Ahe US fan Lewis Hamilton surprisingly snatched pole position on the Mercedes track in Austin. The Dutchman relegated the British Formula 1 superstar to second place by a very clear 0.209 seconds on Saturday. “That feels really good,” said Verstappen after the strong performance in front of enthusiastic spectators in Texas. For him it was the ninth pole position of the season and the first on the Circuit of the Americas in the USA.
Hamilton, who was almost a second faster than Verstappen in the first practice session on Friday, simply couldn’t catch up on the decisive final lap in his Mercedes. “I gave everything, we struggled a bit in the qualification,” he reported. “The guys were incredibly quick in qualifying. I gave everything but that was pretty much all we had. “
Record holder Hamilton
All eight Formula 1 races to date on the Austin track have been won by drivers who started the race from the front row. The record holder is Hamilton with five wins so far. In each of the past six editions, a Mercedes driver took pole position; before the forced Corona break, that was Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas in 2019 – this series has now been broken. Bottas came in fourth behind Sergio Perez in the Red Bull, but lost five places due to a penalty for his engine change.
Hamilton and Verstappen did not get in each other’s way on Saturday – the day before it looked very different. Then the defending champion pushed his Mercedes in front of the Red Bull von Verstappen and fought a wheel-to-wheel duel over the entire start and finish straight – in the second practice session, Verstappen’s targeted fast lap was ruined before it had really started . The Dutchman insulted Hamilton as a “stupid idiot” and stuck his middle finger after him.
Sebastian Vettel has nothing to do with the tussles in the title fight and was not only under pressure in qualifying for that reason – because of an engine exchange and other parts it was clear from the start that he would start from the end of the field with his Aston Martin on Sunday. Twelfth place in the qualification only made a difference in that Fernando Alonso, who had also been penalized, had to start behind him in the Alpine and George Russell in the Williams.
Haas drivers Nikita Masepin and Mick Schumacher start in front of the pilots with penalties. The son of record world champion Michael Schumacher was once again better than his teammate from Russia, the two separated 0.297 seconds. “It’s a shame, I had to weigh in with the car, that thwarted our plans. That put us at the very back. It was just a bit unhappy, “said Schumacher on Sky. He also reported problems with the right tire temperatures to get the most out of his car.
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