Sainz takes pole and Hamilton moves up to P3 as multiple drivers take grid penalties – 2022 US Grand Prix Qualifying highlights
Carlos Sainz came Late in the game and saved the Day for Ferrari after a blistering laptime of 1:34:356, just 0.065s ahead of his penalty laden teammate Charles Leclerc, who will drop down 10 positions on tomorrow’s grid. Ferrari were reassured of their car AND Carlos’ form as he took the pole in the last flying lap after the timeout. Max Verstappen qualified P3 but will start from the first row, his attempts were in vain as the Bulls just couldn’t keep up with the Prancing Horses’ pace. The Defence Minister qualified P4 aside from the 5 place grid penalty for the new engine.
Lewis Hamilton came in P5 but will be starting from the second row after the penalty shuffling. A lap time deletion in Q1 but He also put in decent purple sectors in the Closing stages of Q3, signifying that the upgrades were working and very well at that. George Russel will join Lewis on the second row as he qualified P6 initially.
Stroll and Norris will be starting in P7 and P8 respectively. Also, Focus would be on how does the Aston Martin perform in the long run. El Plan mastermind takes a grid drop from P9 to P14 due to a 5-Place grid penalty. Therefore Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa will move a place up to P9 from P10, giving him a good chance of bagging decent points after a bittersweet marathon of results; And these were the top ten drivers on the grid.
Alex Albon qualified P11, much better than his departing teammate Nicholas Latifi in P20. Sebastian Vettel qualified P12, missing out on Q3 despite putting in great times over the weekend. An annoyed Pierre Gasly qualified P13, due to some braking issue. It looked like another Q3 appearance for Zhou Guanyu, but a deleted laptime saw him drop back in P14 and the 5 place grid Penalty will see him start in P19, as unlucky as one can get, it seems. P15 for Yuki but a 1 place promotion due to Zhou’s penatly.
Kevin Magnussen lost on Q2 by a mere 0.018 sec, but will be promoted consequently to P15. Danny ricc and Esteban will start P17 and P18 respectively. A P19 for Mick Schumacher, thanks to his spin on Q1’s Last lap. Its effect will be Crucial for his future in Haas F1. Latifi Rounds up the 20 manned grid for tomorrow in P20.
What went down in Q1
It was a windy day in Austin with winds reaching speeds upto 23.7 kmph, posing tailwind interference.The first one to the track was Zhou Guanyu, with his first time out here at COTA. His Laptime was soon jumped by Mick Schumacher. Laptimes soon reached 1:35s as Verstappen put in his part. He too was overtaken by Leclerc, who found around 6 tenths more worth of time on track. Perez also put in a flying lap but only to be 3 tenths short of the top laptime. He also has a 5 place grid penalty for a new ICE installation. Lewis and George put in laps only 0.353s and 0.4s shy of Leclerc’s set time giving a P3 and P5 respectively.
On the other hand, Albon was seen pushing the limits, during which he was interrupted by Lewis Hamilton at T-2, which he reported to his Race engineer, a message aimed for the Race director, it seemed. Nevertheless, he got out of Q1 in P15; All under the last 5 min. Not a good session for his teammate though, P20 was a disappointment for the departing driver. The McLaren duo were also quite apart on laptimes with a nervous Lando qualifying in P8, but Ricciardo only managed P17, clearly not what he needs right now. Mick schumacher didnt have good session either as he spun on turn 1 on his penultimate lap, giving him P19 on grid.
It was Carlos Sainz who shined in the Texas sun, as he put his car on pole after a prep lap, creating a gap of nearly 5 tenths between him and Charles. With a Purple 1st and 3rd sector, impressing us.
Q2 lead by Ferrari yet again.
Q2 saw the Fastest time being by a Ferrari yet again. But it was Charles this time who topped the sheet with a 1:35:246. Q1 leader Sainz could only muster a P3, 0.34s shy of his teammate’s. P2 was claimed by Max as he clocked a 1:35:294. The Mercs of Russel and Lewis sandwiching Checo Perez’s Redbull in P5 respectively. Hamilton improved his laptime to be 5th, leaving Checo behind in P6.
Alonso was in P7 ahead of Stroll and Bottas. A scare and P10 for Lando as he came back in top ten post laptime deletion for Zhou. Albon just missed out on Q3, getting P11 ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who had a laptime deletion too. A frustrated Gasly in P13 as he had Braking issues and would continue to experience them throughout the session. Tsunoda will start P14 despite having qualified a Position lower. That is due to Zhou Guanyu’s penalty dropping him from P14.
Sainz takes pole in Q3 as Grid Penalties are slammed on others.
Verstappen set a 1:35:044s laptime only to beaten by Leclerc, who extracted further 0.420s out of the lap. His teammate and Q1 leader Carlos was off the pace by only 0.159s, taking P2 for that instance. Then came Hamilton, Jumping Max and Checo to P3 with a 0.323s deficit.
George comes in P6 after a couple of prep laps. Then Stroll in seventh ahead of Alonso 8th, but then again, the penalty, Norris in P9 and Bottas In P10 rounding up the top 10 qualifiers.
