It was time for the second Qualifying session of the weekend as the Sprint Shootout took place to determine the grid for today’s Sprint.
SQ1
In Sprint Qualifying 1; Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, and Logan Sargeant were the five slowest drivers. Haas will be very disappointed with their results so far today with both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen being eliminated at the first opportunity whilst Valtteri Bottas will only start today’s Sprint from P18 after doing exactly the same time as K-Mag (Magnussen did the lap first). Yuki Tsunoda had a terrible outing due to a horrible final out lap whilst Logan Sargeant was once again the slowest driver on track. Max Verstappen topped SQ1 by just 2 thousandths (of a second) to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
SQ2
In Sprint Qualifying 2; Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, and Zhou Guanyu all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Daniel Ricciardo can be happy with a P11 start for today’s Sprint whilst Fernando Alonso will start alongside him on the 6th row of the grid after a better day than yesterday (even though it’s still not great). Esteban Ocon will be disappointed with only 13th for Alpine whilst Lance Stroll finally managed to make it out of the first session of Qualifying. Zhou Guanyu was the slowest driver in Q2 and he was once again just a thousandth (of a second) behind the car in front. Max Verstappen once again topped SQ2 over Charles Leclerc, but this time the gap was over two tenths.
SQ3
In Sprint Qualifying 3, a 1:34.538 was enough for Max Verstappen to take his third Sprint Shootout Pole of the season. Max has been on it today and you have to expect him to convert this into a victory later on today. Charles Leclerc can be happy with P2 (just 0.055s behind Verstappen) whilst Lewis Hamilton will start third again after once again just missing out on a spot on the front row. Lando Norris will start ahead of Oscar Piastri in a McLaren 4-5 whilst Carlos Sainz will be disappointed with 6th. Sergio Perez could only manage 7th for Red Bull whilst George Russell will start 8th after both drivers had to use an old set of tyres for their final run. Alex Albon will start today’s Sprint from 9th after a really good performance whilst Pierre Gasly was the slowest man in SQ3 after a disappointing final run.
Starting Grid for the 2023 United States Grand Prix Sprint and My Sprint Shootout Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Charles Leclerc: 9
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Lando Norris: 8
Oscar Piastri: 6
Carlos Sainz: 5
Sergio Perez: 4
George Russell: 4
Alex Albon: 8
Pierre Gasly: 5
Daniel Ricciardo: 7
Fernando Alonso: 4
Esteban Ocon: 3
Lance Stroll: 3
Zhou Guanyu: 4
Nico Hulkenberg: 3
Kevin Magnussen: 2
Valtteri Bottas: 2
Yuki Tsunoda: 1
Logan Sargeant: 1
My Predictions for the 2023 United States Sprint
Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton
Charles Leclerc
Lando Norris
Oscar Piastri
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