Event: USA Grand Prix
Track: Circuit of the Americas
Weather: dry 28.9°C
Tarmac: dry 39.6°C
Humidity : 43%
Wind : 3.5 m/s SE
Pressure: 992.7 bar
Carlos Sainz scored the 3rd F1 pole position of his career during the 2022 USA Grand Prix qualifying session today. The Ferrari driver will start from P1 for the first time on Circuit of the Americas. It was the 243rd pole for Scuderia Ferrari.
At the start of the session the sad news had came out that the owner of the Red Bull brand, Dietrich Mateschitz had died today.
Q1 Session
After all drivers had set a lap time on the timesheet, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz topped the leaderboard with a 1:35.297. The Spanish driver put in a great lap and was almost 0.5 sec. quicker than his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Wit five minutes to go the drivers who had to improve to make it into Q2 were: Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Alex Albon (Williams), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo).
Because of the track evolution the track became quicker by the second. Mick Schumacher spun the Haas at turn 1 in his final lap. In the end Tsunoda, Albon and Zhou improved enough to get out of the elimination zone. They pushed out Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Nicholas Latifi (Williams).
Q2 Session
Albon kicked off the second qualifying session by driving out as first with the Williams FW44. His lap time was a 1:37.124 min. Leclerc now was quickest after the first run by the 15 drivers left in this Q2 session. The Ferrari driver clocked a 1:35.246 min. He was only 0.048s in front of Verstappen who was second quickest.
The drivers in the drop zone now were: Albon, Tsunoda, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), PIerre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin).
In the end only Stroll made it into Q3. At first he had pushed out Lando Norris (McLaren) But because Zhou's fastest lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, Norris was put back in the top 10 and made it into Q3.
Q3 Session
After the first run Leclerc topped the timesheet with a 1:34.624 min. Sainz was second on +0.159 sec. Hamilton was 3rd on +0.323s, Verstappen was 4th (+0.420s) on used tyres and Pérez was 5th on +0.547s.
After the final run Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz drove a prefect lap and came out as fastest.
Last year the pole position lap time was a 1:32.910 min driven by Max Verstappen with the Red Bull.
Qualifying Times 2022 USA GP
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
| 1 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:35.297 | 1:35.590 | 1:34.356 | 13 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:35.795 | 1:35.246 | 1:34.421 | 13 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:35.864 | 1:35.294 | 1:34.448 | 14 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1:36.163 | 1:35.864 | 1:34.645 | 12 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:36.148 | 1:35.732 | 1:34.947 | 18 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:36.195 | 1:35.692 | 1:34.988 | 19 |
| 7 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:36.860 | 1:36.032 | 1:35.598 | 15 |
| 8 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:36.465 | 1:36.341 | 1:35.690 | 18 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 1:36.446 | 1:35.988 | 1:35.876 | 17 |
| 10 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1:36.746 | 1:36.321 | 1:36.319 | 18 |
| 11 | 23 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1:36.932 | 1:36.368 | 15 | |
| 12 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 1:36.695 | 1:36.398 | 12 | |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:36.577 | 1:36.740 | 11 | |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1:36.656 | 1:36.970 | 15 | |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1:36.808 | 12 | ||
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:36.949 | 8 | ||
| 17 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 1:37.046 | 6 | ||
| 18 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:37.068 | 6 | ||
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 1:37.111 | 8 | ||
| 20 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 1:37.244 | 8 |
Notes:
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari #16 gets a 10 places grid penalty for use of additional power unit elements.
- Fernando Alonso, Alpine #14 gets a 5 places grid penalty for use of additional power unit elements.
- Sergio Pérez, Red Bull #11 gets a 5 places grid penalty for use of additional power unit elements.
- Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo #24 gets a 5 places grid penalty for use of additional power unit elements.
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