@Carlossainz55 beats @ScuderiaFerrari team-mate @CharlesLeclerc to #USGP pole. #F1 #UnitedStatesGP

Sainz US GP Pole – Carlos Sainz clinched pole position at the US GP by pipping his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and Red Bull Racing’s newly-crowned back-to-back World Champion Max Verstappen.

After finding himself within 0.1 seconds off pole on four occasions in the 2022 campaign, Sainz dug deep to top qualifying for the second time in his Formula 1 career after beating Leclerc’s Q3 effort by 0.065 seconds.

Leclerc’s first best time in Q3 was a 1:34.624, which gave him provisional pole in-front of Sainz, with Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton third after a solid sector two effort and Verstappen in fourth.

The Dutchman attempted a unique final segment strategy with a slow preparation tour for his final hot-lap, but he could not top the Ferrari duo after losing time in the slower corners in sector three and wound up 0.092 off.

The ten-grid-placed engine-penalty-hit Leclerc bettered his time with a 1:34.421, but team-mate Sainz, following behind toppled that with a 1:34.356 to pip the Monegasque driver to pole.

Verstappen’s final effort was enough to demote Hamilton from third as the Mercedes driver could not beat his initial final segment flyer and the Briton failing to improve allowed the other Red Bull RB18 entry of Sergio Perez to slot in-front too, as the Mexican did with a personal best effort whilst running ahead of the Ferrari pairing.

Behind Hamilton was his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in seventh despite only running once in the third qualifying stage – offset from the others after they initially completed their first runs at the beginning and whilst Verstappen was starting his final preparation lap.

McLaren’s Lando Norris placed eighth and in-front of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who was ninth and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas completing the top ten.

Alonso and Perez will drop from where they qualified for also taking on new power-unit components outside the permitted allocations for the season.

In the second qualifying stage, that was topped by Leclerc, Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon ended outside the top ten in 11^th, with the Thai-Briton leading the pack through the final Q2 flying laps and posted a personal best to jump into the top 10 before three of his rivals improved late on and relegated him back to eleventh.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel lost his initial effort from early on in Q2 due to understeering off and exceeding track limits exiting turn nine at the end of the Esses, but the four-time world champion done enough with his final hot-lap to take 12^th.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who was struggling with brake problems for the second race weekend in a row – particularly at the opening corner and turn 11 placed 13^th.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was denied a Q3 appearance and wound-up 14^th as the other AT03 AlphaTauri entry of Yuki Tsunoda was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15^th as both drivers lost their final Q2 efforts due to track limit infringements – Zhou who will drop five places on the grid, was ahead of the Japanese driver due to setting a better lap earlier.

Tsunoda exceeded track limits at turn nine, whilst Zhou’s came at turn 12, which costed the Chinese driver a place in the top ten shootout, that gave Norris some late relief after he initially ended up 11^th in the second qualifying stage.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Sainz, Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was the quickest of the eliminatees in 16^th and in-front of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who took 17^th and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who placed a shock 18^th.

The other VF-22 entry of Mick Schumacher and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi brought up the rear as both drivers were the only ones not to post personal bests on their final flying laps.

Latifi failed to match his initial Q1 effort, whilst Schumacher’s final lap time was over before it began when the German spun at turn one.

Schumacher looped his VF-22 racer around in a fast 360-degree spin, the rear came round to the right as he planted the power down past the apex of the bumpy, up/down hairpin that begins the lap of the Circuit of the Americas.

You can see the full Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2022 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1135/united-states/qualifying.html

2022 US GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2022 US GP Pole Position – Carlos Sainz, #55, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75, 1:34.356:

“It was fun, a lot of fun. It was tricky with the winds, so gusty that it is a bit of an adventure with these cars. I managed to put a lap together with no mistakes. Pole position has been a long time coming. I think tomorrow Red Bull are favourites, they have a strong race pace, but we’ll do everything we can to try and stay ahead and win.”

2^nd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, F1-75, +0.065:

“It’s difficult with the wind, the car changes lap to lap. Carlos did a better job today and deserves to start from pole. I’ll start further back but will try my best. No crazy risks but if there is an opportunity, I’ll be there to take it.”

3^rd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT, RB18, +0.092:

“It’s a very tough day. We tried to give it everything but unfortunately, we missed out. But there’s a race tomorrow and we’ll try and make [Dietrich Mateschitz] proud.”

In the earlier FP3 session, it was Verstappen quickest for Red Bull and ahead of Ferrari pairing Leclerc and Sainz who were second and third respectively as the Dutchman’s team-mate Perez placed fourth in the other RB18 entry with Mercedes’ Hamilton completing the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1135/united-states/practice-3.html

Vale Dietrich Mateschitz 1944-2022.

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