Qualifying for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix is in the books, and it will be Charles Leclerc on pole position in the main event Sunday, with McLaren driver Lando Norris starting alongside him.
Yes you read that right, no Max Verstappen on the front row down in Austin.
Let’s dive into some winners and losers from Friday evening.
Winners: Ferrari
“It’s Ferrari’s day,” declared F1TV commentator Alex Jacques as the end of qualifying.
And it was.
Charles Leclerc captured pole position, thanks to a very strong qualifying effort on his part. Of course, he got a little assist, as Max Verstappen saw a lap that would have put him on pole deleted due to exceeding track limits. That was enough to put Leclerc back onto pole for the third time this season, and for the 21st time in his career.
Just a few spots behind Leclerc will be teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., who qualified fourth.
“Today’s pole position is a great result, down to hard work from the whole team. There is still a long way to go this weekend, with plenty of potential pitfalls along the way,” said Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur. “The hard part will be Sunday but today’s result means both our drivers are well placed to get a good result in the Grand Prix.
“I am very happy for Charles, as this pole is well deserved and is a great start to his weekend. Now we want to do equally well in tomorrow’s Sprint. So far, our performance has matched our expectations, we are competitive over the whole lap, although it is too early to have a clear picture about the race. Already today we have seen that the fight is going down to the thousandths of a second, so it will be vital to carry on working like this, preparing the execution of every part of the weekend right down to the smallest detail.”
Those small details could matter for Ferrari in their battle with Mercedes. In this fight, every point is going to count. But going into Sunday it seems Advantage: Ferrari.
Losers: Aston Martin
“We can do better and we have to.”
That was the takeaway quote from Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack, following a brutal day for the team.
Their Friday got off to a difficult start during the single practice session, when both drivers spent large portions of practice in the garage, as the team dealt with overheating brakes on both Lance Stroll’s AMR23, as well as Fernando Alonso’s. Both drivers were able to get back out on the track, but the limited practice time prevented them from getting a full feel for the upgrades the team brought to Austin.
Things got worse for the team, when both drivers failed to advance out of Q1. For Alonso it marked the first time all season he failed to reach Q3, bringing that streak to a close.
And, in somewhat ominous fashion, David Coulthard in the F1TV commentary box raised the proposition of Lawrence Stroll perhaps facing a very difficult decision regarding his driver lineup in the future.
This result could not have come at a worse time for the team. Aston Martin, after starting the season as the darlings of the grid, are now holding on for dear life in their battle with McLaren for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. Entering this weekend, Aston Martin has just an 11-point lead over McLaren.
But with McLaren’s recent form — and this brutal Friday for Aston Martin — that gap is likely to narrow even more.
Winners: Alpine
This was a huge day for Alpine, who have endured a rather up-and-down season.
Perhaps it was some wisdom shared by new owners Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, but the team turned in a strong performance on Friday, with both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly advancing to Q3. Gasly qualified in seventh place, with Ocon just behind him in eighth.
That gives Alpine a very good shot at pulling home a double-points finish on Sunday, which would be a big boost to their season.
“It’s been a good Qualifying for us and our second Q3 appearance in a row after Qatar. I’m really happy with our performance today and the car felt very good right from the start of the day, which is important on Sprint weekends with only one Practice session. We made some improvements between Practice and Qualifying and from there everything flowed well for us,” said Gasly after the session. “It was fine margins, less than a tenth between a few cars, and I felt I extracted pretty much everything from my Q3 lap. It’s always great to be fighting for the top positions.”
Losers: Williams
This was not the Friday Williams — and in particular Logan Sargeant — wanted to see.
Sargeant is currently fighting for his F1 career, as he is the only driver left on the grid without a guaranteed spot for 2024. Team Principal James Vowles has outlined in recent weeks that there are benchmarks that Sargeant needs to hit to solidify his standing, but getting knocked out in Q1 again cannot be what the team was looking for.
As for Albon, the veteran driver was a sneaky pick to shine in the USGP, but instead, he’ll have to make up some ground on the track as he too was eliminated in Q1. Following the session, he pointed to the wind as a factor in qualifying. The FW45 has struggled in windy conditions this season, something noted F1 analyst Will Buxton mentioned as a potential hurdle for the team prior to qualifying.
“The car was quite different from FP1,” said Albon: “[I was] feeling a little disconnected which can happen when the wind picks up. It meant that to get a clean lap it was very difficult, and my lap just wasn’t that good. The car was better than Q1 today, so it’s a bit frustrating.”
But the focus is on Sargeant. Not only is this a home race, but it is one of the few courses where he has some experience. Sargeant was behind the wheel at COTA in FP1 last season, so he has driven this track before. Failing to get out of Q1 is another disappointment for the rookie driver, and time is running out for him to lock up a spot for next year.
“Too bad I wasn’t great today, but it was nice to drive on home turf,” said the Williams rookie following qualifying. “It was a really tricky session. The car felt completely upside down from this morning so it’s strange.
“We’ll have to look into it and see what we can do better tomorrow.”
Winners: McLaren
The strong run of form continues for McLaren. The team put both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri into Q3, and Norris managed to secure a spot on the front row for the third time this season, as he finished just behind Charles Leclerc in P2.
As for Piastri, he came across the line in P10 in just his first visit to COTA.
“Overall, we’re happy with the potential of the car, at a track which we expected to be less suitable than recent events. Lando secured a front row and did a great good job. He struggled a little to repeat the strong pace shown in Q1, but it came back when it counted in Q3. On Oscar’s side, laptime in Q3 moved away from him due to a large wheelspin event at the exit of Turn 11, which overheated the tyres and largely compromised the rest of his lap,” said Team Principal Andrea Stella.
“We’re in a position to score good points on Sunday, which is our ultimate aim this weekend,” added Stella. “We also have all the Sprint Saturday ahead of us, and a car with promising pace. We will take the learnings from today and aim to carry this momentum into tomorrow.”
McLaren’s battle with Aston Martin for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship? It does not seem like much of a fight at the moment. With McLaren looking at another double-points finish in the Grand Prix on Sunday, while both Aston Martin drivers failed to advance to Q2 and will start at the back of the field, McLaren may very well be in fourth place by the time this weekend comes to a close.
Loser: Nico Hülkenberg
This was rather unexpected from Hülkenberg. Haas brought a completely new design to COTA, with a new aerodynamic focus for the VF-23. Both Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were strong during practice, but only Magnussen advanced to Q2, as Hülkenberg was eliminated.
The result was also unexpected when you remember that Hülkenberg has enjoyed the run of form between the two driver this year, having qualified ahead of Magnussen in ten of the races this season. But instead he was turned into a spectator, having to watch his teammate in Q2.
The driver was rather frustrated following qualifying.
“It was an unfortunate second run in qualifying, it was the second lap that mattered with the track evolution that we had today, but we got disturbed. We had both Red Bulls interfering with the lap in awkward places which made me lose quite a bit of time and that made the difference,” said Hülkenberg. “It’s the first day that we’ve run the new updates and after only one hour of practice and qualifying, we need to go through it and understand it more. This morning I wasn’t happy at all with the car, but we made some good set-up changes and it felt much better. I think we could’ve gone a long way today, so it’s very frustrating.”
However, there could be a bright side for both Hülkenberg and Magnussen, who was eliminated in Q2. Haas has enjoyed much better one-lap pace this season than race pace, as they struggled with tyre degradation issues on longer runs.
Perhaps the changes to the VF-23 will see an improvement in that area? It’s … possible.
Winners: Track Limits
Like Father Time, track limits remain undefeated this season.
Entering Friday’s qualifying session, track limits were a major point of discussion. At both the Austrian Grand Prix and the Qatar Grand Prix last time out, multiple drivers saw lap times deleted in both qualifying as well as the races themselves.
There was a fear that a similar scenario could play out on Friday, and it did, in rather dramatic fashion.
Needing a big lap to put himself on pole, Max Verstappen put that lap together, nipping Leclerc in the closing seconds of Q3 to go atop the timing sheets. But his place at the front of the field was short lived, as race officials soon deleted that lap time for Verstappen having exceeded track limits:
After qualifying, Verstappen noted that such incidents are a result of the fine margins in the sport, and what happens when a driver pushes things to the limit.
“It was a shame to miss out on pole with my deleted lap but I knew in Turn 19 it would be a close call. I made a mistake in Turn One so I had to really push for the rest of the lap, I didn’t understeer or anything, I just really tried to maximise the corner and I misjudged it. Margins are very fine when you are pushing to the limit,” said Verstappen. “Of course, it’s unfortunate but it makes the Sunday race more enjoyable. Now our focus turns to the Sprint race tomorrow, we want to win that and the race on Sunday. It’s a long weekend and a lot can happen, I’m going to have some fun out there that’s for sure.”
Track limits beat Verstappen on this day. Not too many can claim such an accomplishment this season.
