Leclerc Takes Pole, Verstappen Misstep Costly

Friday saw the first use of the new sprint format at the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.  The US Grand Prix is one of six races to use the changed Sprint format. 

The Sprint format is a significant departure from the traditional Grand Prix weekend.  The Sprint, a shorten form of the traditional race, displaces all Saturday activities.  It was added to create more excitement leading up to the main event on Sunday. 

To make room for the Saturday events, the usual Free Practice 2 (Friday afternoon) and Free Practice 3 (Saturday morning) have been eliminated. The Qualifiers for Sunday’s Grand Prix occur on Friday afternoon, and Saturday is devoted to the Sprint race format. 

The Sprint format requires the driver squeeze every bit benefit from Free Practice 1, as there is not others. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (1:34.723) bested McLaren’s Lando Norris (1:34.853, +0.120) and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1:34.862, +0.139) in the qualifiers. 

Commenting on the strong performance Leclerc said, “I think as a team we did a great job. I mean, we know that in the Sprint weekend it’s more important than ever to have a clean FP1. We did. We had a good FP1. We started with a strong basis thanks to the work the guys have done to prepare this weekend, with the car straightaway feeling good. And yeah, then I was feeling good and the lap, I was happy throughout qualifying.” 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz (1:34.945, +0.222) and Mercedes’ George Russell (1:35.079, +0.356) round out the top five starting positions. 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen momentarily recorded the fastest lap, but the result was negated for exceeding track limits on Turn 19.  Verstappen will start in the 6th position. 

Several years ago, Verstappen famously swung wide on the same turn to legally over-take a driver.  The major bending of the rules resulted in the installations of a curb, nicknamed the Verstoppen, and a new track limit. 

Cars from the Haas and Aston Martin teams will start from the pit lane as both teams opted to change the set-ups for both their drivers before the race.