F1: Leclerc takes pole at US Grand Prix as Verstappen slips to sixth

Ferrari’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc celebrates successful the pole place after the qualifying session for the 2023 United States Components One Grand Prix on the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on October 20, 2023. (Photograph by Chandan Khanna / AFP)

Charles Leclerc claimed his third pole place of the season on Friday as Max Verstappen had his greatest lap deleted and slipped to sixth on the grid in a dramatic qualifying at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver confirmed commanding tempo as he clocked a quickest lap in a single minute and 34.723 seconds to outpace McLaren’s Lando Norris by a tenth with resurgent seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes taking third.

Carlos Sainz was fourth within the second Ferrari forward of George Russell within the second Williams and Verstappen, whose late greatest lap was fast sufficient for pole earlier than it was rubbed out after he exceeded observe limits at Flip 19.

It was the twenty first pole place of Leclerc’s profession and provides him an opportunity of irritating newly-crowned three-time champion Verstappen’s bid for a fiftieth profession victory in Sunday’s race.

“I’m very proud of my qualifying and to take pole place,” mentioned Leclerc.

“It was a very good lap and the group did an amazing job. We had a really clear FP1, which is so vital on these dash weekends.”

A rollercoaster of feelings for @Charles_Leclerc 🎢

On pole, not on pole… again on pole! 👀#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qjvvmjLq29

— Components 1 (@F1) October 21, 2023

Norris described his front-row begin as a “bonus for the group”.

He mentioned: “I feel I used to be fast sufficient to get pole place. I do know Charles mentioned he made just a few errors, however so did I! And anyway, I’m proud of second however.”

Hamilton, who relished the efficiency of his automobile’s upgrades at certainly one of his favourite circuits, mentioned: “I like being right here at this circuit and I like the nation. That is such an extremely difficult circuit and certainly one of my favorites, up there with Silverstone.

‘My greatest shot’

“We’ve taken a step nearer to those guys this weekend, due to everybody within the manufacturing facility who’ve been pushing so exhausting. I’ll give it my greatest shot tomorrow.”

Behind a grumbling Verstappen, who complained on group radio, the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon have been seventh and eighth forward of Sergio Perez within the second Pink Bull and Oscar Piastri within the second McLaren.

The session started in wonderful sunshine with a observe temperature of 42 levels Celsius and the air at 35, situations to problem tires and automobiles on the Circuit of the Americas.

Leclerc set an early quickest lap earlier than Verstappen after which Nico Hulkenberg took command, the German profiting from a significant improve bundle for his Haas on residence soil.

Each Ferraris then swept to the highest with Sainz main Leclerc by two-tenths forward of Gasly’s Alpine, with everybody working on softs, earlier than they started their second Q1 runs.

Sainz selected to save lots of tires and miss a second run as Verstappen went high by virtually half a second solely to be outpaced by Hamilton, on new tires, who beat him by two-tenths. Norris was second.

On the backside finish, it was unhealthy information for Aston Martin, regardless of an improve bundle, as each two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll didn’t make the minimize.

Alonso was seventeenth and eradicated from Q1 for the primary time this 12 months together with Hulkenberg, in his Haas, Stroll, nineteenth, and the Williams pair Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant.

Stroll had missed most of apply as a consequence of brake issues, which additionally bothered Alonso. For the Canadian son of group proprietor Lawrence Stroll, it was a fifth consecutive Q1 flop.

In Q2, Mercedes set the tempo till Verstappen seized the initiative in an in depth scrap that noticed 9 automobiles separated by lower than four-tenths earlier than their second runs noticed Ferrari shine once more.

Leclerc topped Verstappen forward of Hamilton and Sainz whereas Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and his Alfa Romeo team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen of Haas and Daniel Ricciardo, within the second Alpha Tauri, have been knocked out.

All this left 10 automobiles from 5 groups in Q3’s shootout.

Leclerc topped the primary runs forward of Hamilton by 0.056 seconds with Verstappen third and Sainz fourth. Russell’s lap was deleted for exceeding observe limits, leaving him tenth earlier than the ultimate showdown.