© Oracle Red Bull Racing2024 United States Grand Prix - Friday ReportA perfect start to the Sprint Weekend for Max as he finishes P1 for Sprint Qualifying
MaxhadagreatstarttotheUnitedStatesGrandPrixbyclaimingpolepositioninSprintQualifyingafteralateruntothechequeredflag.ChecowillstartSaturday’sSprintRaceinP11afterbeingknockedoutinSQ2.
Both Max and Checo started the session on the hard tyres, which for this race is the C2 (making the soft tyre the C4). All the other front runners also started on the hard tyre to test the new asphalt of the Circuit Of The Americas, which had been completely resurfaced since the 2023 race.
Sprint at Austin© Oracle Red Bull Racing
In his opening stint, Max put in three push laps, the second of which he set a time of 1:35.538, which placed him P1. Checo completed three push laps as well, his fastest time was 1:36.096, which saw him P5.
After some time in the garage, Max and Checo returned to the action at the halfway stage. The Bulls both decided to test their qualifying pace by putting the soft compound tyres on.
Max’s opening push lap on the red-walled tyres saw him set a time of 1:33.855, placing him top and more than a second quicker than anyone else. Checo’s fastest lap on the softs was a 1:34.717, placing him P2 behind Max.
In The Garage© Oracle Red Bull Racing
The pair then finished the session with some high fuel laps on the soft tyres. Whilst they were collecting race data, the other teams started to put the soft tyres on. Drivers soon started eclipsing Checo’s time, but Max looked to be able to hold his top spot. However, with seven minutes remaining Carlos Sainz set a time that was 0.253s quicker than Max, dropping him to P2. In the dying sessions, Charles Leclerc pipped Max’s time by just 0.021s to take P2 and drop Max to third. The McLaren drivers were unable to push Max further down the order. Lando Norris had to settle for P4 and Oscar Piastri was P5.
Checo’s final time saw him in 16th place.
With just 12 minutes in the first qualifying session, the Bulls were keen to get out on track and put in an early time. Rules dictate that every driver has to use the medium tyre for SQ1. Max’s first time was a 1:34.698, which after everyone had set their first push lap, put him in P10. Checo’s first lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits, meaning he needed the second run to count.
Making Sparks© Oracle Red Bull Racing
As time was ticking down, Lewis Hamilton set the time to beat, which was 1:33.840. Max’s time on his second run was 1:33.908, which put him second, 0.068s behind Hamilton. Carlos Sainz was able to squeeze himself between Max and Hamilton into P2.
Checo was sitting in P20 as the time ran down, but was able to set a 1:34.333, which put him through to SQ2 in P8.
Knocked out at the end of the session was the Sauber Kick drivers of Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas, as well as Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri.
The Bulls held back in SQ2 and with six minutes left on the clock, Max and Checo left their garages on fresh mediums. Sainz had set the early time to beat of 1:33.274 putting him on the top of the timesheet. Hamilton was sitting in P2 just 0.104s behind the Ferrari driver. Max’s lap time of 1:33.290 saw him split the top two, placing him in P2, where he stayed until the chequered flag.
Checo set a time of 1:34.244, which placed him P10 in the closing seconds. He looked like he might have been safely into SQ3, but as the chequered flag was waving VCARB driver Yuki Tsunoda was able to push Checo into P11 and out of the session. Also knocked out with Checo was Liam Lawson in P12, Pierre Gasly in P13, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in P14 and P15 respectively.
In The Garage© Oracle Red Bull Racing
The soft tyres were bolted to the RB20 for SQ3 and then the waiting game started. Hamilton, George Russell and Franco Colapinto all left their garages early, with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz following shortly after, whilst others held their nerve and gambled on setting just one flying lap.
Out of the early pack, Russell was the quickest setting the time to beat of 1:32.845. No other driver seemed to be able to knock Russell off the top spot and as time ran down it looked like Max was going to be the last to leave the garages and set a time. The Bull was able to hook up the perfect lap to steal the top spot away from Russell. Although Max didn’t set any purple sectors, each individual sector was quick enough for Max to top SQ3 with a time of 1:32.833, eclipsing Russell by just 0.012s to take pole position for tomorrow’s 19-lap sprint race.
Max will be joined by Russell on the front row, Charles Leclerc will start from third, with Lando Norris in P4, Carlos Sainz will be fifth with Nico Hulkenberg sixth, Hamilton in P7, Kevin Magnussen in eighth and rounding out the top ten will be Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto.
Austin, we're back© Oracle Red Bull Racing
