Mercedes is no longer master in Austin. After having taken pole position without stopping since 2014 (Rosberg x 2, Hamilton x 3, then Bottas), the German team stumbled over the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was the only driver to go under 1’33 ” with a time of 1’32”910, relegating his rival for the title, Lewis Hamilton, to two tenths (1’33”119). Last cars on the track, the Red Bulls lacked grip due to raindrops that appeared in the last sector. This earned Sergio Perez, on provisional pole after the first attempt, to fail in third place (1’33”134).
On a circuit that usually succeeds them, the Silver Arrows suffered throughout this qualifying session like Valtteri Bottas, only fourth. Penalized by five places for having changed a part of his engine block, the Finn will therefore start from ninth place and will not be of much help for his leader in the fight for the title. This penalty allows Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) to gain a place. The Frenchman therefore finds himself eighth on the grid, three rows ahead of his compatriot Esteban Ocon, whose Alpine is still performing poorly this weekend.
Fernando Alonso had the bitter experience of it in Q2, not doing better than the 14th fastest time. As one of the three drivers forced to start at the back of the grid after a complete change of the engine block with Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) and George Russell (Williams), the Spaniard will be placed between the German and the English on the grid . Yuki Tsunoda has, for his part, regained color after having dragged his sentence at the back of the pack since his arrival in the United States. Qualified for a Q3 in which he finished last behind his teammate, he completed a top 10 made up of two single-seaters Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and AlphaTauri.