Verstappen rebounds from spin to claim pole position for sprint race

Max Verstappen overcame a spin in SQ2 to secure pole position for the sprint race at Circuit of the Americas ahead of Charles Leclerc.

After missing out on pole position for Sunday’s grand prix in Friday’s qualifying session, Verstappen bounced back to secure sprint race pole by half a tenth from Leclerc’s Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes ahead of the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

SQ1

Conditions for the start of sprint qualifying were a carbon copy of those that drivers enjoyed during yesterday’s grand prix qualifying session, with track temperatures under 40C and ambient temperatures sitting at 32C under a clear blue sky. The 12 minute session began with all drivers requied to use the medium compound tyres for the first phase of sprint qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to head out onto the circuit and the Mercedes driver posted the initial benchmark time with a 1’36.402. Lando Norris got closest to the Mercedes driver, three tenths slower than Hamilton, before grand prix pole winner Charles Leclerc went a tenth of a second quicker than Hamilton with his first effort.

Carlos Sainz Jnr almost matched his team mate’s first effort to go second fastest, before Max Verstappen jumped straight to the top of the times with a 1’35.997, three-tenths clear of the two Ferrari drivers. George Russell went fourth with his first lap in the Mercedes, despite complaining to his teams that he was distracted by picking up the radio chatter of the Mercedes mechanics in the cockpit of his car.

With Red Bull confident that Verstappen’s fastest lap was enough to put him safely through, the world champion pitted. The remaining 19 drivers remained out on track, with Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant all sitting in the drop zone.

Stroll improved to 12th with his last effort, which dropped Nico Hulkenberg into the elimination zone and out of the session. His team mate Magnussen also failed to secure passage into SQ2 and was out in 17th. Bottas was also knocked out in 18th after admitting he lacked grip. Yuki Tsunoda went no further after making contact with Hamilton before starting his final lap, then bering compromised by Sergio Perez who lunged past him on the inside of the final corner.

Sargeant was the last driver eliminated, slowest for the second consecutive qualifying session. Towards the end of the running, the stewards announced that Russell would be investigated after the end of sprint qualifying for impeding Leclerc at the penultimate corner. The Hamilton-Tsunoda incident was also noted but the stewards swiftly annoucned no action would be taken. Nine drivers were also noted for failing to adhere to the maximum lap time.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

SQ1 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.997		3
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’35.999	0.002	6
3	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’36.230	0.233	6
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’36.268	0.271	6
5	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’36.281	0.284	6
6	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’36.347	0.350	5
7	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’36.365	0.368	6
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’36.372	0.375	6
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’36.393	0.396	6
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’36.499	0.502	7
11	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’36.554	0.557	5
12	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’36.575	0.578	6
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’36.595	0.598	6
14	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’36.703	0.706	7
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’36.737	0.740	6
16	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’36.749	0.752	6
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’36.922	0.925	6
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’36.922	0.925	6
19	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’36.945	0.948	5
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’37.186	1.189	6

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

SQ2

Medium tyres were the only option available to teams once again for the second segment of sprint qualifying. This time, Red Bull were the first to send their cars out onto the circuit, with both Verstappen and Perez enjoying the luxury of fresh tyres for the session.

While it was little surprise to see Verstappen go quicker than his team mate at the end of the lap, the half a second gap between the pair was perhaps larger than expected. That gulf between the two Red Bulls was filled by the Ferraris, with Leclerc again leading Sainz, and the McLaren of Norris, who went fourth-fastest with his first effort.

With the second session lasting only 10 minutes, half of the field, including the two Mercedes drivers, opted to head out for just a single run in the final five minutes. Russell moved into seventh with his first effort, with Hamilton just a few hundredths behind his team mate.

Verstappen’s second effort was ruined when he ran wide at the exit of turn nine and onto the grass, spinning through 360 degrees but avoiding the barriers or any serious damage to his Red Bull. Despite abandoning the lap, Verstappen still ended the session as the fastest driver overall.

Ricciardo’s final effort saw him only just miss out on the top ten in 11th, with Fernando Alonso knocked out in 12th. Esteban Ocon failed to follow team mate Pierre Gasly through into SQ3 and was also out in 13th. Stroll locked up heavily at turn 12 and went no further, and Zhou was last among those who contested the second phase of qualifying. When the session ended, the stewards noted another seven drivers for exceeding the maximum lap time, some of which had also been noted earlier.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

SQ2 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.181		8
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’35.386	0.205	11
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’35.542	0.361	11
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’35.594	0.413	12
5	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.718	0.537	11
6	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’35.753	0.572	12
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’35.785	0.604	9
8	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’35.847	0.666	9
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’35.887	0.706	9
10	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’35.947	0.766	9
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’35.978	0.797	9
12	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’36.087	0.906	9
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’36.137	0.956	9
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’36.181	1.000	11
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’36.182	1.001	11

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

SQ3

The final phase of sprint qualifying was just eight minutes in total, but not a single car pulled out of the garage for the opening three minutes, teams content to go for just a single run.

Eventually, Verstappen was again the first driver out on the track, heading out with fresh soft tyres for his attempt to take pole position for the sprint race. After keeping his car on track through turn 19, Verstappen cut the timing beam at the end of the lap to post a 1’34.538 to set the provisional pole time.

Neither McLaren of Norris nor Oscar Piastri could match the Red Bull’s effort, with Norris moving second a tenth behind Verstappen. Leclerc’s lap was quicker than Norris’s but still half a tenth behind Verstappen, putting him second. Hamilton was the nearest to the top two, but moved into third place ahead of the McLarens. Neither Russell nor Perez could match Verstappen’s best with their laps, both having to run used sets of soft tyres, which confirmed sprint race pole for the world champion.

Leclerc secured second with Hamilton third for the second successive qualifying session as Norris and Piastri took fourth and fifth on the grid for McLaren. Sainz took sixth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Perez in seventh, half a second slower than his team mate.

Russell could manage only eighth with Alexander Albon in ninth for Williams. Gasly completed the top ten for Alpine.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

SQ3 result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’34.538		11
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’34.593	0.055	14
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’34.607	0.069	12
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’34.639	0.101	15
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’34.894	0.356	15
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’34.939	0.401	14
7	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’35.041	0.503	14
8	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’35.199	0.661	12
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’35.366	0.828	12
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’35.897	1.359	12

2023 United States Grand Prix

• US GP was Mercedes’ best race of 2023 despite disqualification – Wolff
• Singapore and Austin retirements cost me top 10 championship place – Ocon
• United States Grand Prix result unchanged as FIA rejects Haas’ call for review
• Sargeant admits he’s ‘struggled to use all the downforce at times’ in F1
• Mercedes’ Brazilian GP set-up was “conservative” after US GP disqualification

Browse all 2023 United States Grand Prix articles