#F1 #USGP Sprint Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen pips @GeorgeRussell63 to #F1Sprint pole by 0.012s.

Verstappen US GP Sprint Pole – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pipped Mercedes’ George Russell to take a crucial pole position for tomorrow’s 100km F1 Sprint race at the US GP as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three. Second-placed in the World Driver’s Championship Lando Norris will start fourth.

In SQ3, the two Mercedes were sent out early as Russell scored a personal best in sector one followed by two purples to set a 1:32.845 whilst his team-mate Hamilton suffered a scruffy lap making a mistake in the middle sector and wound up with a 1:33.378.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the first of the threats to Russell’s benchmark and the Spaniard posted three personal bests and ran too deep into the final corner ending up with a 1:33.089 then McLaren’s Norris jumped the Spaniard with his 1:33.083 effort.

The other SF-24 entry of Leclerc was next, and the Monegasque had a wild moment through the Esses and managed to beat Norris’s time with a 1:33.059 to slot into second behind Russell.

Championship leader Verstappen was the last of the runners and set three personal best sectors and snatched the F1 Sprint pole position off Russell by 0.012 seconds to post a 1:32.833.

This demoted Leclerc to the second row of the grid alongside Norris.

Sainz followed in fifth and ahead of Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg who was sixth and Mercedes’ Hamilton who dropped to seventh.

The second Haas VF-24 entry of Kevin Magnussen placed eighth as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Franco Colapinto rounded out the top ten with the latter suffering a wild spin at turn 12 on his initial flying lap.

Colapinto managed to have one final run but ended up 1.573 seconds off Verstappen’s pole time.

In the second segment, which was topped by Sainz, a late improvement by RB’s Tsunoda of a 1:34.052 eliminated Red Bull’s Sergio Perez by 0.192 seconds meaning the Mexican will start 11^th for the Sprint.

The second RB entry of Liam Lawson qualified 12^th and in-front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly whilst the two Aston Martin’s of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso struggled to be the slowest of the SQ2 eliminatees in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

Alonso’s lap-time was deleted due to exceeding track limits at turn 19 after a wild moment running wide.

In the opening qualifying stage, which was topped by Hamilton, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri had his lap-time invalidated due to exceeding track limits after a wild moment out of the penultimate corner meaning the Australian missed out on a SQ2 appearance by a narrow 0.016 seconds and starts the F1 Sprint 16^th.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon improved to 17^th on his final flyer and starts ahead of Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who suffered a wild spin and cooked his tyres ending up a low-18^th.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix 2024 Sprint Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1247/united-states/sprint-qualifying

2024 US GP Sprint Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing – Honda RBPT, RB20 – 1:32.833:

“We had a good day, Sprint quali is very difficult as you do medium-medium then soft, so you don’t know how much you can push. Happy to be first, it’s been awhile. Always very hectic but this track is amazing to drive. It’s not easy but it’s fun. We’ll do the best we can tomorrow in the Sprint, but we know the most points are available on Sunday and that’s where we really want to do well.”

#F1 #USGP FP1: @Carlossainz55 heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two by 0.021s. #UnitedStatesGP

#F1 @Pirelli #UnitedStatesGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #USGP

2024 F1 World Championship Standings