U.S. Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying: Max Verstappen regains the lead

Big surprise in Q1 with the elimination of Oscar Piastri for not respecting track limits at turn 19 during his final attempt. The Australian found himself relegated to 16th place and therefore eliminated by just 16 thousandths compared to Pierre Gasly. Sergio Perez struggling this morning (16th) experienced the same misfortune during his second attempt, but the Mexican managed to slip into the final 8th position.

Among the eliminated drivers in this Q1 session, we also found Alex Albon, who performed a 360° spin at the entrance of the final corner on his last attempt. The Anglo-Thai driver thus found himself in 18th place, while his teammate Franco Colapinto once again achieved a good 11th place.

As for Esteban Ocon, on Alpine without the improvements that Pierre Gasly benefits from, could not do better than 17th.

Eliminated from Q1: Oscar Piastri, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou

Second surprise during the second phase of qualifying as Sergio Perez failed to qualify since he was beaten by Yuki Tsunoda’s Racing Bulls despite the cancellation of laps by Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and Liam Lawson. Red Bull therefore misses the opportunity to take advantage of Oscar Piastri’s underperformance to try to make up for the gap in the Constructors’ Championship.

Great operation for Haas as both of its drivers managed to sneak into the final top 10, which could result in scoring big points during tomorrow’s Sprint. The battle looks tight as Racing Bulls and Williams have also placed a driver.

Eliminated from Q2: Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, and Liam Lawson

During the Q3 session, Mercedes and Franco Colapinto decided to differentiate themselves from the competition by taking to the track right from the start of the session. The seven other drivers preferred to wait until the last three minutes to make their only attempt of the session.

If Lewis Hamilton were to complain about such a strategy, it worked perfectly for George Russell as he ultimately clocked the second fastest time of the session, just behind Max Verstappen but ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. Another great performance from Nico Hülkenberg who posted the sixth fastest time, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

From our special correspondent in Austin