Hamilton scores US GP pole, Vettel starts fifth following penalty
Lewis Hamilton has secured pole for the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, as title-rival Sebastian Vettel starts fifth after qualifying second due to a grid penalty.
The Brit scores his 81st career pole as he attempts to secure his fifth Formula 1 world title, the Mercedes pilot needing to out-score Vettel by eight points tomorrow to secure the championship with three rounds to go.
Kimi Raikkonen therefore moves up to second to join Hamilton on the front row, while Valtteri Bottas starts directly behind his team-mate in third.
Mercedes drew first blood in Q1 as Hamilton led Bottas at the head of the times, the two Ferrari’s following half-a-second behind.
The Scuderia then hit back in Q2, Raikkonen leading Vettel having reversed Mercedes’ Q1 advantage.
Hamilton only managed third nearly six tenths in-arrears, with Bottas fourth another couple of tenths further behind.
Mercedes then returned serve following the first Q3 runs, Hamilton fastest by just 0.088s from Vettel.
Bottas was third just over a tenth away from Hamilton, while Raikkonen’s average opening gambit left him fourth and 0.457s behind.
Bottas moved into second behind Hamilton after his final Q2 effort, before being demoted to third as Raikkonen moved to provisional pole by over two-tenths of a second.
Hamilton snatched back the top spot shortly after, although Vettel was on his own blistering last attempt. The German improved, but could only manage second, just 0.061s behind his title rival.
Daniel Ricciardo will start fourth tomorrow after qualifying fifth following Vettel’s three-place grid demotion for insufficiently slowing for the red flags during Friday practice, the Australian nearly a second from pole.
Esteban Ocon won the ‘Class B’ qualifying battle for Force India, the Frenchman starting sixth just 0.070s faster than Nico Hulkenberg.
Romain Grosjean scored a solid eighth place starting position at Haas’ home event, while Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez round off the top 10 starters for Sunday’s race.
Just missing out on Q3 spots were Carlos Sainz for Renault, who will start 11th tomorrow, ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
Max Verstappen made a shock qualifying exit following a problem at the end of Q1, the Dutchman’s RB-14 suffering suspension failure after he ran over a curb on the exit of turn 14.
The lap he had set in Q1 was fast enough to progress, but he was forced to miss the rest of qualifying when the issue was unable to be resolved in time.
He was joined on the sidelines by the Toro Rosso pairing of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, who failed to set a time. Both of the Honda-powered cars will start from the rear of the field tomorrow following a raft of engine penalties.
McLaren and Williams were once again early casualties of Q1, the British outfits joined by the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson.
Fernando Alonso retained his qualifying record against Stoffel Vandoorne, albeit only managing to qualify 16th with the Belgian lapping half-a-second slower in 20th.
Sergey Sirotkin edged Williams team-mate Lance Stroll for 17th, while Ericsson lines up just ahead of Vandoorne in 19th position, subject to incoming penalties for the Toro Rosso machines.