Austin - Qualifying

Even though the excitement of the sprint race hasn't quite died down, it is already time for the next event on the busy Austin schedule: qualifying for Sunday's race. After Verstappen's sprint win, Norris' podium, and Ferrari's great showing, there are many questions about the upcoming Grand Prix. Who will take home the grand trophy? What impact will it have on the championship fight? And, perhaps more importantly for now, who will become the next polesitter? 

After the cars took to the sweltering track, Norris set the first proper time to be beaten by the other drivers hoping to end the day on pole. The two Ferraris set their own times and while Sainz's lap put him in quite a comfortable spot, Leclerc's was deleted for exceeding track limits. He wasn't the only one to lose his lap time: Tsunoda also had to put his all into his second, timed run. Both drivers put in great laps later in the session and moved on through to the second part of qualifying. The same couldn't be said about Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver started Q1 off with a less-than-perfect lap so there was a lot of pressure on his second attempt. In the end, no matter what his time would have been, it wouldn't matter as the lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. Albon, Colapinto, Bottas, and Zhou joined him in the elimination zone. 

Verstappen was quick to set his first time in the session. He managed a great lap but not quite good enough to keep him at the very top of the leaderboard after all drivers completed their runs. That spot belonged to none other than his championship rival, Lando Norris. Leclerc's lackluster first lap put him in danger of elimination but he managed to redeem himself with the second one and secure a spot in the final qualifying session. Still, with everyone drastically improving on their second attempts, he couldn't be sure of his position until all the cars crossed the finish line for the last time in Q2. Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Ocon, and Stroll did not produce times good enough for a spot in the top 10. Lawson, the man who will be taking a 60-place grid drop due to new engine components, did not drive out for the second session. 

Norris started Q3 off with a great time, narrowly avoiding having it deleted for exceeding track limits at turn 19. Verstappen couldn't beat his efforts and had to put all his hopes into his second attempt. The sentiment also applied to his teammate, Perez, who saw his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. The two main contenders for both pole and Sunday's win set off on their second, timed attempts at the exact same time. Viewers held their breath as they watched the two put their all into the laps and then... A crash. George Russel pushed his Mercedes too hard and ended up putting it in the barrier. The incident brought out a yellow flag and ended the attempts of all drivers who were still on track. Norris got the coveted pole position in a bit of a lucky twist as the sectors both championship contenders had completed before their laps short seemed to favor Verstappen.

Order of the grid:

1. Lando Norris

2. Max Verstappen

3. Carlos Sainz

4. Charles Leclerc

5. Oscar Piastri

6. George Russel

7. Pierre Gasly

8. Fernando Alonso

9. Kevin Magnussen

10. Sergio Perez

11. Yuki Tsunoda 

12. Nico Hulkenberg

13. Esteban Ocon

14. Lance Stroll

15. Alex Albon

16. Franco Colapinto

17. Valtteri Bottas

18. Lewis Hamilton

19. Zhou Guanyu

20. Liam Lawson