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Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen has claimed pole position for the 2021 USGP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. It is his ninth pole position this season, and the Dutchman edged out Lewis Hamilton, who qualified second, and teammate Sergio Perez in third. Of his nine poles this year, Verstappen has claimed eight in the last 11 races.
Verstappen’s fastest lap was clocked at 1 minute 32.910 seconds, two tenths of a second clear from title contender Hamilton’s fastest best which was clocked at 1 minute 33.119 seconds. Perez's fastest lap was a mere 0.015 seconds slower than the Mercedes ahead of him.
Verstappen claims ninth pole position, as Hamilton gets sandwiched by Red Bulls in USGP qualifying
Track-limit violations and track revolution transpired into an exciting qualifying session ahead of the USGP. Several drivers had their laptimes deleted for exceeding track limits, causing few to lose out on choice spots on the grid.
Hamilton and Verstappen’s precise driving made the difference in edging out their teammates. Perez grabbed the provisional pole in the initial run of the final qualifying session. Hamilton outpaced him on his final attempt, grabbing the provisional pole only to be outpaced by Verstappen. The Dutchman crossed the finish line behind the Briton, outpacing him by a significant two tenths of a second.
Valtteri Bottas qualified fourth, however, a five-place grid penalty will push him further down the grid in ninth. Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualified fifth and sixth respectively. Bottas' penalty will see them promoted to fourth and fifth on the grid.
McLaren drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris qualified seventh and eighth fastest respectively in the qualifying session and will start sixth and seventh on the grid.
Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda clocked the ninth and tenth fastest times of the session. The Frenchman will start eighth as the demoted Bottas splits the two Alpha Tauri drivers.
Q1, the first qualifying session, saw Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, Kimi Raikkonen, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin get eliminated. Stroll's shock exit came as the driver failed to improve his time on his final attempt and was knocked out.
In Q2, the drivers eliminated were Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel, Antonio Giovinazzi, Fernando Alonso and George Russell. Russell, who clocked the 13th-fastest lap of the session, had his laptime deleted for track-limit violations.
In the second half of the grid for the USGP Vettel, Alonso and Russell’s penalties for engine and component changes sent them to the back of the field. So, several drivers classified from 11th to 20th in the session get promoted further up the order and the back half of the starting grid for the USGP will shape up as follows: 11. Ocon, 12. Giovinazzi, 13. Stroll, 14. Latifi 15. Raikkonen, 16. Schumacher, 17. Mazepin , 18. Vettel, 19. Alonso, 20. Russell.
While the two championship protagonists will start the USGP on the front row, Verstappen has his wingman Perez right behind Hamilton. However, the Mercedes driver is minus a wingman for the race.
Although Mercedes looked likely to dominate in Austin and outpaced the rest in FP1, come qualifying, the roles have been reversed. In the final practice session ahead of the qualifying session, Red Bull Racing unleashed their true pace, which was evenly matched to Mercedes.
In theory, the USGP is predominantly Hamilton territory and has now been challenged by Red Bull Racing drivers. With a bumpy track surface and scorching track temperatures, it could be a race that subverts all predictions, given the momentum of Friday and Saturday’s track action.
Full classification for the 2021 USGP qualifying session:
