Leclerc takes U.S. Grand Prix pole after Verstappen's lap time deleted
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed pole position for the United States Grand Prix by posting the fastest time during Friday's qualifying at Circuit of the Americas.
"I'm really happy, I love this track," Leclerc said after securing pole.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who has already been crowned this season's champion, had his lap time deleted during Q3 for exceeding track limits. He would've clinched pole by 0.005 seconds. Instead, he'll start Sunday's race sixth.
McLaren's Lando Norris qualified second, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton starting third in Sunday's race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:34.723 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.130 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.139 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +0.222 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.356 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.358 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +0.366 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +0.431 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +0.450 |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.744 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | Q2 |
| 12 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | Q2 |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | Q2 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | Q2 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | Q2 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | Q1 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | Q1 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | Q1 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | Q1 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | Q1 |
AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo didn't make it out of Q2 in his F1 return after missing the last five races with a broken left hand. He'll start Sunday's race in 15th.
Aston Martin had a poor showing Friday, with both drivers failing to get out of Q1 after announcing the installation of an upgrade package for this weekend.
Aston Martin sits fourth in the constructor standings, 11 points ahead of McLaren.