Formula 1 title rivals Lando Norris and Max Verstappen will share the front row for the 2024 United States Grand Prix after an exciting qualifying session.
Norris took a rather surprising pole with “quite comfortably the best lap of my career” with a bit of help from George Russell’s late-session crash that effectively stopped every frontrunners’ final lap.
The second row of the grid will be occupied by Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Oscar Piastri lines up fifth in the second McLaren. He qualified ahead of Russell, but the Mercedes driver will now line up from the pitlane after that Q3 crash. Mercedes had to work on the car overnight and revert his car to the Singapore specification due to the damage.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly will start sixth for the first time since 2022 while Fernando Alonso will start seventh in his Aston Martin, which shares the fourth row with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Yuki Tsunoda (RB) complete the top 10 on the grid.
Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll are just outside the top 10 while Daniel Ricciardo’s RB replacement Liam Lawson qualified 15th but starts from the back for his car exceeding the maximum number of engine components.
Instead, Alex Albon starts 14th and his Williams team-mate Franco Colapinto starts 15th,
Valtteri Bottas is 16th ahead of Lewis Hamilton who said he’s likely to take a pitlane start to make a host of changes to his Mercedes W15 that was a “nightmare” to drive in qualifying.
Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber is due to start from 18th with a grid penalty of his own.
US GP Starting Grid
1) Lando Norris
2) Max Verstappen
3) Carlos Sainz
4) Charles Leclerc
5) Oscar Piastri
6) Pierre Gasly
7) Fernando Alonso
8) Kevin Magnussen
9) Sergio Perez
10) Yuki Tsunoda
11) Nico Hulkenberg
12) Esteban Ocon
13) Lance Stroll
14) Alex Albon
15) Franco Colapinto
16) Valtteri Bottas
17) Lewis Hamilton
18) Zhou Guanyu**
19) Liam Lawson***
20) George Russell****
**Five-place grid penalty for using additional power unit elements
***Back-of-grid penalty for exceeding maximum number of engine components for the season
****Pitlane start for repairs made overnight
