Bottas takes pole in Texas; Vettel starts P2 as P3 Verstappen splits Ferraris; Hamilton only P5 as he closes in on 6th title
On a weekend where Lewis Hamilton is almost certain to clinch his remarkable sixth Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas did his level best to delay the inevitable by taking pole in Saturday qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. On a warm day at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, where the dusty and bumpy track evolved rapidly throughout the three qualifying sessions, Bottas laid down a new track record 1:32.029 lap midway through Q3 that none of the other contenders could touch. As the only driver remaining with a mathematical chance of catching Hamilton with just three races to go including the USGP, the Finn did what he had to do to keep his slim hopes alive by taking the top starting spot with one flawless lap. Surprisingly, Hamilton could not quite hook up a full lap on this tricky, flowing counter-clockwise circuit and could only muster the fifth fastest time while battling the strong winds and what sounded a bit like his own nerves at the prospect of being so close securing the 2019 title and another significant marker on the road to F1 immortality.
Hamilton’s desultory qualifying result was good news for the other top contenders, as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was able to take P2 on the grid alongside Bottas on the front row with a time a mere .012 behind the Finn’s. But Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was able to split the Prancing Horses by taking P3 a few hundredths ahead of Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari. To be fair to Leclerc and the team it was somewhat amazing to see him even turning hot laps at all after his car suffered an engine failure in Free Practice 3 just a few hours earlier and his mechanics had to swap engines in that short time. Leclerc was doubly lucky that the change necessitated no penalty positions on the grid, as Ferrari merely went back to an earlier spec power plant that they had already used previously in the season. But keep an eye on the talented young Monegasque during the race to see if his used engine A) has the pace of his rivals and B) can survive the race distance at full throttle.
Top 10 qualifiers for the United States GP:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 1:33.750 | 1:33.160 | 1:32.029 | 18 |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | FERRARI | 1:33.766 | 1:32.782 | 1:32.041 | 17 |
| 3 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:33.549 | 1:33.120 | 1:32.096 | 16 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 1:33.988 | 1:32.760 | 1:32.137 | 19 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 1:33.454 | 1:33.045 | 1:32.321 | 17 |
| 6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 1:33.984 | 1:32.898 | 1:32.548 | 14 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:33.916 | 1:33.422 | 1:32.847 | 15 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN RENAULT | 1:33.353 | 1:33.316 | 1:33.175 | 18 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RENAULT | 1:33.835 | 1:33.608 | 1:33.488 | 15 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA | 1:33.556 | 1:33.715 | 1:33.601 | 19 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Sunday’s race will be broadcast live starting at 1:30PM Eastern on ABC here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Hamilton can clinch or Bottas can live to fight another day!