F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc claims pole position after Max Verstappen hit with track limits penalty
Leclerc produced two laps good enough for pole 𓆏but was briefly usurped by Verstappen in a thri𝕴lling end to Friday qualifying, only for the newly-crowned world champion to have his best lap deleted for running wide at Turn 19.
That handed pole back to Leclerc, with the Ferrari driver topping qualifying for 🐽the fi♐rst time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix back in April.
McLaren’s Lando Norris turned in a stunning late lap to pip fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton to the front of the grid with an effort just 0.009s faster than what the seve🃏n-time world champion manage♏d in his upgraded Mercedes.
Car𝓰los Sainz was fourth in the other Ferrari, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who recovered well from a difficult qualifying to secure fifth place on the grid for Sunday’s gran📖d prix.
Verstappen’s costly error on an uncharacteristically scruffy lap means he has work to do from s🐽ixth if he is to claim his 50th g🔥rand prix victory in Austin.
The Alpine pair of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon managed 🍌to outqualify Red 🦩Bull’s Sergio Perez, who failed to find a breakthrough to his inconsistent Saturday form.
Oscar Piastri completed the top-10 i𝓡n his McLaren.
A lap time deletion for exceeding track limit𝔉s left Daniel Ricciardo 15th on his return to action with AlphaTauri, having missed the past five races with a broken hand.&nꦡbsp;
It was a disastrous quali🐼fying session for Aston Martin, who suffered a shocඣk double Q1 elimination despite bringing a floor upgrade to Austin.
Fernando Alonso could only set a lap good enough for 17th as he failed to reach Q3 for the first time thisꦰ year.
The two-time world champion was only quicker than Alex Albon’s Williams, his teammate Lance Stroll - who exited Q1 for the fifth straight race - and home favouri🦩te Logan Sargeant in the other Williams.
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