Sainz pips Leclerc for pole but engine penalties shuffle grid at COTA; Verstappen third fastest in Texas
On a race weekend overshadowed by the death of legendary Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, Saturday qualifying for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix carried on nonetheless. At the beautiful, flowing Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas the track ramped up in the late afternoon Q3 session and it was Ferrari who got the most from their machines as the fierce Texas heat receded. Carlos Sainz pipped his more heralded teammate Charles Leclerc by a mere .065-seconds. The Spaniard earned his second career F1 pole as the checkers flew in the final quali round and also bettered both the Red Bulls of newly minted 2022 champion Max Verstappen and his ace wingman Sergio Perez, who could do no better than P3 and P4 respectively. Further down the pylon, Lewis Hamilton once again out-qualified his young Mercedes teammate George Russell, P5 to P6. However, as happens all too frequently in F1, engine penalties will scramble the grid for the GP, most notably a 10-place grid drop to Leclerc, which will push the Monegasque down to a P12 starting spot and a 5-place penalty for Perez that will drop the Mexican pilot down to ninth on the grid. That means that it will be Sainz duking it out with Verstappen going up the steep hill into Turn 1 instead of his Scuderia stablemate Leclerc, who will be forced to fight his way back up through a crowded midfield and back into relevance.
Top 10 qualifiers for the USGP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:35.297 | 1:35.590 | 1:34.356 | |
| 2 | 1:35.795 | 1:35.246 | 1:34.421 | |
| 3 | 1:35.864 | 1:35.294 | 1:34.448 | |
| 4 | 1:36.163 | 1:35.864 | 1:34.645 | |
| 5 | 1:36.148 | 1:35.732 | 1:34.947 | |
| 6 | 1:36.195 | 1:35.692 | 1:34.988 | |
| 7 | 1:36.860 | 1:36.032 | 1:35.598 | |
| 8 | 1:36.465 | 1:36.341 | 1:35.690 | |
| 9 | 1:36.446 | 1:35.988 | 1:35.876 | |
| 10 | 1:36.746 | 1:36.321 | 1:36.319 |
Adjusted Top 10 grid with engine penalties factored in:
| POS | NO | DRIVER | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55 | 1:34.356 | |
| 2 | 1 | 1:34.448 | |
| 3 | 44 | 1:34.947 | |
| 4 | 63 | 1:34.988 | |
| 5 | 18 | 1:35.598 | |
| 6 | 4 | 1:35.690 | |
| 7 | 77 | 1:36.319 | |
| 8 | 23 | 1:36.368 | |
| 9 | 11 | 1:34.645 | |
| 10 | 5 | 1:36.398 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Sunday’s United States Grand Prix airs live on ABC beginning at 3PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Sainz can fend off Verstappen for a Ferrari victory in the USA and if Leclerc can fight his way back from the depths to try and nab a seemingly out of reach podium!