Carlos Sainz claimed his second Formula 1 career pole after a tight battle in qualifying at the US Grand Prix.
The Spaniard produced a brilliant final run in Q3 to beat teammate Charles Leclerc by just 0.065s as Ferrari claimed their first pole at the Circuit of the Americas.
Sadly for Leclerc, a 10-place grid penalty for new engine parts will drop him down the order and promotes Max Verstappen onto the front row for Sunday’s race.
Sergio Perez claimed fourth in the second Red Bull, but also has a five-place grid drop for new components meaning Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will make it an all-Mercedes second row.
Q1
No concerns for the leaders as the two Ferraris led Verstappen in the top three.
There was disappointment for the home team though as both Haas drivers were eliminated.
Kevin Magnussen missed out on Q2 by just 0.017s in 16th after Alex Albon pipped the Dane in his Williams.
Teammate Mick Schumacher was only 19th after a compromised practice earlier in the day.
The big surprises though were Esteban Ocon in 18th for Alpine and Daniel Ricciardo 17th.
Nicholas Latifi finished slowest overall in the second Williams.
Q2
Leclerc set the pace, less than half a tenth ahead of Verstappen at the front.
Further down, Zhou Guanyu looked to have got both Alfa Romeos into Q3, but had his final lap deleted for track limits and dropped down to 14th.
That saved Lando Norris, as the Briton was promoted back up into 10th for McLaren.
Alex Albon just missed out though in 11th, as Sebastian Vettel was frustrated with P12 after also losing a lap due to track limits.
Pierre Gasly sat 13th after struggling with brake issues for the second qualifying session in a row, ahead of Zhou and AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Q3
Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two after the first run, meaning Sainz was on provisional pole due to the Monegasque’s grid penalty.
Carlos responded on his second lap though, posting a 1m34.356s to claim P1 on his own terms.
Verstappen tried an alternative tyre strategy with two warm-up laps, but came up just under a tenth shy of pole in third.
After being largely anonymous all weekend, Perez briefly jumped up to second before slipping to fourth after a strong final lap.
That put him ahead of the two Mercedes’ in fifth and sixth, with Lance Stroll an impressive seventh for Aston Martin.
Norris capitalised on his Q2 reprieve to finish eighth, ahead of Fernando Alonso in ninth as McLaren and Alpine’s battle rages on.
Valtteri Bottas returned to Q3 for the first time since Hungary in 10th for Alfa Romeo.
