Bottas narrowly edges Leclerc and Verstappen for pole position at COTA!

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position at the Circuit of the Americas for the first time, with the 30-year-old setting a new track record in the weekend where he needs to win Sunday's Grand Prix to keep his championship hopes alive.

Lewis Hamilton, who will be crowned champion if he finishes eighth or higher or if Bottas fails to win, only qualified in fifth, equalling his worst-ever grid position for a United States Grand Prix.

Joining Bottas on the front row will be Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari as the German was just 0.012 seconds slower than the Mercedes, with Max Verstappen finishing off the qualifying podium as he was also under a tenth slower than Bottas' pole-setting time. The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc finished in fourth place.

Carlos Sainz once again led the midfield for McLaren as he now takes the lead in the qualifying battle with Lando Norris for the first time, with the Woking-based team looking to bounce back after a frustrating weekend in Mexico that finished without points.

Q1

There was a surprise leader at the end of the first of three qualifying sessions. Lando Norris was quickest of Q1 with a 1:33.3, with Pierre Gasly repeating his feat o FP1 by logging the fourth quickest time as well.

Besides Sergio Perez, who only went for one run as he'll start from the pitlane anyway for the Grand Prix on Sunday, the drivers in the elimination zone once again were from Williams and Alfa Romeo. Antonio Giovinazzi beat Kimi Raikkonen for the fourth time in five Saturdays but only got 16th. George Russell once again beat Robert Kubica as they came in 18th and 20th respectively. The rookie remains the only driver to beat his teammate every single time this year in qualifying.

Q2

Five of the six Big Three-team drivers started Q2 on the medium tyre, with Alexander Albon being the only one on the softs. The Thai driver posted the quickest time early-on, a 1:32.898, the first time of the weekend a time dipped into the 1:32's. Eventually, it got bettered by both Ferraris on their medium drivers, however, with Leclerc leading the charge for the Italian team.

In the elimination zone, four teams had cars dropped, with home team Haas seeing both drivers eliminated as Kevin Magnussen ended in 12th and Romain Grosjean 15th. Daniil Kvyat originally had the 11th quickest time but saw his lap deleted for running wide at turn 19, dropping him to 13th. Nico Hulkenberg missed out on the final shoot-out by the smallest margin as he was 11th, and Lance Stroll continued his Q3-less streak as he was 14th.

Q3

The first of the two runs ended with a new track record at the Circuit of the Americas. Bottas' 1:32.029 was the quickest lap ever posted at the track in Texas, with Vettel and Verstappen following suit in second and third place behind the Finn. Hamilton was 'only' in fifth.

This was actually exactly the way it stayed, with none of the drivers being able to improve on their times in the second and final run at the windy track. 

Daniel Ricciardo and Gasly set the ninth and 10th best times of the session respectively as Sainz pipped Norris once again to seventh place, with Vettel beating Leclerc in qualifying two times in three Grand Prix weekends.