What Happened at the United States GP Qualifying and the Sprint Shoot Out?

After the United States GP Qualifying session on 21st October, this year’s race promises to be a cracker of a race. Mercedes has come to America with a new floor that seems to be showing results, Ferrari and Mclaren are on pace and Max Verstappen – Red bull only managed 6th place on the grid.

This sets the stage for a magnificent day on Sunday! Check out what happened in each of the sessions.

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• Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
• Qualifying session 2 (Q2)
• Qualifying session 3 (Q3)
• The Final Qualifying Results
• Sprint Shootout

F1Worldwide.com recommends the following articles.

• United States Grand Prix Circuit – COTA Layout
• The Ultimate Guide to the United States GP and the Circuit of the Americas

Qualifying session 1 (Q1)

The F1 weekend at the Circuit of the Americas started with much anticipation. Max Verstappen, having sealed the 2023 world title in Qatar, was in the spotlight. He had also claimed his 14th grand prix victory of the season.

Meanwhile, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was the driver of the previous weekend, winning the sprint race and securing second place in the grand prix. Lewis Hamilton had a challenging previous race, crashing into his Mercedes teammate George Russell.

The Ferrari duo, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, were also in the mix, with Lando Norris finishing third in the previous race.

Out in Q1 (16-20): Hulkenberg, Alonso, Albon, Stroll, Sargeant

Qualifying session 2 (Q2)

As the session progressed, tension was palpable. Sergio Perez managed to squeeze through in P10, much to the relief of his fans. The bottom five who couldn’t make it to the next session were Tsunoda, Zhou, Bottas, Magnussen, and Ricciardo. George Russell was also on the edge, finishing ninth.

Lando Norris found himself at the bottom initially, with Max Verstappen leading with a time of 1:35:491. Oscar Piastri was close behind in second, trailing by only 0.085 seconds. The Alpines of Ocon and Gasly secured third and fourth positions.

There were concerns as Sainz seemed to be impeded by Tsunoda, and Norris was forced off due to traffic.

Bottom-five and out in Q2 (11-15): Tsunoda, Zhou, Bottas, Magnussen, Ricciardo (Sergio Perez breathes a sigh of relief as he squeezes through!)

Qualifying session 3 (Q3)

Charles Leclerc was the star of the first run, securing provisional pole early on with a time of 1:34:289, leading Max Verstappen by two-tenths. Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris followed in third and fourth positions.

As the session neared its end, all eyes were on who would clinch the pole position. In a dramatic turn of events, Charles Leclerc solidified his pole position with an even faster time of 1:34:723.

Lando Norris secured second place, followed by Lewis Hamilton in third. Carlos Sainz finished fourth, while Max Verstappen, who initially went to the top of the leaderboard, had his lap time deleted due to exceeding track limits, placing him in sixth.

This left Lando Norris in 2nd and Lewis Hamilton in 3rd.

The shock of the Q3 session is that neither of the Red Bull drivers is on the front row.

• Max Verstappen qualified in 6th place.
• Sergio Perez in 9th position!

The final grid position for Sunday’s race is a follows.

• Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (Pole)
• Lando Norris, McLaren
• Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
• Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
• George Russell, Mercedes
• Max Verstappen,
• Red Bull Pierre Gasly,
• Alpine Esteban Ocon,
• Alpine Sergio Perez, Red Bull
• Oscar Piastri, McLaren
• Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri
• Zhou, Alpha Romeo
• Bottas, Alpha Romeo
• Magnussen, Haas
• Ricciardo, Alpha Tauri
• Hulkenberg, Haas
• Alonso, Aston Martin
• Albon, Williams
• Stroll, Aston Martin
• Sargeant, Williams

The qualifying sessions set the stage for what promises to be an exciting race at the Circuit of the Americas. With the grid positions now decided, all eyes will be on the main event as the drivers battle it out on the track.

With the pace shown by Ferrari, Mclaren and Mercedes Sundays race looks to be a cracker – Don’t miss it!

The Final Qualifying Results

The session times for each qualifying segment are listed below.

Sprint Shootout

The American Grand Prix F1 sprint shootout was an intense session that determines the starting grid for the US Grand Prix sprint race.

Here’s a breakdown of the notable incidents and changes throughout the race, as well as the final finishing order:

Fastest Time and Starting Positions

Max Verstappen clocked the fastest time in the Sprint Shootout, which secured his position at the front of the grid for the United States Grand Prix Sprint race, narrowly ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen’s time was only 0.055s faster than Leclerc and 0.069s faster than Hamilton. Following them were Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for McLaren, in fourth and fifth positions respectively​.

Qualifying and Track Limit Incident

During the qualifying, there was a particular incident involving Max Verstappen, where his lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits.

This initially placed him sixth but post the shootout he secured pole position​​.

Double Elimination

There was a shock double elimination for Aston Martin as both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll dropped out in Q1.

Other drivers like Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, and Logan Sargeant also faced elimination during the shootout​​.

Max Verstappen Spun

Max spun after hitting the kerb in Q2, but went into recover and posred the fastest time.

Impeding Incident

Charles Leclerc called for a penalty against George Russell for what appeared to be a clear impede at one of the corners, which attracted the attention of Race Control. However, both drivers advanced to SQ3​​.

Performance of Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo outperformed his AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, advancing to SQ2 while Tsunoda qualified just 19th​.

Final Finishing Order