Lando Norris beat title rival Max Verstappen to United States Grand Prix pole as George Russell’s crash brought qualifying to a premature end.
McLaren’s Norris produced a superb effort to edge world championship leader Verstappen by 0.031s on their first flying laps in the final part of the session, before both drivers were forced to abort their second runs when Russell crashed at Turn 19.
Verstappen had produced a quick first sector and appeared in with a strong chance of improving the leading time, while Norris seemed unlikely to better his earlier effort after failing to match his previous time for the first part of the lap.
The result boosts Norris’ hopes of making ground on Verstappen in Sunday’s race, after the Red Bull driver had earlier on Saturday extended his lead over the Brit at the top of the standings to 54 points by winning the Sprint.
Ferrari locked out the second row through Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with the third-placed Spaniard three tenths of a second off the pole time.
Norris is more likely to receive support from his team-mate than Verstappen on Sunday, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri taking fifth, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez could only manage 10th after he had his sole Q3 flying lap deleted for breaching track limits.
Russell claimed sixth as his crash compounded a hugely disappointing session for Mercedes, who earlier saw Lewis Hamilton make a shock Q1 exit as he qualified 19th.
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Lewis Hamilton drops out of Q1 at the United States Grand Prix
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly produced a hugely impressive display to take seventh, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
Liam Lawson, driving in his first race since replacing Daniel Ricciardo at RB, flashed impressive pace to advance from Q1 but will start from the back of the grid due to penalties for taking new engine parts.
Norris: It was the best lap of my career
After a near month-long pause following Norris’ dominant victory last time out at the Singapore Grand Prix, the question arriving in Austin was whether the Brit could maintain his push to deny Verstappen a fourth successive drives’ title over the final six rounds of the season.
While some of the focus on the actual contest was taken away by McLaren’s public outcry over a contentious ride height adjusting device on Red Bull’s car, when the drivers finally took to the track on Friday there were concerning signs for Norris.
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Sky Sports’ Anthony Davidson analyses the fastest laps from qualifying between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
Verstappen took advantage of some seemingly impactful Red Bull upgrades to take Sprint pole, and then backed it up on Saturday by taking victory in the 19-lap contest to claim his first win in any race since the last Sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix in June.
The Dutchman’s strong form continued into qualifying, and he appeared to be a very clear favourite for pole going into the final part of the session after topping Norris by more than two tenths of a second in Q2.
But then, after being told before his first Q3 run by engineer Will Joseph over team radio to “trust the car” and not overdrive, Norris produced what was clearly his best lap of the weekend, and what he thinks was the best of his career.
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Lando Norris felt his pole lap was one of his best ever but a worry that Max Verstappen was going faster.
“It was the best (lap) of probably my career, I think,” Norris said.
“It was a beautiful lap. I was not going to go much quicker than I did.
“It’s what we needed to do. We have been on the backfoot pretty much the whole weekend. We haven’t had the pace of the Ferraris or Red Bulls.”
While there were no guarantees in a tricky final part of the lap that repeatedly caught drivers out throughout the session, Verstappen’s first sector had undoubtedly given him a decent chance of snatching pole.
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Max Verstappen reflects on his qualifying session at the United States Grand Prix where he finished in P2.
“I was a good amount up,” Verstappen said.
“I lost quite a bit of lap time there (at Turn 19 on the first run), that would have already been enough for pole. So on the second lap there was time to find, for free, but I never really got to that corner.
“That happens. Qualifying is not always in your control.”
Hamilton bemoans ‘nightmare’ car as Russell apologises for crash
Ahead of qualifying, many in the paddock had expected Mercedes to contend for pole after the Silver Arrows had shown strong one-lap pace on Friday before struggling with tyre degradation in the Sprint.
It was therefore a huge shock when Hamilton, who has excelled at COTA throughout his career, was completely out of sorts in Q1.
The seven-time world champion was off the pace on used tyres to begin with, and then was able to find minimal improvement even with a fresh set of the soft compound.
His struggles were highlighted by the fact he finished 19th on the timesheet, with even his former Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas out-pacing him in an extremely poor Sauber.
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Hamilton says the car was a nightmare after he dropped out in Q1
Hamilton appeared to suggest that a suspension issue during the Sprint had thrown him off in selecting the correct balance for the remainder of the weekend, and added that he may now accept a pit lane start in order to alter his setup before the race.
He said: “In the Sprint we had some sort of failure from the formation lap on the front suspension. I had that throughout the Sprint race. That made the balance really difficult.
“We changed a couple of things which pushed us in the direction in what we would have done yesterday. The car was a nightmare in qualifying.
“I should probably start in the pit lane, otherwise I won’t be going anywhere from where I am.”
Russell, as has so often been the case this season, was able to better cope with the W15 than Hamilton, and advanced to Q3 with relative comfort.
He was on course to improve his time and put himself in contention for a position nearer the front of the grid when he lost control of the car at Turn 19.
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George Russell expresses his frustration with the car after he ended in the wall during Q3 at the United States Grand Prix.
“I went into the penultimate corner turned in, then the thing went on me, caught me by surprise,” Russell said. “Maybe I was over-pushing.
“Pretty disappointed with the damage caused to the car and the work that will go on tonight and a little confused that both Lewis and I were in the fight for pole yesterday and today we were nowhere.”
“Apologies to the team. They have worked hard to bring these upgrades and it’s really disappointing from my side with the outcome.”
Sky Sports F1’s live United States GP schedule
Sunday October 20
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Sunday’s race build-up from 7.15pm)
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