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The 2023 F1 US GP qualifying was an intense affair as it had Charles Leclerc clinching another pole position for Ferrari. In a tightly contested battle, Leclerc came out on top as other drivers failed to make their last lap count. He will be accompanied on the front row by McLaten's Lando Norris, who pulled off a stunning lap himself in the end.
In P3 we will have Lewis Hamilton as the Mercedes driver was unable to truly exploit what was on offer with Carlos Sainz alongside him. The 2023 F1 US GP grid is now set as the Friday qualifying proved to be quite interesting overall.
Having said that, with the session now in the background, who would be happy with how things panned out, and who would be a bit disappointed? Let's take a look.
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2023 F1 US GP Qualifying
Winner
Charles Leclerc
It wasn't long before many claimed that Carlos Sainz was now the leader at Ferrari. After a three-race stint where the Spaniard got a pole position in Monza and Singapore to add to the impressive race in Zandvoort, many felt that Sainz had taken over at the team.
Fast forward a few races and once again we see the talent that is Charles Leclerc. Ferrari has a driver who can go head-to-head against Max Verstappen and beat him, with Leclerc showing that again at the 2023 F1 US GP qualifying.
Loser
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen underperformed at the 2023 F1 US GP qualifying, and in all fairness, if the Red Bull was not as strong as it has been this season, he would have been livid with himself.
The race in Austin showed that the Dutch driver is not invincible and also what we are missing when it comes to an epic battle with Red Bull just streaking away at the front.
Winner
Lando Norris
That was a Lando Norris special that we saw in the dying stages of qualifying as the McLaren put everything together when quite a few drives failed.
Norris will be starting the race on the front row and with nobody sure of what the race pace of any of the cars will look like, we're looking at a second opportunity for the young driver to snatch his first F1 win.
Loser
Aston Martin
It's anybody's guess right now when it comes to predicting what's going on at Aston Martin. The team had the second-best car on the grid at the start of the season and it is now arguably the second-slowest in Austin.
What went wrong? Why such a drastic fall at the 2023 F1 US GP? The top management should be alarmed because this is an almighty fall for the Silverstone-based team this season.
Winner
Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda never gets the shine these days irrespective of who his teammate is. The young Japanese driver has seen multiple teammates in the second car and he continues to get the better of them. Yet the shine continues to be on the second driver.
The driver will be starting the 2023 F1 US GP in P11 while Daniel Ricciardo will be P15. Away from the spotlight, Yuki is building a case for himself for that Red Bull seat.
Loser
Sergio Perez
Talking about that Red Bull seat, Sergio Perez will start the race in P9 after getting out-qualified by both Alpines, both Mercedes, both Ferraris, and Max Verstappen who had his second lap deleted.
While we can sit here and predict Max Verstappen being a factor for the win on Sunday, it's going to be a hard sell to predict Perez even being a podium contender for the same race. Clock is ticking for the Mexican!
