Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc achieved pole position for the United States Grand Prix following a lap time deletion for Max Verstappen due to track limits.
In an exciting and close competitive session between Red Bull and its typically trailing rivals, Leclerc led the way for the Scuderia through Q2 and again on the first runs in Q3.
Track limits were a focus throughout the one-hour qualifying session, with the penultimate and final corners – Turns 19 and 20 – tricky for the drivers to stay within the white lines.
Leclerc’s time of one minute, 34.828 seconds topped the first of two Q3 runs, with Verstappen down in third position behind Lewis Hamilton and with 0.252 seconds to close, with the Mercedes 0.056 seconds behind the Ferrari.
On the final Q3 run, Leclerc led the pack and went even quicker with one minute, 34.723 seconds despite setting no purple sectors, which gave the opportunity for Verstappen.
The world champion gained time as his final lap wore on, but a slide Turn 19 sent him a fraction wide and his one minute, 34.718 seconds was deleted.
That promoted Lando Norris into second following a solid second Q3 run after taking used softs for the first efforts in the final segment.
Hamilton came through last of the frontrunners but was unable to beat the McLaren driver off the front row for Sunday’s main race despite going fractionally faster than his previous Q3 personal best.
Carlos Sainz took fourth ahead of George Russell, with Verstappen’s first Q3 time putting him only in sixth position, but nevertheless ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, who ended up ninth.
Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon took seventh and eighth, with Qatar sprint winner Oscar Piastri rounding out the top ten.
In the Q2 segment topped by Leclerc, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo were all eliminated. With Ricciardo losing a final lap that was good enough to get him into Q3 for running too wide out of Turn 19.
In Q1, which Hamilton was fastest, Nico Hulkenberg was knockout after also losing his final lap to running too wide out of the penultimate turn, the Haas driver having at one stage been leading the opening segment.
Behind him, both Aston Martin cars were shockingly knocked out following their front brake issues in FP1, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll setting personal bests on their final Q1 laps but ending up in P17 and P19 around Williams pair Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant.
Tsunoda, Ricciardo and Stroll face a post-qualifying investigation for possibly failing to follow the race director’s instructions regarding the maximum lap time for out and in laps that is aimed at reducing traffic issues in qualifying.
So congratulations to Charles Leclerc in taking pole position for Scuderia Ferrari. As this is a sprint weekend, there will be another opportunity to set the best lap time for grid positions.
United States Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:34.723
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:34.853
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.862
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:34.945
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:35.079
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:35.081
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:35.089
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:35.154
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:35.173
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:35.467
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:35.697
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:35.698
13 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:35.858
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:35.880
15 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri 1:35.974
16 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:36.235
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:36.268
18 Alexander Albon Williams 1:36.315
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:36.589
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:36.827
Charles Leclerc came out on top after an enthralling qualifying hour in Austin, as the Ferrari driver put in a sublime late effort to take pole position ahead of rivals Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton for the United States Grand Prix.
Leclerc was on provisional pole after the first runs in Q3 and improved on his final attempt by two-tenths, with his lap of 1m 34.723s giving him his third pole position of the season.
Norris wound up second, over a tenth off Leclerc, while Hamilton looked on course to take pole, but ended up third in his upgraded Mercedes. Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari, with George Russell rounding out the top five.
Max Verstappen looked to have placed his Red Bull on pole but had his time deleted for exceeding track limits at the penultimate corner and will start the race from sixth, ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly in seventh.
Esteban Ocon was eighth for Alpine, ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, with the McLaren of Oscar Piastri down in 10th.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.leclerc-outduels-norris-and-hamilton-to-take-pole-in-austin-after-verstappen.3eDJqaurzFWhvDHuzmVflw.html
Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin should write off the rest of Formula 1’s 2023 United States Grand Prix and use it as a glorified test session following a “painful” qualifying.
The two-time world champion managed just 17th in the Friday shootout to determine the grid for the grand prix on Sunday, while team-mate Lance Stroll pipped only Logan Sargeant for 19th place.
This followed both of the newly upgraded AMR23s (revised floor, engine cover bodywork) having to curtail their running during the sole practice session due to front-left brake fires.
As such, Alonso was left to lament a “painful” day that Aston Martin needed to ‘completely repeat’ and reckoned that the rest of the Austin weekend should be used as a test for 2024.
He said: “We should go back and repeat the day completely starting from the morning.
“We had that terrible session. Lance didn’t complete any laps; I only did six or seven quality laps with the new package. Too many unknowns in terms of how to operate the package and the new car.
“So, I think we went a bit blind into qualifying and obviously we see the results, so nothing we can do now.
“We use this weekend as a test for next year as well, even if they are painful. So, let’s see what we can learn in the remaining sessions.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-f1-us-gp-a-write-off-after-painful-qualifying/10535344/
Charles Leclerc “had a heart attack” on his cooldown lap after qualifying for Formula 1’s 2023 Austin race as he misunderstood a radio message regarding Max Verstappen’s track limits demotion.
The Ferrari driver had improved provisional pole position with his final run in Q3 at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday evening, only for Verstappen to pip him by 0.005s before the Red Bull racer lost his last lap for going too wide out of the penultimate corner.
That cemented Leclerc’s third pole position of the 2023 season but was followed by an exchange with his Ferrari engineer Xavier Marcos Padros, as Leclerc was initially despondent at being pipped to pole – he exhaled “for f***s sake, for f***s sake” at hearing Verstappen’s time was 1m34.718s versus his 1m34.723s – then shocked into thinking it was he who had been demoted.
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Leclerc said: “I just had a heart attack because my engineer told me ‘track limits…’ then ‘…for Verstappen’.
“And when I heard ‘track limits’ I punched the steering wheel and my helmet and [then] I heard ‘for Verstappen’ and then I was [thinking], ‘ok, that’s better news for us!’
“That’s why in the moment I just said to Xavi, ‘please, tell me the name before the track limits because I got too excited’.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-leclerc-heart-attack-track-limits-radio-message/10535480/
McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris reckons a front-row start for the 2023 United States Grand Prix was “not expected” but nevertheless reckons he should have nicked pole position.
In the Friday evening qualifying session to determine the Sunday GP grid, Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc topped the times with a 1m34.723s final flying lap to pip Norris by 0.13s.
They were helped by Max Verstappen having his lap time binned for exceeding track limits at Turn 19 after he ran wide on exit. The Red Bull driver was subsequently demoted to sixth place.
With Verstappen out the way, Norris says pole position was up for grabs even if his expectation ahead of the session had not even been to make the front row of the grid.
“I’m happy. It’s been a good day,” he said. “Probably not expected from the end result so a good bonus for the whole team.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lando-norris-f1-us-gp-front-row/10535387/