US Grand Prix: Sainz’s Pole

Sunny. Dry. Air +30…29С, route +36…35С

Qualifying in Austin was the last of the season, starting at 1AM Moscow time – qualifying and the race will again be held on the same day.

The organizers offered fans an even more extensive entertainment program so that local time qualifying started late – at 5pm and the sun went down at 6:52pm – any long hiccups could push the session to Sunday. On Friday, riders complained that the rays of the setting sun were making some turns “blind”, but they have not adjusted the schedule because of this.

Before the start of qualifying, it was announced that the owner of two Red Bull teams, Dietrich Mateschitz, died. Representatives of Formula 1 and team leaders expressed their condolences.

On Friday Leclair showed the best time, on Saturday afternoon Verstappen was in the lead. Like last year, four riders started qualifying knowing they would lose positions at the start. Leclerc – ten, Alonso, Perez and Zhou – five each.

Pirelli brought to the stage the “middle” trio of compositions – C2, C3 and C4 in the role of Hard, Medium and Soft. In qualifying, everyone used only the softest composition.

In the first session Latifi failed to complete the fastest lap, returned to the pits, but then took off again. On the first try, protocol was led by Sainz, who had passed the lap in 1:35.297 and was half a second ahead of his partner.

Sainz, Leclerc, Verstappen and Perez gave up on the second attempt, the rest kept fighting, but Carlos’ result remained the best. Schumacher spun, he ruined a set of tires and aborted the attempt. Magnussen, Riccardo, Ocon, Schumacher and Latifi dropped out of the further battle.

In the second session Gasly locked up the tires and broke the circle and returned to the pits. On the first attempt, Leclerc set the best time with a lap time of 1:35.246 – five hundredths ahead of Verstappen. Vettel had canceled his lap time because he went off track.

Leclerc, Sainz and Perez abandoned the second attempt, the rest went to the track. Verstappen returned to the pits without completing the lap. Zhou had canceled a lap due to leaving the track and he dropped out of the top ten. Albon, Vettel, Gasly, Zhou and Tsunoda did not qualify for the final.

In the final Leclerc took the lead in the first run with a lap time of 1:34.624, while Sainz was faster in the second run with 1:34.356.

Carlos Sainz won Austin qualifier with his third pole position of the season and career. Charles Leclerc showed the second fastest time, but lost ten places at the start. Sainz and Verstappen start from the front row, Hamilton and Russell from the second.

Qualification Results