Roundup of Practice and Qualifying as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc snatched pole position for 2023 US Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen topped Practice but a mistake on his final Q3 lap proved costly as he qualified sixth whilst Leclerc beat Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton to pole position in a thrilling climax to Qualifying.
Now here is a full roundup of Practice and Qualifying for 2023 US Grand Prix.
Practice
Mercedes’ George Russell was first out on track but it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who set the initial pace across the opening 17 minutes on the hard tyre, as he set a benchmark 1m 37.498 in the 13th minute.
Hamilton went 0.042 seconds short a minute later but lowered the benchmark four minutes later to 1m 37.394, which left him top from Verstappen and Norris at the half-way point of the session.
Norris’ McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri meanwhile suffered a scary moment into Turn 10 in the 34th minute, which saw him drift wide and marginally avoid clattering into the barriers, but the Melbourne-born driver was able to continue on his way.
Norris six minutes later went fastest on the medium tyre with 1m 37.256 ahead of the qualifying simulations, which saw Williams’ Alex Albon post 1m 36.535 in the 48th minute to better Norris’ lap by 0.721s.
Verstappen displaced Albon with 1m 35.912 in the 53rd minute to top the session, eventually ahead of Charles Leclerc, Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, Russell and Albon in the top seven.
Everyone set their best lap times on the soft tyre except McLaren’s Norris and Piastri who did their times on the medium tyres, whilst Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll set their best laps on the hard tyre – although Stroll missed much of the session with a brake issue.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 35.912 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.156 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.281 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.300 |
| 5 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.560 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.562 |
| 7 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.580 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.621 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.790 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.793 |
| 11 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.075 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.154 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.192 |
| 14 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | + 1.240 |
| 15 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.344 |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.506 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.605 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.928 |
| 19 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 2.508 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 4.028 |
Qualifying
Q1
Sargeant was first out on track at his home event but aborted his flying lap as Zhou set the initial pace with 1m 37.293, which soon tumbled with Hulkenberg surprisingly fastest once opening flying laps were completed as he posted 1m 36.235 in the 10th minute as the track rubbered in.
The bottom five with seven minutes left compromised of Zhou, Gasly, Ocon, Stroll and Sargeant who had gone back out, only for his lap time to be deleted due to track limits, whilst other drivers briefly flirted with the drop including Sainz who went top with 1m 35.824 in the 13th minute.
As the checkered flag, Sargeant qualified last for his home race with Stroll joining him on the back row behind Albon, whilst Alonso failed to reach Q3 for the first time this season as he qualified 17th behind Hulkenberg who missed out on Q2 by 0.022s to Ricciardo.
Leclerc meanwhile topped Q1 with 1m 35.061 as the track evolution continued to ramp up across the entire segment.
Q2
Leclerc was first out on track and produced 1m 35.888 as the benchmark time in the fifth minute only for Piastri to go 0.312s quicker barely a minute later, until Verstappen delivered 1m 35.491 to go quickest just seconds afterwards.
Once everyone had completed their first flying laps, the elimination zone compromised of; Ricciardo, Magnussen, Zhou, Sainz and Norris, although Norris had his lap time deleted because he exceeded track limits at Turn 19.
Like for the first runs of Q2, Leclerc and Sainz again were first out on track ahead of the last runs in this segment.
Once the checkered flag fell, Sainz and Norris escapeed elimination as Ricciardo qualified slowst in 15th position, behind Magnussen and Bottas who were 14th and 13th quickest respectively whilst Zhou narrowly missed out on 11th to Tsunoda by 0.001s as the pair failed to reach Q3.
Tsunoda though had been denied a Q3 spot by Perez with the Mexican’s best lap only having been 0.018s quicker than the AlphaTauri driver.
Leclerc again finished the Qualifying segment fastest as he topped Q2 with 1m 35.004 in the 14th minute.
Q3
Leclerc and Sainz were again amongst the early front runners to hit the track but this time behind Verstappen, who was first out on track.
Verstappen set a benchmark time of 1m 35.081 in the fourth minute but was displaced by Leclerc who produced 1m 34.829 to displace the three-time champion, who was further displaced by Hamilton two minutes later as the Brit fell 0.056s short of Leclerc’s effort.
Sainz was provisionally fourth at the halfway mark of Q3 ahead of; Gasly, Perez, Norris, Piastri, Ocon and Russell – whose lap time was deleted due to track limits whilst some were on new soft tyres for their first Q3 runs as others set their times on used tyres.
Once the checkered flag waved to end Qualifying, Leclerc snatched pole with 1m 34.723 but briefly was displaced by Verstappen by just 0.005s until the Dutchman was adjudged to had exceeded track limits.
Verstappen consequently was demoted to sixth as Norris unexpectedly qualified second ahead of Hamilton, Sainz and Russell, whilst Gasly, Ocon, Perez and Piastri completed the top ten in seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 34.723 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.130 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.139 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.222 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.356 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.358 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.366 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.431 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.450 |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.744 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1m 35.697 |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.001 |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 0.161 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.183 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | + 0.277 |
| 16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1m 36.235 |
| 17 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.033 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.080 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.354 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 0.592 |