#F1 #USGP Qualifying: @LandoNorris scores pole as @GeorgeRussell63 crashes.
Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 celebrates in Parc Ferme and receiving his Pirelli P1 Pole Position Award from Mondo Duplantis after taking pole position. Qualifying, Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024, Circuit Of The Americas, Austin, Texas, United States Of America. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Norris US GP Pole, 2024 US GP Qualifying, US GP Qualifying Results, F1 US GP Qualifying Results, 2024 Formula 1 United States GP Qualifying Results.
Norris US GP Pole – McLaren’s Lando Norris took pole position in qualifying at the US GP, which ended under a yellow flag after Mercedes’ George Russell crashed at the penultimate corner bringing out double-waved yellows to end the Q3 session meaning the majority could not post a final flyer. Championship leader and Sprint winner Max Verstappen sits second alongside his title-rival as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the top three.
In Q3, the initial flyers saw Norris set a personal best in sector one and two purples in the final two sectors to score a 1:32.330 effort to take provisional pole with Verstappen falling only 0.031 seconds off despite a purple sector one. Sainz was a further 0.322 seconds adrift in third.
In the final hot laps, Mercedes’ George Russell suffered a shunt in the penultimate corner meaning double-waved yellows in the final sector so no drivers could set a last hot-lap to improve, which gives Norris pole position for tomorrow’s US Grand Prix and Verstappen lines up alongside his title-rival on the front row.
Both Ferrari’s of Sainz and Charles Leclerc qualified on the second row of the grid in third and fourth respectively as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took fifth.
Mercedes’ Russell despite his shunt wounded up sixth as the Briton overcooked it on his flyer into turn 19, taking too much kerb, losing the rear of his F1 W15 racer, spun across the gravel and whacked the barrier damaging the front of his Silver Arrow.
BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly qualified a brilliant seventh and ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who ended up eighth as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completed the top ten.
In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Verstappen, a late improvement from Aston Martin’s Alonso sent RB’s Yuki Tsunoda out of in Q2 by 0.032 seconds.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg missed out on a Q3 appearance by 0.070 seconds after making an error at turn one and wounded up 12th.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon took 13th and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and RB’s Liam Lawson who were 14th and 15th respectively.
In the opening segment, which was topped by Verstappen, a late improvement from Magnussen saw Williams’ Alexander Albon knocked out by a slim 0.018 seconds to be the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees.
The other Williams FW46 entry of Franco Colapinto also was eliminated ending up 17th and missed out on a Q2 appearance by a tight 0.029 seconds.
Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu qualified 18th and at the rear respectively as Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton was the shock eliminatee in 19th as the seven-time world champion had his lap-time invalidated due to exceeding track limits at turn 12.
***The aforementioned Lawson will start the United States Grand Prix at the back of the grid due to taking on a full range of power-unit component changes. ***
You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1247/united-states/qualifying
2024 US GP Qualifying – The Top Three
2024 US GP Pole Position – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 1:32.330:
“It was a beautiful lap; I wasn’t going to go much quicker. You know when you do a lap and you think damn, it’s going to be tough to beat that. We’ve been on the back foot all weekend, not on the pace of the Ferrari or the Red Bull so sometimes as a driver you have to do something, which I did. Carlos said he was going quicker, Max said he was going quicker so maybe I was lucky, but I’ll take it.”
2nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – +0.031s:
“Unfortunately I couldn’t finish the lap as otherwise we’d have had a really good shot, but that’s how it goes. We made some minor changes on the car that felt nice, so I hope that will be positive for tomorrow.”
3rd Place – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – +0.322s:
“That was the target, to do a step in qualifying compared to yesterday, We were P5 yesterday and we are now P3. I was three tenths up on my lap going into Turn 16 with only three corners left – but it’s easy to say now. With those two guys in front, it should be a fun one.”
2024 F1 World Championship Standings
#F1 #USGP: @Max33Verstappen takes comfortable #F1Sprint victory.
#F1 #USGP Sprint Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen pips @GeorgeRussell63 to #F1Sprint pole by 0.012s.
#F1 #USGP FP1: @Carlossainz55 heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two by 0.021s. #UnitedStatesGP
