Photo credits: Scuderia Ferrari
Sprint weekend for Formula 1 in Austin, home race for Logan Sargeant and time to return on track for Daniel Ricciardo after the incident in Zandvoort kept him away from action for a while.
A tight battle between the top teams that was decided in the last moments by one main character: track limits.
But let’s take a look at how things went down around a rather warm COTA.
Q1
As action starts Logan Sargeant is among the firsts to go out on track for a brief flying lap. It’s Charles Leclerc at the top of the timesheet with the McLarens and Sergio Perez following behind, but only until Max Verstappen makes his way to the top going ahead of everyone by 0.15s. Quite a tight top 5 with Nico Hulkenberger going fastest while his teammate sits in P12 and Lewis Hamilton in P5. Entering the last moments of running it’s no time yet for Sargeant and a close battle for P1 between the Ferraris, Hamilton and Verstappen.
Out in Q1: Sargeant, Stroll, Albon , Alonso and Hulkenberg.
Q2
It’s George Russell opening the session ahead of everyone this time, with his teammate and the Ferraris behind, only to be quickly beaten by Verstappen. Meanwhile Lando Norris is caught up in traffic and Leclerc comes out on fresh soft tyres to catch the leading Red Bull and he does take P1 with Carlos Sainz behind.
Russell, who had opened running being quickest, is now battling to make it to the last session of the day, as Yuki Tsunoda pushes him back into P10. It’s Leclerc leading ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton and a P5 for Esteban Ocon’s Alpine.
Out in Q2: Ricciardo, Magnussen, Bottas, Zhou and Tsunoda
Q3
Five teams into the last part of this qualifying and we restart right where we left off with Leclerc at the top of the timesheet ahead of Max Verstappen. Track limits make an appearance yet again as George Russell gets his time deleted, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton goes second.
As the closing minutes of running approach Leclerc keeps being ahead of everyone, while Verstappen loses time behind his teammate.1m34.723s is the time to beat with a bit more than one minute to go and it’s Verstappen who does to take provisional pole.
A short lived one, because his time gets deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 19, just as the chequered flag is waved and he is demoted to P6 for Sunday’s race. It’s Hamilton in third, Lando Norris in P2 and pole position for Charles Leclerc.
