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Lando Norris narrowly beat Formula 1 title rival Max Verstappen to pole position for the 2024 United States Grand Prix, partly thanks to a huge crash for George Russell’s Mercedes that spoiled the end of qualifying.
The McLaren, with its new front wing and associated tweaks, has not looked as comfortable to drive at Austin as it has done at recent F1 races, while Verstappen’s upgraded Red Bull has by contrast looked much easier to balance and drive here after that team’s recent struggles.
Verstappen was in command through Q1 and Q2, while McLaren seemed to still be battling bouncing problems through the high-speed first sector.
But Norris pulled out a brilliant banker lap in Q3 to pip Verstappen to pole by just 0.031 seconds, absolutely wringing the neck of his McLaren through the penultimate corner.
Verstappen’s Red Bull looked mighty through the first sector, and he was leaving plenty of margin on the outside of the final two corners, suggesting pole was within reach if he went for it a bit more on his final lap.
He was a couple of tenths up on Norris through the first sector but had to abort it when Russell lost control through the penultimate corner and crashed into the wall.
That meant no one was able to complete a second flying lap and left the two Ferraris filling out the second row of the grid - with Carlos Sainz just under a tenth clear of Charles Leclerc and nearly three tenths back from the top two.
The second McLaren of Oscar Piastri always looked a chunk less comfortable than Norris and was back in fifth in Q3, only just ahead of Russell’s Mercedes and the mightily impressive Alpine of Pierre Gasly.
Having contended for pole in sprint qualifying on Friday, Russell was bemused to be nowhere near the pace on Saturday. “I don’t know what we’re missing compared to yesterday,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gasly split the Ferraris in fifth in Q1 and was faster than both McLarens too. He split the Ferraris again at the start of Q2 on used tyres before comfortably outpacing the other midfield runners to make Q3.
In Q3 Gasly’s lap was well within a tenth of both Piastri and Russell, so he is genuinely hanging with the slower cars from the lead group.
Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin was just under three tenths back in eighth, just ahead of Kevin Magnussen - who drove impressively to beat his Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg into Q3.
Sergio Perez showed flashes of form in the earlier stages of qualifying and was decently fast in Q2, but his banker Q3 lap was only good enough for ninth place and was anyway deleted for track limits at Turn 9, meaning he ended up at the back of the top 10 following Russell’s crash.
Yuki Tsunoda, Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon ended up on the wrong side of an incredibly tight fight to make Q3 between Alpine, Aston Martin, Haas and RB.
Gasly’s Ferrari-bothering form through Q1 and Q2 meant he was easily a few tenths clear of this pack, but Alonso and Magnussen only just squeaked through.
Tsunoda received an aerodynamic tow from team-mate Liam Lawson, who was impressively third fastest in Q1 but took no meaningful part in Q2 knowing he faces a back-of-the-grid start for a full engine change, but Tsunoda still missed out on Q3 by just 0.032s.
Hulkenberg’s crucial lap went awry at the very first corner and he couldn’t claw back enough time to make the cut, ending up 12th, 0.038s down on Tsunoda’s RB and 0.053s clear of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine.
Ocon isn’t running the upgraded parts on his Alpine this weekend, which perhaps explains the 0.435s gap to Gasly in Q2.
Lance Stroll was 14th in the second Aston, while Lawson’s RB was naturally 15th and last in this segment on account of not completing a meaningful lap.
Lewis Hamilton went from potential pole contender in sprint qualifying on Friday to out in Q1 in grand prix qualifying on Saturday.
Both Mercedes looked uncompetitive on their initial old-tyre runs in Q1 so needed strong laps at the end to lift them out of the elimination zone.
Russell made the top four with his final flying lap, half a second off the Q1 pace set by Verstappen, but Hamilton dropped half a second to his team-mate in the middle sector and failed to escape the drop zone.
Hamilton said he suffered a suspension bearing problem on the formation lap for the sprint race, and that repairs and subsequent changes to the set-up failed to correct what he called a “nightmare” car balance.
Hamilton’s lap was so bad he ended up two thousandths of a second behind the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas in 19th, beating only the other Sauber of Zhou Guanyu.
Williams pair Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were the others to fall in a tight Q1 session in which less than a second covered the top 15.
Both Albon and Colapinto were within three hundredths of a second of beating Stroll’s Aston and progressing to Q2, such was the tight field spread in this session.
