Hamilton beats Rosberg to Austin pole

Austin, 22 Oct 2016: Lewis Hamilton beat Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by two tenths of a second to land his first US Grand Prix pole at the Circuit of the Americas, with Daniel Ricciardo taking third place. The Red Bull Racing driver will be joined on row two by team-mate Max Verstappen, while Ferrari locked out row three, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

For the frontrunners Q1 was straightforward. Mercedes seized the initiative, with Hamilton quickly rising to P1 with a time of 1:36.296. The four-time US Grand Prix was joined at the top by Rosberg, Verstappen and Ricciardo. After setting times hovering around two seconds clear of the P16 time of Haas’ Romain Grosjean it quickly became clear that none of the leaders would require another run.

At the foot of the table though, Jenson Button was in trouble. Having failed to get the best out of his first run the McLaren driver was languishing in P19. However, with team-mate Fernando Alonso in P11 ahead of the final runs the expectation was that Button would quickly make the leap to safety. On his final flying lap though, Button encountered traffic and posted the 16^th best time. As rivals found more space on track the 2009 champion slipped back to where he began, P19, and he was therefore eliminated at the end of the session.

Joining him on the sidelines for Q2 were Grosjean in P16, followed by Renault’s Kevin Magnussen, Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and the second Manor of Esteban Ocon.

Q2 saw the Mercedes make their customary early impact – this time with both Rosberg and Hamilton on soft tyres. They were joined in that strategic gambit by Verstappen. Rosberg took P1 followed by Hamilton but they were pushed back by Ricciardo who took P1 on supersofts with a time of 1:36.255.

The Mercedes drivers were followed by Verstappen, whose first run on softs neeted a time of 1:36.857. That was better than 1.2s clear of then 10^th-placed Alonso, so the question was whether the Dutchman would get to stick with soft tyres for the start or whether he would need to bolt on supersofts in order to guarantee passage to Q3.

The answer was quick in coming. As the final runs began there was no sign of any movement in the Red Bull garage and so Verstappen, as well as Rosberg and Hamilton, will start tomorrow’s race on the soft compound Pirelli tyre.

Verstappen ended the session in P7 with the Ferraris of  Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg finishing ahead. Carlos Sainz put in a good performance to make Q3 in P8 for Toro Rosso after missing out on most of FP3 due to punctures caused by problems with his car and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa completed the list of the those who would battle it out in the final session.

Elimininated at this stage were 11th-placed Sergio Perez, Alonso, Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso, Haas’ Esteban Gutierrez, Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

The final segment saw Hamilton seize the initiative. Rosberg made a small error at the start of his first Q3 run and the Briton capitalised, taking pole position with a lap of 1:35.370. That put him 0.072 ahead of Rosberg, while Ricciardo slotted into P3, 0.558 behind Hamilton with a time of 1:35.928.

And in the final flying laps Hamilton stretched the advantage, despite a brief concern about shifting to seventh gear as he worked through his out lap. The defending champion was quicker through the first sector and while Rosberg clawed time back in sector two, Hamilton had done enough and he took his first pole position at COTA with a lap of 1:34.999, 0.216 ahead of Rosberg.

Ricciardo edged team-mate Verstappen for third place on the grid, while Raikkonen pipped Vettel for fifth. Seventh place went to Nico Hulkenberg, with Valtteri Bottas eighth. The final top 10 slots will be filled by Massa in P9 and Carlos Sainz.

2016 United States Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:36.296 1:36.450 1:34.999
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.397 1:36.351 1:35.215
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:36.759 1:36.255 1:35.509
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:36.613 1:36.857 1:35.747
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.985 1:36.584 1:36.131
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:37.151 1:36.462 1:36.358
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:36.950 1:36.626 1:36.628
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:37.456 1:37.202 1:37.116
9 Felipe Massa Williams 1:37.402 1:37.214 1:37.269
10 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:37.744 1:37.175 1:37.326
11 Sergio Perez Force India 1:37.345 1:37.353
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:37.913 1:37.417
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:37.844 1:37.480
14 Esteban Gutierrez Haas 1:38.053 1:37.773
15 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:38.084 1:37.935
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:38.040 1:39.356
17 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:38.308
18 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1:38.317
19 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.327
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:38.548
21 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:38.583
22 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:38.806

eom/FIA press release