United States Grand Prix – Sprint shootout: Max Verstappen regains power

For this Sprint shootout, the heat and sun were still at their peak, with 32°C in the air and 38°C on the track, a bit hotter than for yesterday’s qualifications.

Q1

George Russell had a small unusual problem: he could hear the conversations of all his engineers during his first quick lap. This did not have any consequences as he easily qualified in fifth position. But on the second attempt, he found himself in the direct path of Charles Leclerc, who was coming at full speed, which could be explained by new communication problems with his pit wall. The Monegasque then declared on his radio: « And a penalty for Mr. Russell please. »

In the same action, it’s Lewis Hamilton who found himself blocked behind Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri. To such an extent, that the two men touched at low speed, which damaged his front wing. The Japanese ended up 19th in the session.

The improvements at Haas did not materialize into a leap forward in competitiveness since both drivers were eliminated early in this Q1.

Eliminated from Q1: Hülkenberg, Magnussen, Bottas, Tsunoda and Sargeant.

Q2

During this second part of the shootout, Max Verstappen had a big scare coming out of turn 9 as he spun out into the grass but managed to get back on track, undamaged. This did not prevent him from having the best time in this session.

After a very complicated Friday, Aston Martin somewhat picked up the pace, making it through Q1. But their session ended as soon as Q2 as Fernando Alonso did no better than twelfth and Lance Stroll clocked the fourteenth time.

They frame Esteban Ocon, who did not manage to perform the same as the day before, where both Alpines had reached the top 10 while Pierre Gasly was 13th.

As for Daniel Ricciardo, he did better than yesterday as he moved from 15th to 11th place, just 31 thousandths behind Alex Albon’s Williams.

Eliminated from Q2: Ricciardo, Alonso, Ocon, Stroll, Zhou.

Q3

For the last eight minute part, no one went out before four minutes from the end, for a single attempt on soft tires.

If Charles Leclerc had signed pole position yesterday, he could not repeat his feat and had to settle for the second place, behind the inevitable Max Verstappen, by just 55 thousandths. Lewis Hamilton held onto his third place from yesterday, ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s McLarens.

Not much improvement for Sergio Perez, who does no better than 7th, just ahead of George Russell.

From our special correspondent in Austin

The sprint qualification of the USA F1 Grand Prix 2023