The qualifying report from Austin:
Following this morning’s Sprint, the qualifying session for the United States Grand Prix also provided plenty of excitement. The battle in Q3 was primarily between the two title contenders: Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. The McLaren driver took the lead by 31 thousandths, setting the fastest time on his first attempt and benefiting from George Russell’s incident on the second. The Mercedes #63’s off-track excursion prevented all the drivers from seeking a second time.
Behind the two friendly rivals were the two Ferrari SF-24 cars of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with the Spaniard once again ahead of the Monegasque, as had happened in the Sprint race. The third row consisted of Oscar Piastri and George Russell, who managed to secure the sixth-fastest time while assessing the damage to his Mercedes. It was a nightmare day for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was eliminated in Q1 with the 19th fastest time.
Lando Norris’ comments after the qualifying session for the United States Grand Prix:
Lando Norris (1st, McLaren): “The pole lap was beautiful, I couldn’t go much faster. It would have been tough to beat it even if I had completed a second attempt. I put everything on the line, and that was what was needed. This weekend we had to chase; we didn’t have the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull. I had to come up with something, and today I did. This track is very fast, and inside the cockpit, you really feel the speed. When the car is good, you smile even more. It has been a difficult weekend, but we changed quite a bit, reassessed what we could, and improved. Maybe we weren’t the quickest today, but there was a bit of luck, and I’ll take it. As for the race and tire degradation risks? We did our job, made some changes, but it will be tough. We’ve checked one box off our list, but tomorrow’s race will be challenging.”
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