Valtteri Bottas scored pole position for Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix in a closely-contested qualifying session, with title rival Lewis Hamilton only fifth.
The top five drivers were split by less than three-tenths of a second at the conclusion of Q3, with Bottas setting a new track record, a 1:32.029, on his first push lap.
That left him a mere 0.012s clear of nearest opponent Sebastian Vettel, who – as with Bottas – failed to improve on his second push lap.
Bottas' fifth pole of the campaign sealed Mercedes’ return to top spot on a Saturday afternoon for the first time since July’s German Grand Prix and brought Ferrari’s streak of six successive qualifying successes to a halt.
Max Verstappen locked up into Turn 1 on both of his Q3 push laps but still took third, just 0.067s down on Bottas, while Charles Leclerc recovered from an FP3 oil leak, which denied him running, to capture fourth.
Hamilton, who claimed pole at the Circuit of the Americas across the past three years, put in scruffy laps and wound up fifth overall.
Hamilton will only not win the title on Sunday if Bottas wins and he finishes outside of the top eight.
All of the top five drivers worked their way through Q2 on the Medium tyres, meaning they will use that compound for the opening stint of the grand prix.
Alexander Albon was sixth for Red Bull as McLaren locked out the fourth row of the grid once more, with Carlos Sainz Jr. again holding an advantage over team-mate Lando Norris.
Daniel Ricciardo put his Renault R.S.19 ninth on the grid while Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly maintained his encouraging weekend form by capping the top 10.
Daniil Kvyat originally took 11th but his time was deleted for track limits at Turn 19, relegating him to 13th spot, behind Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and just 0.010s shy of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
Lance Stroll classified 14th for Racing Point while Romain Grosjean finished as the slowest Q2 runner, as home team Haas was unable to capture a Q3 position.
Alfa Romeo displayed top 10-threatening pace during practice but was unable to convert it come qualifying, with both Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen dropping out in Q1.
It marked the first time this season that both Alfa Romeo drivers failed to make it through the first hurdle of qualifying.
By contrast Williams suffered a double Q1 elimination for a 20th straight event and, as per all previous qualifying sessions, George Russell wound up the faster of its drivers.
Russell was half a second clear of Robert Kubica as he jumped ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.
Perez opted against a proper qualifying simulation on account of having to start from the pit lane as his penalty for missing the weighbridge during second practice.
Formula 1’s 56-lap United States Grand Prix will begin at 13:10 local time on Sunday.
Discussion about this post