Sunday October 24th 2021
Update
Vettel “successful” after punishment
Verstappen snatches pole position from Hamilton
Qualifying for the US Grand Prix goes to Max Verstappen. The championship leader sets the fastest time, but pursuer Lewis Hamilton is ready to close the gap in the race up to the first corner. Sebastian Vettel achieved the minimum goal, while Mick Schumacher benefited from penalties.
Max Verstappen wins qualifying for the US Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver counters Lewis Hamilton’s (Mercedes) fastest time, which was set a few moments earlier, is more than two tenths of a second faster and will be able to do so on Sunday (9 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de) from position one in the race. Immediately behind the championship leader (1: 32.910 minutes) is Hamilton (1: 33.119), who would take the lead again with his sixth success in Austin. So everything is ready for another showdown between the two opponents, who of course want to accelerate out of the demanding left turn after the uphill start.
Sergio Perez (1: 33.134) finished third on the wavy course in Texas, making it a strong qualifying result for Red Bull. Mercedes has won six out of eight Grands Prix in Austin so far, Red Bull is still without a win there. Valtteri Bottas (1: 33.475) in the second Silver Arrow finished the qualification in fourth place, but had to go back to ninth place because of an engine that was also exchanged.
Behind them are the drivers, grouped in an exemplary manner by teams: Charles Leclerc (1: 33.606) and Carlos Sainz (1: 33.792) drive into fifth and sixth in the Ferrari, the McLaren duo Daniel Ricciardo (1: 33.808) and Lando Norris (1 : 33.887) ranks seven and eight, the top ten are completed by Pierre Gasly (1: 34.118) and Yuki Tsunoda (1: 34.918) in the Alpha Tauri.
When it comes to the top spots, Sebastian Vettel (1: 35,500) has long since got out of his Aston Martin. The four-time world champion is relegated to the end of the field due to an engine change and only drove one fast lap in Q2. As twelfth, Vettel is about four tenths missing for the entry into Q3, which would have only had theoretical value anyway. More important: The German places himself in front of the Alpine of Fernando Alonso (14th / 1: 44,549) and George Russell (15th / no time) in the Williams, who are also moving backwards due to engine changes, but start behind Vettel.
For Mick Schumacher (1: 36.499), on the other hand, qualifying is already over after the first 15 minutes, as expected. The Haas driver did not start the race from 19th place due to the various penalties of the competition, but more than the second slowest time is not possible for the 22-year-old. After all: Once again he wins the team-internal duel against Nikita Mazepin (1: 36.796). The Russian had previously caused a curiosity in the final training session after having had problems with the demanding course the entire weekend – namely by being denied all fast laps there because the track limits were exceeded.