Charles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to pole position and Lewis Hamilton came third by less than a tenth of a second in a tightly-contested qualifying session in the United States Grand Prix, which will begin with Max Verstappen sixth after the champion had his final run deleted for exceeding track limits.
Red Bull’s Verstappen, who would have taken pole with his final run, was penalised for a transgression at T19, leaving Ferrari’s Leclerc to take his 21st Formula One pole, 0.130 seconds ahead of McLaren rival Lando Norris.
Sportsnews reports that Hamilton was 0.009secs behind Norris for Mercedes, while the seven-time champion’s teammate, George Russell, finished fifth, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz between the pair.
“We know in the Sprint weekends it’s more important than ever to have a good FP1 – and we did,” Leclerc told Sky Sports, speaking after the track temperature hit 40 degrees in Austin.
“We started with a strong base thanks to the work the guys had done to prepare for this weekend, with the car feeling good straight away. I was happy throughout qualifying, On the last lap in Q3 there were some mistakes here and there, but it wasn’t easy for everyone.”
Red Bull have an unusually complicated challenge if they are to prevail again in Sunday’s race, Verstappen missing out on a time that was 0.005s ahead of Leclerc but scuppered by his late error. Teammate Sergio Perez, who Verstappen appeared to express his frustration with late in qualifying, took ninth.
Verstappen remains the likeliest winner of the Grand Prix but Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton, who professed his love for the Circuit of the Americas and its host nation afterwards, will be encouraged by the look of the grid.
Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso said he wished Aston Martin could have restarted the entire day following a forgettable showing. The two-time champion secured a lowly 17th, with Lance Stroll two places further back.
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