A confident Lando Norris will start Sunday’s United States Grand Prix in pole position ahead of series leader and three-time champion Max Verstappen.
The McLaren driver clocked a best lap in one minute and 32.330 seconds to outpace his Red Bull rival, who leads the title race by 54 points with six races remaining, by 0.031 seconds.
For Norris it was a fourth pole position in five races and his sixth this year as he chases Verstappen in pursuit of the championship.
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Oscar Piastri was fifth in the second McLaren ahead of George Russell, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.
“It was a beautiful lap,” Norris said. “I was not going to go much quicker than I did. I put everything out on the line. We have been on the back foot, so I had to do something!”
Verstappen said: “Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish my lap because I think I had a pretty good shot, but that’s how it goes.”
Hamilton out in Q1! | 01:42
It was clear Red Bull were back in the groove after several months’ floundering for progress while Mercedes, notably, were struggling – Russell and Lewis Hamilton in 16th and 17th with five minutes remaining in Q1.
Gasly then went top for Alpine before being usurped by Leclerc in 1:33.241 before Verstappen regained the initiative and, just as Russell grabbed third place, Hamilton was eliminated in 19th.
For the seven-time champion, it was a stunning flop. On one of his favourite circuits he had never previously qualified outside the top five and had won six times and started from pole three times.
Only 24 hours earlier, Hamilton had seemed unfortunate not to have taken pole for the sprint race when he was thwarted by yellow flags.
“The car’s a nightmare,” he said.
Liam Lawson, having replaced Daniel Ricciardo, was a notable third for RB, but starts Sunday’s race from the back of the grid due to an engine-change penalty.
US GRAND PRIX 2024 STARTING GRID
Front row: Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren) | Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull)
2nd row: Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) | Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari)
3rd row: Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren) | George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)
4th row: Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine-Renault) | Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin)
5th row: Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas) | Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull)
6th row: Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/RB) | Nico Hülkenberg (GER/Haas)
7th row: Estéban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault) | Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin)
8th row: Liam Lawson (NZL/RB) | Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes)
9th row: Franco Colapinto (ARG/Williams) | Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Sauber)
10th row: Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) | Guanyu Zhou (CHN/Sauber)
— AFP
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