For the second time in 2023, Qualifying took place in the United States and this time, the drivers had to tackle the always great Circuit of the Americas to set the Grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, and Logan Sargeant were the five slowest drivers. After being fastest at one point in the session, Nico Hulkenberg being out in Q1 was a bit of a surprise as was Fernando Alonso as his 100% record of making Q3 in 2023 came to an end in a very disappointing way. Alex Albon will also be very disappointed to only Qualify 18th whilst Lance Stroll’s consecutive Q1 eliminations is now up to 5 races. Logan Sargeant was the slowest man at his home race and I don’t feel like being over 5 tenths behind his Williams teammate is going to be good enough for Logan to keep his seat. Lewis Hamilton just about topped Q1 by just under 2 hundredths (of a second) to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, and Daniel Ricciardo all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Yuki Tsunoda was unlucky to miss out on a spot in Q3 by just 18 thousandths (of a second) whilst Zhou Guanyu was only 1 thousandth behind Tsunoda! Valtteri Bottas capped off a good day for Alfa Romeo with P13 whilst Kevin Magnussen can be happy that he’s outqualified his teammate. Daniel Ricciardo was slowest in Q2 on his return for Alpha Tauri and whilst he does deserve to be cut a little bit of slack, he should be closer to his teammate. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped Q2, just 4 thousandths (of a second) ahead of Max Verstappen.
Q3
In Qualifying 3, Charles Leclerc set a superb 1:34.723 to take a massive Pole Position for Ferrari. Charles can be delighted with his lap and he’ll be looking to keep hold of first place come the end of Sunday’s Grand Prix. Lando Norris did a terrific job to get his McLaren onto the front row whilst Lewis Hamilton will probably be slightly disappointed with only P3. Carlos Sainz and George Russell will start 4th and 5th respectively whilst 3-time World Champion Max Verstappen could only manage 6th after getting his final lap deleted for exceeding track limits (it originally put him on Pole). Alpine did a great job to get 7th and 8th with Pierre Gasly looking super quick ahead of Esteban Ocon whilst Sergio Perez could only manage 9th for Red Bull. Oscar Piastri was the slowest driver in Q3 with a pretty disappointing day, but we know he can bounce back on a Sprint Saturday.
Starting Grid for the 2023 United States Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades
Charles Leclerc: 10
Lando Norris: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Carlos Sainz: 7
George Russell: 6
Max Verstappen: 5
Pierre Gasly: 9
Esteban Ocon: 8
Sergio Perez: 3
Oscar Piastri: 3
Yuki Tsunoda: 7
Zhou Guanyu: 7
Valtteri Bottas: 6
Kevin Magnussen: 5
Daniel Ricciardo: 4
Nico Hulkenberg: 3
Fernando Alonso: 2
Alex Albon: 2
Lance Stroll: 1
Logan Sargeant: 1
My Predictions for the American Sprint Shootout
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Oscar Piastri
Sergio Perez
Lando Norris
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