What an incredible session at the Circuit of The Americas. Kimi Antonelli snatched pole position for the United States Grand Prix by nearly two tenths of a second, leaving even his own boss, Toto Wolff, admitting he only expected a spot between third and fifth. The young Italian sent everyone packing by heading out early and nailing his first run in Q3. Tricky wind conditions meant nobody could improve on their second attempts, cementing a stunning pole—his first since Spa—and putting him right where he needs to be to fight for the win.
Mercedes had mixed fortunes, though, as George Russell struggled through two scrappy runs in Q3 to line up only sixth with a 1:34.476. Both Mercedes cars did manage to get through Q1 on mediums, leaving them a fresh set of soft tyres for the race. Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin pointed out that almost all of their deficit to rivals came through the sequence from Turns 12 to 15, and while Kimi nailed it on his first try, Russell suffered a small mistake at Turn 11 that killed his tyre temperatures.
Red Bull kept the pressure right on. Max Verstappen looked primed for pole all weekend but had to settle for second with a 1:34.214 after running wide on his final lap and losing rear grip in the tricky wind. Meanwhile, Isack Hadjar bounced back from a difficult FP3 and a trip to the stewards to lock down third place, just 0.036 seconds behind his teammate. Laurent Mekies noted that both drivers were in the fight right up to the end, giving them a brilliant tactical hand for tomorrow alongside congratulations to Alisha on her F1 Academy Championship win.
Over at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton topped FP3 to complete a clean sweep of practice, making them early favourites. But that pace slipped slightly when the clock mattered most, leaving Charles Leclerc fourth on a 1:34.267 and Hamilton fifth on a 1:34.311. Leclerc sensibly reminded everyone that he won here previously from fourth on the grid, so they are far from out of it. Fred Vasseur noted that the front of the field was so tight that a couple of hundredths made the difference between second and sixth.
McLaren endured a tougher afternoon with a machine that proved difficult to handle. Neither driver could squeeze the maximum out of the MCL40, with Lando Norris finding himself eighth with a 1:35.049 after losing his fastest lap time in Q3 to track limits.
