The fourth out of the sixth round of a Sprint Race Weekend continued with a Sprint qualifying to determine a starting grid for Saturday’s 2024 US GP Sprint Race.
Sprint Qualifying should, with all teams and drivers pushing, give a slight glimpse of what to expect come ‘real’ qualifying and race, in terms of the pace of teams.
Another particular detail worth paying attention to will be the final lap times, the newly resurfaced COTA is expected to give drivers a chance to set lap records throughout a weekend.
The First Sprint Qualifying round was far from giving any answers regarding the running order of the speed. This was due to the first 4 places being reserved for different teams.
Lewis Hamilton was the quickest, while Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris replicated their final positions from the First Practice session.
The highlight of the first Sprint qualifying round was Piastri’s early ‘cooldown’, as he finished 16th after his fastest lap violated track limits.
He was joined by Sauber’s duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon who spectacularly spun in the penultimate corner of the final flying lap.
An incidents-free second round of the Sprint qualifying saw Sainz return to the top of the standings. Verstappen and Hamilton behind, proved that both teams are in a good spot for a competitive weekend, while McLaren struggled as it seemed to be the 4th fastest team of the Friday.
The elimination of Sergio Perez and Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso opened a path for a mixed roster of cars for the final round of the Sprint qualifying. Williams’ Franco Colapinto and both Haas drivers thus prepared a small surprise during the sprint qualifying.
The final round of the shootout brought the final 10 drivers out on soft tires. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had provisionally locked a front row with Ferraries, Verstappen, and others chasing a lap time of 1:32.845.
Sainz, Norris, and Leclerc were unable to dispatch Russell’s time as three drivers bumped each other from 2nd place.
Ultimately Max Verstappen pushed Russell out of Sprint pole position with a time that was quicker for a mere 12 thousand of a second.