Charles Leclerc is on pole for US GP as Verstappen has lap time deleted

Charles Leclerc is on pole position for Sunday's United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. The Ferrari driver was fastest by just over one-tenth to Lando Norris. The Brit will start on the front row whereas World Champion Max Verstappen will start as far back as P6. 

It was one of the most competitive qualifying sessions of the whole season. At one point, Verstappen's engineer GP had to warn the Dutchman that he was "on the bubble". Later in the session, Verstappen vented his frustration at how close Perez was in the final corner. This showed that Red Bull were under pressure. Verstappen's mistake at turn one meant he had to push extremely hard to make up for it. So much so that the Dutchman ran wide and had his fastest lap time deleted. 

Aston Martin's day got worse in qualifying. During practice, the team only completed a handful of laps because of issues. Equipped with new upgrades, they couldn't find the right set-up, and things only got worse during qualifying. Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were knocked out in Q1. It's remarkable when you flashback half a year to when they were the only team that could really get close to Red Bull. 

Leclerc finished the first run of Q3 on the top of the leaderboard, with Hamilton in P2. Russell had his time deleted, so he had to go without a safety net. Verstappen had some work to do from P3, and that pressure showed at the first corner. The Dutchman locked up and lost time overall in sector one. He pushed hard to make up for it and went wide at turn 19. His lap time was deleted. Leclerc went even faster and claimed pole position. Norris made up for his qualifying woes in Qatar to get on the front row. 

Result - P1 Leclerc, P2 Norris, P3 Hamilton, P4 Sainz, P5 Russell, P6 Verstappen, P7 Gasly, P8 Ocon, P9 Perez, P10 Piastri

Q1 

Equipped with the American flag on the Williams car, Logan Sargeant had an exploratory lap in front of his home fans but didn't cross the line to post his time. Hamilton had a shaky start to the session on used soft tyres. He had a moment at the first corner and in turn 19, but still managed to get P5 at the time. When he got some new tyres in the second part of Q1, Hamilton went fastest. With eight minutes to go, the leaderboard had a familiar feel to it. Verstappen was fastest, with Leclerc, Russell and Norris following.

Nico Hulkenberg then hooked up a really good lap to go fastest. Haas have introduced a major upgrade this weekend in Austin. His teammate, Kevin Magnussen, sat in the drop zone along with Ricciardo, Sainz, Zhou and Sargeant. Though all teams were concerned, including Red Bull. Verstappen's race engineer said were "on the bubble". Despite some serious traffic, the Dutchman set a purple sector time.

Sainz escaped the drop zone with ease, and Hulkenberg went in the opposite direction. Aston Martin only had a handful of practice laps with their new upgrades because of issues with the brakes in FP1. It didn't get any better for the British team. Both drivers were knocked out in Q1. They were joined by the two Williams drivers. Russell survived by the skin of his teeth.

Out - P16 Hulkenberg, P17 Alonso, P18 Albon, P19 Stroll, P20 Sargeant

Q2

Verstappen returned to the top of the leaderboard at the start of Q2. Just three-tenths separated Verstappen and eighth-placed Tsunoda, proving the field has tightened up across the season. No driver was safe. Once again, Sainz found himself in the drop zone. He was pushed wide on his flying lap. He was joined by Ricciardo, Magnussen and Zhou. Norris also sat in the drop zone because his lap time was deleted.

Sainz and Leclerc got their laps in early and moved up the timesheet. Verstappen split the two Ferraris and was 0.004 seconds down on Leclerc. Whilst Hamilton seemed to enjoy the new upgrades, Russell had a difficult afternoon. The Brit burned through plenty of fresh tyres to try and keep himself in the mix. Norris had no trouble jumping back up the leaderboard, but the same couldn't be said about Zhou, Magnussen, and Ricciardo. 

Out - P11 Tsunoda, P12 Zhou, P13 Bottas, P14 Magnsusen, P15 Ricciardo