It’s a repeat of the Sprint Race front row, as Max Verstappen claimed P1 ahead of Lando Norris, who will start from second. Charles Leclerc managed to put his Ferrari on the second row, but the biggest shock is Oscar Piastri, who could only place his McLaren car in P6. It’s set to an exciting race on Sunday! Below is the full qualifying report.
Q1 Report:
Q1 started off with an incident for Isack Hadjar, who spun into the barriers and caused the red flags to come out. That means the rookie Racing Bulls driver will be starting twentieth and last for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Once the session got underway again, all the remaining drivers came out to set their flying laps. Among some impressive showings were Liam Lawson, who went fifth fastest, and Nico Hulkenberg, who seemed to bounce back from his disappointing Sprint Race to make it into Q2 with room to spare.
The drivers that weren’t so lucky were Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon, who both had lap times deleted, and Isack Hadjar.
Q2 Report:
Verstappen is still looking to be the man to beat this race weekend, as the Red Bull driver set the fastest time in Q2, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton went fourth fastest, showing that we shouldn’t discount Ferrari just yet here in Austin. Norris’ teammate Piastri could only go eighth quickest, we’ll see what he can bring to Q3 to have a chance at pole position.
The drivers that were eliminated from Q2 are Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, and Franco Colapinto.
Q3 Report:
It looked to be anyone’s pole position heading into this Q3, however it was Max Verstappen who prevailed, making it his second pole position this race weekend, this time for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Lando Norris will line up beside him on the front row in P2, after not being able to challenge Verstappen for P1. Charles Leclerc managed to place his Ferrari behind in third, with George Russell claiming fourth position. Lewis Hamilton took P5, and the Championship leader Oscar Piastri couldn’t finish any higher than sixth. Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman are behind in seventh and eighth respectively, the pair set to go head to head once again. And it’s Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso that round out the top ten.
