US F1 GP: Lando Norris takes pole, Russell incident hampers Verstappen’s response

Verstappen looked the main favorite for pole today, with the #33 Red Bull showing his early season form. He dominated Q1 and Q2 and looked set for pole, but Norris’ surprise lap made life worse for the Dutchman. Verstappen was on an excellent lap, having achieved the best first division, when Russell left the track, in the last laps of the day. Verstappen had room to improve and it looked like he could, but Mercedes’ departure from the track ruined his plans.

McLaren didn’t have a particularly brilliant qualifying, but Norris used his pace to put himself in prime position for tomorrow. On the other hand, Carlos Sainz got a good third place, which opens up good opportunities for the race. Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri completed the top 5. In the other positions were Russell, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Pérez.

Q1

There would be no water risk with a US GP certificate, with an air temperature of 28.5 °C, a track temperature of 38.6 °C and a humidity of 40%.

The green light had barely appeared at the pit exit and we already had “traffic” to enter the American track. Despite the extra work, as the Sauber rear axle does not withstand the heat, the cars were green at the start of Q1.

Alex Albon was the first to start a fast lap, but he did not finish the lap. Fernando Alonso took the lead, entering the 34th second, but it was only for a short time, as Lando Norris took almost half a second off the Spaniard’s record. Sainz was 0.075 seconds behind. of his former colleague, with Oscar Piastri taking the third time, all on used tyres.

Max Verstappen was the first to enter the second 33, taking off just over 0.3 sec. during Lando Norris. Sérgio Pérez, with new soft tyres, finished third, with Alex Albon just behind him, in fourth, when he completed his last lap. Nico Hülkenberg showed his excellent form and came second, already on new tyres. Mercedes were not very quick, with George Russell in 10th and Hamilton in 14th.

In the second attempt, with new soft tires, times began to drop, so much so that Pierre Gasly came to lead the time table. At this point, with six minutes left in this session, Mercedes, Zhou Guanyu, Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda were in the elimination zone.

Leclerc tried to change the situation, and moved to first place, guaranteeing a place in Q2. Verstappen, knocking on the door of the second 32, returned to the top of the table. The drama came with a minute left in the session, with Lewis Hamilton failing to do better than 16th time, being eliminated in Q1. At the end of this session, the two Williams, the two Saubers and Lewis Hamilton were left behind.

Max Verstappen, with a time of 1:33.046, followed by Leclerc, Liam Lawson (excellent lap), George Russell and Pierre Gasly (good session).

Q2

It didn’t take long for the drivers to get back into action once they were cleared to take to the track, with several drivers installing used tires for their first attempt. Max Verstappen (used tires) started this session well, going into a low 33 seconds, followed by Gasly (new tires), Sainz (used tires) and Pérez (new tires). Lando Norris, with new tires, moved up to first place in the table, while Piastri, also with new tires, took third place. The difference between Norris and Verstappen was just 0.2 seconds, taking into account the difference between new and used tyres.

With six minutes left in the session, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc and Liam Lawson were in the elimination zone (without a completed lap, only interested in giving the coveted cone to his teammate).

Max Verstappen returned to first place, taking almost 0.3 seconds off. in Norris time, with new tires. Carlos Sainz moved up to second place. At the end of Q2, Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson were eliminated. Verstappen had the best time (1:32.584), followed by Sainz, Norris, Leclerc and Pérez. Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10 who would compete in Q3.

Q3

The decision period arrived, with an election on the pole in the last session of the day. Lando Norris entered the second 32 on his first attempt, with Oscar Piastri at 0.6 seconds. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc got in between the McLaren men, but the important lap was Verstappen, who took second place, 0.031 seconds behind. by Norris. The order after the first attempts was Norris, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, Gasly, Magnussen, Pérez (lap deleted due to exceeding track limits) and Alonso (lap not completed) to be completed yet).

Max Verstappen was ready to try and steal pole from Lando Norris, but George Russell had a violent exit, which spoiled the last attempt of the #33 Red Bull, guaranteeing Lando Norris pole for the US GP.

Key features of a certificate

With many people saying that what Lando Norris did is not a champion, the Brit responded with an excellent pole. Great for the result, but even more so because McLaren were only aiming for the top 5. Norris exceeded expectations, with a brilliant lap. It seemed all Verstappen needed to take pole from Norris. That would not take away from the merit of the Briton, but so the race gets more spice. Verstappen was always faster and it showed that the holidays were good for Red Bull. A certificate reminiscent of other times, when he won without difficulty, in a remake of “modern times” in which the margins are much shorter, in such a way that Norris managed to prevent put on

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are big threats for tomorrow. Realizing that they would not be as strong in qualification, they got the best result. In the third and fourth, looking at the speed of the race they showed, put Ferrari in the fight for victory. Piastri disappointed in qualifying, a chapter where he has to work, finishing 0.6 behind his teammate.

For Mercedes, a nightmare. Hamilton started 19th and Russell ended up qualifying in the track defense. After an excellent “quali” for the sprint, a completely different day, for the worse.

One of the main events was Pierre Gasly, placing his Alpine in the top 10, in an excellent performance by the Frenchman. Also Kevin Magnussen very good, confirming the competitiveness of Haas. It’s a shame about Hulkenberg’s mistake in Q2, otherwise we would have had two Haas in Q3 relatively easily.

Sergio Pérez continues to disappoint and did not get past 10th place, with his first attempt in Q3 cancelled. A negative evening for the Mexicans, who even showed some interesting details.

The last item goes to Liam Lawson. The period in Q1 was only a warning about navigation. New Zealand want to stay and have outplayed their team. In Q2 he limited himself to giving switch cones to an erratic Tsunoda, due to the penalty for changing elements of the power unit of the car belonging to Daniel Ricciardo. But Lawson showed he is in shape.

The race is scheduled for 8pm tomorrow.