US Grand Prix: pole for Leclerc

Sunny. Dry. Air +35…36С, highway +42С

The organizers of the US Grand Prix in Austin continued to experiment with the format, and in 2023 the weekend included a sprint on Saturday. Qualifying for Sunday’s race took place on Friday and the grandstands were completely full.

Spectators in Texas fell in love with Formula 1, plus quite affordable (compared to other American venues) prices, an excellent entertainment program – and new success.

Daniel Ricciardo has returned to AlphaTauri. After replacing the fired Nick de Vries in Hungary, he only completed two stages and suffered a hand injury in Zandvoort. The Australian missed five races – he was replaced by Liam Lawson, but got back behind the wheel in Austin.

Mercedes, Haas F1 and AlphaTauri brought new products in preparation for the next season and devoted a podium to testing them – other tasks in the championship were practically solved.

During training, Aston Martin experienced problems with brake cooling. Stroll handed the car over to the mechanics after five laps, Alonso drove more, but finished only 19th.

In the morning, Max Verstappen led the protocol, but the results turned out to be very tight, further increasing interest in qualifying.

Pirelli once again brought the three ‘medium’ compounds to the podium – C2, C3 and C4, labeled Hard, Medium and Soft.

In the first session Everyone rode Soft as usual, but many opted for the rolled-in set, saving new tires for the next sessions.

The riders were again given a heavy fine for exceeding the boundaries of the track, which required them to complete the lap not only quickly, but also accurately, and not everyone succeeded in the latter.

The results were tight, with Hamilton topping the protocol with a lap time of 1:35.091. Norris lost to him by only two hundredths. Hulkenberg, Alonso, Albon, Stroll and Sargent dropped out of further competition.

In the second session The pattern repeated itself – the first fast lap (for almost everyone) was on rolled-in tires, the second – on a new set. The stewards adjusted the teams’ plans – on the first attempt, Norris’s best lap on fresh tires was cancelled, so they had to give it their all in the second.

Leclerc led the protocol, four thousandths ahead of Verstappen: 1:35.004. Tsunoda, Zhou, Bottas, Magnussen and Ricciardo did not qualify for the final.

In the final on the first attempt Leclerc set the best time, completing a lap in 1:34.829. Verstappen crashed into his teammate’s car on the first attempt and remained only third.

On the second attempt, Verstappen’s lap was canceled – and the best time remained with Leclerc – 1:34.723.

Charles Leclerc won qualifying in Austin to take his 21st career pole and third this season.

Together with him, Lando Norris will start the race from the front row, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz will start the race from the second row, and George Russell and Max Verstappen will start the race from the third row.

Qualifying results