Lando Norris delivered a quality lap to take pole position at the Circuit of the Americas, beating Max Verstappen to the top grid position as George Russell’s crash prevented the sprint winner in challenging for P1.
The session was already a shocker for Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton having been eliminated in Q1.
Norris and McLaren will head the grid at Austin in a stunning turnaround from the sprint race, where Verstappen and the Ferrari drivers seemed to have a clear edge.
After the first runs in Q3, Norris lead Verstappen by 0.031 seconds – staying ahead despite a massive snap through the penultimate corner largely thanks to a strong middle sector.
On the second attempt on new softs late in the final segment, Verstappen ran ahead of his title rival, having only just avoided a pitlane collision with Pierre Gasly exiting his Alpine garage.
But Verstappen’s attempt to challenge Norris was halted when Russell crashed at the penultimate corner – the Mercedes heading the pack for the final laps.
Russell lost the rear of his W15 through the rapid, plunging left-hander at Turn 19 and spun off through the gravel trap on the outside to hit the barriers hard, with the resulting double yellow flags meaning no drivers were able to complete their laps.
Verstappen and Norris had finished the first sector of their final lap and the world champion had edged a near 0.2 seconds advantage – without getting to the sector where the McLaren had been faster on the first Q3 runs.
The order behind was preserved with Carlos Sainz third for Ferrari, ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren and Russell.
Gasly, who faces a post-qualifying investigation for the pitlane incident with Verstappen, took seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen, while Sergio Perez was only P10 after losing his first time for running too wide out of Turn 9.
In Q2, Yuki Tsunoda could not progress even with the heavily penalty Liam Lawson giving him a tow down the main straight on both his runs.
Lawson, who was third-fastest in Q1, was never going to compete in the middle segment given his grid penalty for another change on the car Daniel Ricciardo had previously been racing.
The other fallers were Nico Hulkenberg in P12 after a Turn 1 lock-up and exit oversteer snap, plus Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll, who could not match Alonso’s jump from the drop zone and into Q3 on their final Q2 fliers for Aston Martin.
In Q1, Hamilton made a shock exit – not gaining time as Russell, who progressed in fourth, did when Mercedes went with the rest of the frontrunners and switched from used to new softs.
Hamilton ended up being shuffled down to P19, with his main time loss coming in an oversteer snap exiting Turn 12, and shipping 0.5 seconds compared to Russell.
Magnussen and Stroll jumped from the drop zone with their final laps right at Q1’s end, which shuffled down Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto for Williams, while the Sauber pair also exited despite personal bests on their final laps – Valtteri Bottas taking P18 ahead of his former teammate and Zhou Guanyu P20.
So the two title contenders are starting on the front row. It will make the United States Grand Prix an exciting race so may the best driver wins on Sunday. Game on!
United States Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:32.330
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.361
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:32.652
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.740
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32.950
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.974
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:33.018
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.309
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:33.481
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:33.020
11 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:33.506
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:33.544
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:33.597
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:33.759
15 Liam Lawson RB 1:33.339
16 Alexander Albon Williams 1:34.051
17 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:34.062
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:34.152
19 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:34.154
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:34.228
Lando Norris took a stunning pole position for the United States Grand Prix, with the McLaren driver’s solid first effort in Q3 ultimately unable to be beaten as the session was brought to an early end following a dramatic crash for George Russell.
Norris had initially taken P1 during the opening runs with his effort of 1m 32.330s, disrupting Max Verstappen’s run at the top through Q1 and Q2. And while the Briton’s second lap was slower, nobody was able to improve when the double waved yellow flags came out after Russell hit the wall at Turn 19 during the final moments, the Mercedes driver fortunately emerging unharmed from the incident.
That confirmed Norris as the pole-sitter, with Verstappen 0.031s back in second while Carlos Sainz took third for Ferrari. The Spaniard’s team mate Charles Leclerc was fourth ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in fifth, while Russell’s time from before his crash put him in sixth.
Pierre Gasly was a strong seventh for Alpine, with Fernando Alonso eighth for Aston Martin. Kevin Magnussen took ninth for Haas in his first Q3 appearance of 2024, and Sergio Perez found himself down in 10th after the Red Bull man’s opening lap was deleted due to track limits.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/norris-clinches-pole-position-ahead-of-verstappen-in-austin-as-russell.5AgHxJQ1wldaEXPbWppToy
Lewis Hamilton labelled his Mercedes Formula 1 car’s set-up as “a mess”, after his qualifying struggles continued at the United States Grand Prix after he was dramatically knocked out in Q1.
The Mercedes driver had left it late in the first qualifying segment to try to get through to Q2, but it all went wrong as he failed to produce the lap time needed.
While he was slightly up on the cutoff point in the first sector, it all went wrong under braking for Turn 12 at the end of the back straight.
He appeared to run deep and, as he struggled to get the car turned in, he suffered some snap oversteer on the exit. As a result, his second sector time ended up being half a second adrift of what team-mate George Russell did and left him in the drop zone.
As a number of other drivers improved in the closing stages of Q1, Hamilton ended up 19th overall at the end – less than one tenth of a second ahead of Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.
Hamilton reckoned his Q1 exit stemmed from the front suspension issue that he carried during the sprint, and the subsequent set-up changes made the car “a nightmare”.
“I mean, it’s been pretty terrible. The car felt great yesterday, so I obviously came really optimistic for today,” Hamilton explained.
“[In the sprint] something failed in the front suspension, literally as we pulled away from the line for the formation lap, and I had that through the race.
“They figured that out, they changed the corner, but it felt like a mess throughout quali.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lewis-hamilton-in-shock-q1-exit-at-us-gp/10664638/
Lando Norris reckoned his United States Grand Prix pole lap was the “best of my career” after denying Max Verstappen in Formula 1 qualifying thanks to the George Russell-induced red flag.
After Q2, Norris had been almost three tenths shy of Verstappen’s headline effort in the middle stage, with few drivers looking like a genuine threat to the Dutchman over a single lap.
Norris then grabbed a 0.031s advantage after the first laps in Q3 as both drivers took fresh softs at the start of the session, a lap that the Briton later conceded that he would have struggled to improve on.
Pole position went Norris’ way when Russell put his car into the wall at Turn 18, which brought out the red flag and put a pin in Verstappen’s effort – one that was set to be quicker than Norris’ eventual pole time.
Norris remarked over the radio that his lap was “beautiful”, and later explained that he wouldn’t have been able to repeat the lap if he’s had another chance.
“The best of probably my career, I think. It was just a very nice lap,” Norris reflected.
“I kind of set the bar too high, because on my second lap, I was like, ‘guys, I don’t think I’m going to improve much here’.
“I got everything out of the car. We changed a good amount from the sprint race into qualifying today and definitely took a step forward.
“But, man, I was still struggling a lot so I just knew I had to risk a little bit more and then give it a little extra. And it just came together perfectly, but it was definitely not a lap I could have repeated.
“So I’m very happy, because I really wasn’t expecting to be here today.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norris-austin-f1-pole-lap-the-best-of-my-career/10664689/
Max Verstappen was left to ponder what could have been after qualifying in P2 for the United States Grand Prix, with the Dutchman missing out on pole position following a mistake on his first run while he was unable to complete his second lap due to double waved yellow flags.
It had looked to be advantage Verstappen throughout the early stages of the session, the reigning world champion having set the pace in Q1 and Q2 just hours after winning the Sprint in dominant style.
However, Lando Norris snatched provisional pole after the first runs in Q3, Verstappen having made an error into Turn 19 which lost him time. While his second effort looked promising, it came to an early end when George Russell triggered the double waved yellow flags after crashing into the barriers during the final moments of qualifying, meaning that those on a lap were unable to improve.
Quizzed on whether that slip-up on his first attempt cost him, Verstappen explained: “Yeah, on the first lap in Q3 I lost quite a bit of time there, so that’s unfortunate, but I knew that we had another run but unfortunately I couldn’t finish the lap, otherwise I think we had a really good shot.
“That’s how it goes, we’re still on the front row. At least the potential was there to be first, so that’s very good.”
“It seemed that we were competitive, so we made some minor changes on the car which felt nice,” said Verstappen. “I hope that that will be also positive for tomorrow.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/at-least-the-potential-was-there-verstappen-rues-unfortunate-qualifying.3f45AGilstg1qDtFImwYni