© Getty ImagesMax On Top In Texas ShootoutBulls to start P1 and P3 for the United States Grand Prix.
MaxVerstappenchargedtoasensationalninthpolepositionoftheyearwithasensationalfinalflyinglapattheCircuitoftheAmericasthatsawhimclaimtopspotonthegridfortheUSGrandPrixtwo-tenthsclearoftitlerivalLewisHamilton.
A brilliant Team performance by the Bulls in Austin saw Sergio Pérez qualify in third place, with the Mexican missing out on a front-row berth by just over one-hundredth of a second. The Mexican did beat Valtteri Bottas to put the Team in a strong position for the race, with the Finnish Mercedes driver set to take a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race.
The Bulls Start On Front Row In Austin© Getty Images
The Bulls emerged early in the first segment of the hour and Max quickly moved to the top of the order with an opening flying lap of 1:34.521. Checo slotted into second place, just five-hundredths of a second behind.
They were edged out of the top two places by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo midway through the session, but on their second runs they established supremacy again, with Max moving back to P1 after a lap of 1:34.352 and Checo making his way to second, just 0.017s behind.
However, in the final moments of the session Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put in a good lap of 1:34.153 to shuffle the Bulls back a position, while Ricciardo progressed in P4 ahead of teammate Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas went through in sixth and seventh places respectively.
Eliminated at the end of the first session were Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P16 ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
Austin Crowd Watching The Sparks Fly© Vladimir Rys
In Q2, both Max and Checo took to the track on medium tyres, but while Max powered to the top of the order with his first flying lap – 0.333s ahead of Hamilton and Norris, Checo’s opening push lap was deleted, as he fell afoul of track limits at turn 19.
After the first runs he sat in P11 and in the drop zone at the head of a squad of drivers who had either had times deleted or had chosen to sit out the first runs due to tyre strategy. But after bolting on another set of mediums, Checo used his second run to make his way to P7 and safety with a lap of 1:34.178.
The man in danger then was Ricciardo who had also exceeded track limits on his first run. The Australian made no mistake on his attempt and he jumped from P12 to P9 with a lap of 1:34.643.
That pushed AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda into the drop zone in P11, but the Japanese rookie put in a good lap of 1:35.137 to clamber back to P10 and edge out Alpine’s Esteban Ocon by two tenths of a second.
Along with the Frenchman eliminated at the end of Q2 was the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, the second Alpine of Fernando Alonso and William’s George Russell.
United States Grand Prix 2021: Qualifying
Checo Going Full Send In COTA© Getty Images
A Beautiful Sight To Behold© Getty Images
Checo Steady For Quali© Getty Images
The Bulls Secure Front Row© Getty Images
Max On The Charge In Austin© Getty Images
Focus From The Dutch Lion© Getty Images
Max Giving His All At COTA© Getty Images
In the final top-10 shootout it was Checo who made the biggest statement of intent with a superb lap of 1:33.180 that put him on provisional pole, almost two hundredths of a second ahead of Max, with Bottas third ahead of Hamilton.
The Mercedes pair were at the head of the queue for the final runs and when Hamilton crossed the line at the end of his final flyer, he jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:33.119.
Behind him Bottas failed to improve, but the Bulls were just starting their final flyers. Max went purple through the first sector and then powered a sequence of personal bests in the mini-sectors of the middle part of the track. And when he crossed the line, it was a convincing 0.209s clear of Hamilton and his ninth pole of the year was sealed.
Checo almost joined his teammate on the front row, but the Mexican missed out to Hamilton by the slim margin of 0.015s. The Mexican did beat Bottas, however, to put the Team in a strong position for the race as the Finnish Mercedes driver is set to take a five-place engine-related grid penalty for tomorrow’s race.
Behind the top four, Charles Leclerc qualified fifth for Ferrari ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz, while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finished seventh and eighth. The top 10 was completed by the AlphaTauri pairing of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.
Max Delighted With Pole In Quali© Getty Images
Focus From The Dutch Lion© Getty Images
I’m surprised after qualifying today but I’m of course very happy to be on pole.
"It hasn’t been the easiest of weekends so far for me, I’ve been chasing the balance quite a bit so to pull that lap together in Q3 was of course really satisfying. I’m really pleased with the performance of the whole Team today and I’m glad we could finally pull it together for the final lap. We improved the balance and I felt a lot more comfortable in the car today compared to yesterday. To show this pace in quali is positive for the race tomorrow but I still fully expect it to be tough out there, it’s going to be really warm and very hard on the tyres, which will make it more interesting. We just have to focus on ourselves tomorrow, hope for a good clean start and then be as fast as we possibly can.”
Checo Steady For Quali© Getty Images
"It’s a bit of a shame but it started raining quite hard on the final lap and I was the last car on track and I lost the time in sector three so we were a little unlucky in that regard. It was tense in that final run, we all knew it was coming down to that last lap and Max did a fantastic job as did Lewis and I think we each finished where we deserved to finish. I am taking a lot of confidence from this weekend because we’ve been really competitive and it just shows how hard we have been working behind the scenes to make this kind of progress and I expect to keep getting better. We are in a good position for tomorrow and it’s going to be a long race where anything can happen. There’s also a lot of support out there from the fans and I really hope I can deliver a fantastic result for them too.”
Christian Horner Ready For Race Weekend© Getty Images
It was a great qualifying performance from both our drivers, a first and third, it’s a great place to be starting tomorrow’s race.
"It’s the first non-Mercedes pole here in the hybrid era and the first time we’ve had two cars against one, so another milestone for us. Lewis put in a great lap at the end there, the wind dropped and the times started to fall, but over the lap we had the quicker car. It was probably Checo’s best qualifying this year in normal conditions, so we are really pleased with that. Checo had provisional pole and Max responded and managed to improve, so phenomenal performances from both our drivers. It’s tough to follow here and you definitely want to lead into turn one, so at least we’ve got two guys starting at the front of the field. It’s going to be an interesting first corner tomorrow.”
UnitedStatesGrandPrixQualifyingTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Max Verstappen | Lewis Hamilton | Sergio Pérez | Valtteri Bottas | Charles Leclerc | Carlos Sainz | Daniel Ricciardo | Lando Norris | Pierre Gasly | Yuki Tsunoda |
| Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | Ferrari | Ferrari | McLaren | McLaren | AlphaTauri | AlphaTauri |
| 1.32.910 | 1.33.119 | 1.33.134 | 1.33.475 | 1.33.606 | 1.33.792 | 1.33.808 | 1.33.887 | 1.34.118 | 1.34.918 |
