F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - qualifying
Follow along for updates from Formula 1's United States Grand Prix qualifying session at Austin
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And that's all from us tonight! Thanks for joining us, and we'll catch you again tomorrow for the United States Grand Prix - see you then!
Leclerc, third in US GP qualifying: "It was quite a big surprise, considering the weekend had been difficult since the beginning. We tried to put everything together and managed to do so, but I think there are still things we need to understand from this car. There's a bit too much of a swing in performance through the weekend without fundamentally changing the car.
"We'll look into it, we learned a lot from the sprint, applied it in qualifying and it seems to be working. Our car is normally stronger in the race, so that's a positive. I don't know if it's enough to fight with Max and the McLaren."
Norris, second in US GP qualifying: "I improved by half a tenth, but it was a bit more of a struggle today for whatever reason. I don't know if everyone improved or if it was just the wind. But I'm starting P2, it could have been worse, but there was no way I could beat this guy."
"Just don't get hit is my plan for tomorrow. Hoping for a good race with Max, we've had some good ones in the past, so I'm looking forward to it again."
Verstappen on securing US GP pole: "Yeah, it was good. I think every segment, the car was very strong. Putting the lap together is difficult, especially in the first sector with the tail wind, it was challenging.
"I couldn't do the final run, the outlap was a bit messy, but I didn't need it. Tricky with the wind, it picked up today and in the esses, you just lose downforce. That made it a bit harder, you gain a bit more through the other corners but you can't commit in sector one."
Top 10 Q3 order
1. Verstappen
2. Norris
3. Leclerc
4. Russell
5. Hamilton
6. Piastri
7. Antonelli
8. Bearman
9. Sainz
10. Alonso
Verstappen takes pole for the United States GP!
He didn't need another lap! Verstappen's first effort was a slam-dunk. "Simply lovely," he responds, typically.
Norris joins him on the front row, as per yesterday, as Leclerc and Russell occupy row two.
Sainz lost time in the final corner, and can't improve.
Norris gets up to second, 0.291s off Verstappen's earlier time. Meanwhile, Piastri only goes sixth! He doesn't go any lower, however, as Antonelli can't improve.
Verstappen doesn't get to the line in time - but it might not matter as Norris isn't quite doing enough.
Leclerc gets up to second, 0.297s off Verstappen's previous benchmark.
Verstappen is told he's "behind schedule" and gets the hurry-up on his out-lap.
He's had to let Leclerc through, so it'll be touch-and go...
Order after opening Q3 runs
1. Verstappen
2. Norris
3. Russell
4. Antonelli
5. Bearman
6. Sainz
7. Piastri
8. Alonso
9. Hamilton
10. Leclerc
Big spin for Leclerc at the final corner, which is why he's not set a representative lap. He's down in 10th, with a 1m37.314s - 4.8s off.
Antonelli goes up to second. Norris and Verstappen are separated by just 0.001s in the opening sector, but the gap's bigger in the second part of the lap.
Norris does a 1m32.904s, Verstappen then slaps it out of his hands with some force - and posts a 1m32.510s. Phwoar.
Bearman posts a 1m33.139s, faster than Piastri's opener on used softs.
Russell then does a 1m32.959s to go top of the order so far.
Q3 begins: time to decide pole
Can anyone beat Max Verstappen? History would suggest not - he's rather put his stamp on the session so far.
"Mate, he was blocking, bro," says Tsunoda during his last lap, doing his best Nick Kyrgios impression as he passes an Alpine.
If he ever followed up with "Bro, I wasn't even trying to qualify, I could beat him easy bro", then he really is channelling the Australian racquet-hurler's approach. Bro.
Progressing to Q3
1. Verstappen
2. Leclerc
3. Norris
4. Hamilton
5. Antonelli
6. Russell
7. Sainz
8. Piastri
9. Alonso
10. Bearman
Eliminated in Q2
11. Hulkenberg
12. Lawson
13. Tsunoda
14. Gasly
15. Colapinto
Colapinto is 0.8s away from the Q3 cut-off, so he's out. Gasly outqualifies Colapinto by 0.4s. Other than the Alpines, who didn't have representative laps, no improvements among those left in the drop zone - bar Russell, of course.
Tsunoda doesn't improve - he's out of qualifying. Hulkenberg too, who also fails to find the improvement needed.
Antonelli does a better middle sector, but there's still little improvement - maybe the circuit has peaked at this point.
Russell does a 1m33.058s, which falls a smidgen short of Antonelli's benchmark. It might be enough for him - let's see; either way, it's put Hulkenberg into the bottom five.
Russell has gone out in a different sequence to the rest, as he aims to get a lap in on some fresh C4 boots. The pace is there, he just needs to get it.
He's got a bit of traffic to contend with, as the rest go out for their final runs.
Elimination zone as it stands
11. Lawson
12. Russell
13. Tsunoda
14. Colapinto
15. Gasly
Piastri does a 1m33.228s, which is only good enough for fifth - which becomes sixth, as Leclerc vaults up to second. Hamilton goes fourth.
Gasly had his lap deleted as he went wide at Turn 20.
Sainz, in the not-BMW Williams, goes up to second, 0.08s off Antonelli.
Verstappen's going quickly. Norris does a 1m32.876s, but Verstappen posts a 1m32.701s to go quickest.
Bearman kicks us off with a 1m33.238s, before Antonelli does a 1m33.044s.
Russell is 0.369s behind his team-mate, but he's on a used set - the car doesn't look particularly stable in the final corner.
Q2 is open for business
Bearman, Antonelli, Russell, and Lawson hit the road.
Norris, meanwhile, wants another steering wheel as his grip has come off. Is that an allegory for his title changes? Probably not, but I'm saving that in the memory bank just in case...
Norris and Antonelli will be investigated after the session for apparent indiscretions involving the race director's minimum delta time.
I say this every year about this track, but you just don't get track limits violations like that if there's some variety of lawn-based vegetation there...or even a collection of igneous and sedimentary rock-based deterrents...
Eliminated in Q1
16. Bortoleto
17. Ocon
18. Stroll
19. Albon
20. Hadjar.
Albon gets out of the drop zone and goes eighth, which dumps Colapinto out of the session...
...or does he? Albon's had his lap deleted for track limits at Turn 15. He looked a bit wide in T12 as well.
Lawson's up to fifth, as Ocon can't get out of the bottom five - he joins countryman Hadjar in the relegation zone.
Stroll has his lap deleted, while Colapinto pushes Bortoleto into the bottom five.
Verstappen doesn't improve in his first sector, but does a 1m33.207s to go fastest with a mighty final sector.
Bortoleto gets out of the bottom five for now, but Stroll does too. Hulkenberg goes up to fifth.
Elimination zone as it stands
16. Stroll, 17. Colapinto, 18. Albon, 19. Bortoleto, 20. Hadjar.
Russell posts a 1m33.311s to go top on his second run, and Antonelli goes second. Tsunoda goes up to ninth on his second run.
Norris takes another go, with a better first sector and a session-best middle sector. It's only seventh though - but still about 0.7s clear of the borderline time.
Piastri only goes up to fifth, as Norris starts a lap - he looked quite wide in Turn 1, duly sets an iffy first sector time, and then has a big wobble through the esses and has to abandon.
McLaren all at sea at the moment.
Russell goes up to second, while Verstappen sets a big first sector - but a wide through Turn 11 doesn't help his middle sector time.
Still, he's up to the top for a short spell; a 1m33.590s is his reward, before Leclerc posts a 1m33.525s.
Sainz abandons his lap, as Bearman and Ocon split the Saubers after their opening efforts. Lawson then sets a 1m34.212s, before Alonso gets into the 1m33s with a 1m33.741s.
Hulkenberg begins his lap, as half the cars in the pitlane queue haven't even gone out yet - that's how long it takes for the cars to filter out.
It's a 1m34.255s which is...one of the many laps we'll see today. Not particularly stellar though, although he's still 0.379s quicker than Bortoleto.
