Leclerc snatches pole after Verstappen loses top spot for track limits breach

Charles Leclerc will start on pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix after Max Verstappen had his best time deleted for track limits.

Verstappen looked to have snatched pole by five-thousandths of a second at the chequered flag, before the stewards deleted his time for running wide at the penultimate corner.

That secured pole for Leclerc and dropped Verstappen to sixth, elevating Lando Norris into second and Lewis Hamilton third.

Q1

As the first phase of qualifying began weather conditions were near-identical to those the drivers had experienced in the single hour of practice earlier in the day. Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll was one of the first out onto the track, his team having fixed the braking problem that had limited him to only five laps in practice.

All drivers opted for soft tyres for their opening runs. The only American driver on the grid, Logan Sargeant, was the first over the line to start his first flying lap, but pulled into the pits to abandon his run before crossing the line.

Charles Leclerc set the initial benchmark time with a 1’36.622, with Lando Norris almost matching the Ferrari’s time in second place – both having set their opening push laps on used soft tyres. Both were beaten by Max Verstappen after his first effort by a tenth of a second, also on used rubber.

With his newly-upgraded Haas at his team’s home grand prix, Nico Hulkenberg’s name made a surprising appearance at the top of the times with a 1’36.235, two-tenths quicker than Verstappen. Pierre Gasly quickly replaced Hulkenberg by posting a 1’36.158 on fresh soft tyres, before Carlos Sainz Jnr blitzed the circuit on new tyres to easily go quickest of all with a 1’35.824.

In the final five minutes of the session, the drop zone consisted of Alexander Albon, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, Zhou Guanyu and Sargeant. The latter was the only driver yet to post a valid time after having his one previous effort deleted for running wide at the exit of turn 12.

Despite being in sixth place, Red Bull sent Verstappen back out on fresh soft tyres with the world champion immediately leaping four tenths clear at the top of the times. Red Bull’s decision to send Verstappen back out to improve his margin of safety was quickly justified as the torrent of improvements followed in the final moments of the session.

Albon appeared to be safe when he jumped into eighth, but he rapidly dropped down the order again as virtually every other driver improved. Eventually, both he and team mate Sargeant fell into the bottom five and were eliminated.

Despite jumping to the top of the times earlier, Hulkenberg failed to improve on his final lap after having his effort deleted for track limits at the penultimate corner. He was the first driver out in 16th, to his clear disappointment over the radio.

For the first time this year Fernando Alonso not only failed to reach Q3 but did not progress beyond the first round. Team mate Stroll joining him, posting his fifth consecutive Q1 elimination, while the two Williams drivers also went no further.

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Q1 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’35.091		6
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’35.110	0.019	8
3	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.346	0.255	6
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’35.824	0.733	6
5	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’35.913	0.822	6
6	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.989	0.898	6
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’36.009	0.918	6
8	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’36.052	0.961	9
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’36.061	0.970	9
10	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’36.064	0.973	9
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’36.082	0.991	9
12	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’36.131	1.040	9
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’36.158	1.067	7
14	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’36.165	1.074	6
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’36.213	1.122	6
16	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’36.235	1.144	6
17	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’36.268	1.177	8
18	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’36.315	1.224	6
19	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’36.589	1.498	9
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’36.827	1.736	8

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Q2

The second phase of qualifying saw both Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen all take to the track on used soft tyres. The Ferraris were the first over the line, as Leclerc posted the quicker lap of the pair with a 1’35.888, three tenths faster than his team mate.

Both Ferraris were replaced at the top of the order by the Mercedes of George Russell and Hamilton, before Verstappen went faster than all of them to take the top spot with a 1’35.491. Oscar Piastri moved into second place, less than a tenth of a second behind the Red Bull, while his team mate Norris had his first time deleted for track limits at the penultimate corner. He complained about being distracted by Sergio Perez in the final sector.

All 15 remaining cars returned to the pits at the end of their first runs, leaving the circuit completely silent. With Norris the only driver yet to set a time, he was sat at the bottom of the order, with Sainz ahead of him in 14th place. Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou were all tasked with finding more time if they were to be able to progress into the final phase of qualifying.

Again, the Ferraris were the first to begin their laps during the final run of Q2. Leclerc sat ninth after the initial laps, but he used fresh softs to go easily quickest with a 1’35.004. Sainz also improved to jump up to second, almost three tenths slower than his team mate.

Norris completed his lap to go fourth, successfully keeping his car within the margins, while team mate Piastri abandoned his last lap. Zhou, Magnussen and Ricciardo all failed to improve by enough and were doomed to be eliminated from the session.

Despite abandoning his final push lap of the session, Sergio Perez only just escaped being knocked out in tenth position. That left Yuki Tsunoda and the second Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas as the last two drivers to be knocked out of the session. Tsunoda was a mere thousandth of a second faster than Zhou, the pair missing the cut for Q3 by less than two-hundredths of a second.

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Q2 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’35.004		15
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.008	0.004	12
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’35.240	0.236	12
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’35.302	0.298	12
5	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’35.413	0.409	15
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’35.441	0.437	14
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’35.496	0.492	13
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’35.576	0.572	14
9	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’35.606	0.602	12
10	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.679	0.675	11
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’35.697	0.693	12
12	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’35.698	0.694	15
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’35.858	0.854	15
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’35.880	0.876	12
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’35.974	0.970	12

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Q3

Heading into the final shootout for pole position, Verstappen appeared to once again be the best-placed driver to secure the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix. If any of his rivals believed they could offer a realistic challenge for his pole position, Verstappen looked to squash all hopes by heading out first of all drivers.

He set the benchmark with a 1’35.081, but was infuriated to have caught his team mate Perez in the final two corners, feeling that dirty air affected the balance of his car. His frustrations were compounded when Leclerc duly beat his provisional pole time by a quarter of a second, while Hamilton also moved ahead of the world champion into second, less than a tenth of a second behind the Ferrari driver.

Sainz went fourth with his first effort, while Perez could only manage sixth behind Gasly. Russell had his first time deleted for exceeding track limits at the exit of turn nine, putting him under pressure for the final run.

After all 10 drivers sought sanctuary in the pits yet again, they began to filter out onto the circuit for their final runs. Yet again, the Ferraris were the first over the line, with Leclerc looking to improve on his own provisional pole time. He ultimately did so by a full tenth of a second, while Norris leapt up into second place with his final effort.

Verstappen then broke Ferrari’s hearts by pipping Leclerc to pole position by just five-thousandths of a second. However, the world champion’s time was soon deleted by the stewards as he had run wide at the penultimate corner, handing pole position back to Leclerc.

That secured Leclerc’s second pole of the season and Ferrari’s fourth of 2023, just a tenth of a second ahead of Norris. Hamilton took third place, nine-thousandths of a second behind the McLaren driver, with Sainz joining him on the second row in fourth.

Russell took fifth with his sole valid lap of the session, as Verstappen’s track limits violation meaning he will start down in sixth for Sunday’s grand prix. Gasly took seventh for Alpine just ahead of team mate Esteban Ocon with Perez managing ninth. Oscar Piastri completed the top ten for McLaren.

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Q3 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’34.723		21
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’34.853	0.130	20
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’34.862	0.139	18
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’34.945	0.222	18
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’35.079	0.356	18
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.081	0.358	18
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’35.089	0.366	19
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’35.154	0.431	21
9	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.173	0.450	17
10	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’35.467	0.744	20

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