The driver sits first on the grid, followed by Max Verstappopen and Lewis Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz was the fastest in the Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, and won first place in the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, which will take place on Sunday (10/23). The Spaniard from Ferrari set a time of 1 minute 34 seconds 356, and was joined by his teammate Charles Leclerc, on the front row of the timetables. However, the Monegasque lost ten places on the grid by changing the components of his car (engine and turbocharger), and ended up in twelfth position.
In doing so, Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen finished second, while the Austrian team’s other driver, Sergio Perez, set the fourth fastest time but also received a five-place penalty for replacing car parts. and fell to ninth place. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and George Russell moved up to third and fourth with qualifying changes and shared the second row.
the train
With no threat of rain, training was dry the entire time. Sainz led the lanes in Q1, with a time of 1min35.297s, followed by Leclerc, in a 1-2 for Ferrari. All five were eliminated: Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Albin), Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Nicholas Latifi (Williams).
The only driver to have issues with track limits, which were not detrimental throughout the weekend through race management, was Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, whose first fastest lap was eliminated and he finished last. However, the Chinese recovered in the closing moments of the opening.
The first cars to hit the track in the second quarter were the Williams of Alexander Albon, the Alpha Torres of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda. The Thai beat the Italian team duo in the first runs, but when all the drivers left the boxes, the three fell into the partial elimination zone, which also included Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, both of Aston Martin.
Leclerc was fastest in the first half of the second qualifying round, clocking 1 minute 35 seconds 246. Verstappen was second and Sainz third. The Dutch Red Bull player was the only one to break out of the gap at the end of the second quarter, but he did not attempt a fast lap and Monaco stayed ahead.
Among the partial eliminations at the beginning, the only one that escaped was Stroll, who managed to jump into the top ten and advance to the contention for the first place. Zhou, who “replaced” him, also managed to climb up and throw Norris into the elimination zone, but another lap was eliminated by the track limit and he didn’t have time to recover this time. The Chinese also received a penalty for changing car components, from five positions, and dropped to 19th on the grid.
In the third quarter, Verstappen immediately set the best time of the weekend so far, with 1min35s044, but Leclerc responded on the same lap, with 1min34s624 and provisional pole, being the first driver on go home with 1 min 34 on the weekend. Sainz and Hamilton also surpass the Dutchman in the sequence. Pérez closed out the top five.
The Monegasque managed to further reduce his time in the final laps, but was overtaken by Sainz in 1min34s356. Verstappen also managed to improve on his lap and jumped into second position, trailing Leclerc at times, but secured the spot due to the penalty imposed on Ferrari’s rival.
Check the starting grid for the United States GP:
- 1st place – Carlos Sainz (Spain/Ferrari), at 1min 34sec 356
- Second place – Max Verstappen (Hall/Red Bull), 1 minute 34 seconds 448 minutes
- Third place – Lewis Hamilton (ING/Mercedes) at 1min 34sec 947
- Fourth – George Russell (ING/Mercedes) at 1 minute 34 seconds 998
