the stops and giving Ferrari a sliver of hope to extend the constructors past this weekend. Max Verstappen could only manage P3 on track, but will start P2 because of Leclerc’s grid penalty. Teammate Sergio Perez could only manage P4 which will turn into P9 because of his 5 place grid penalty.
In what would have to be a disappointing day for Mercedes Lewis Hamilton could only pull out a P5 after a stonking first lap in Q3, which showed the pace the Mercedes is capable of, but falling short after a few minor mistakes on his final flyer. George Russell was right behind in P6, but is outqualified by Hamilton for the 6th time in a row since the summer break, Lewis showing he still has it. Both will improve however because of Leclerc and Perez’s penalties.
Fan and Texan favorite Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t get his McLaren out of Q1 for the 3rd time in the past 5 races, only slotting his machinery in P17, a big disappointment for the Australian who has a definite love for Texas and the Circuit of the Americas. Lando Norris was able to manage P8 in his Q3 appearance, and crucially qualified ahead of Fernando Alonso, which could end up being key for their positioning in the constructors fight with Alpine.
With teammate Fernando Alonso’s impending 5 place grid penalty, Esteban Ocon was looking to propel Alpine this weekend with a strong showing in their battle for P4 in the constructors championship with McLaren. Sadly for the French driver, a surprising Q1 exit was on the cards, putting himself P18.Fernando Alonso faired much better than Ocon, qualifying P9 but will take a 5 place penalty for the GP tomorrow.
Disappointment for the US home heroes at Haas. Both drivers were knocked out in Q1 in their home grand prix. After Mick Schumacher suffered a spin on his final flying lap, he was only able to get his car to P19, the spin killing any chance the German had of making it into Q2. Teammate Kevin Magnussen couldn’t fair much better, placing himself in P16, just barely missing the cutoff time behind Alex Albon.
Zhou Guanyu looked set to appear in Q3 on his first visit to COTA, but a lap time deletion at the death put him out in Q2, finishing P14 but with the 5 place grid penalty will put him 19th on the grid for Sunday’s race. Valterri Bottas gets back into his consistent ways, rolling into Q3 and placing his Alfa Romeo into P10 , but improving his place to P9 thanks to others’ grid penalties.
Another strong showing from the Aston Martin duo of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. Vettel just missed out on Q2, finishing P13. Stroll would surprise and make it into Q3, finishing P . Aston Martin continue to show improvement at least in qualifying pace, however it is yet to be seen if they can translate that to race pace on Sunday. The biggest surprise in qualifying may have been Lance Stroll, who put together a remarkable lap and qualified P7, and with grid penalties, will be on the 3rd row with a lineup on Sunday of P5
Frustration for the Alpha Tauri camp of Pierre Gasly, as he suffered lockups in turns 1 and 11 which ended any chance the Frenchman had of getting into Q3, slotting his machinery into P13 thanks to Zhou’s lap time deletion, still not enough for him to get through. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda did not fair much better, finishing the slowest in Q2 and will start from P15 tomorrow.
Nicholas Latifi in his final US grand prix will start from the rear of the field in P20, a typical position for him in his Williams, as teammate Albon outqualifies him again this season. Another strong showing from Alex Albon as he showed plenty of pace in his Williams, qualifying P12 but lookin good to start higher thanks to grid penalties of drivers above him in Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc.
Will Red Bull clinch the final championship left tomorrow? Or will Ferrari, based on their strong qualifying efforts and the pace they showed, extend it one more week.