2017 F1 United States Grand Prix: another pole for Hamilton, with Vettel second

The weekend in Austin is shaping up perfectly for Lewis Hamilton. The Briton has had a good run through free practice and then, in qualifying, showed he is still the quickest around the American circuit, taking pole position. As things stand, the Mercedes driver could be celebrating a new world title at the end of the 2017 United States Grand Prix.

Naturally, not everything is in Hamilton’s hands, as we already explained in the preview. Sebastian Vettel also has plenty to say and, for now, is not prepared to let his rival celebrate victory after Sunday’s race. Although he did not seem to be on the pace of the other Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, on his final lap he managed to improve on the Finn’s time and will start from second place on the grid, determined not to make it easy for Hamilton to win or, at the very least, to finish second and prevent a celebration in Mercedes.

From qualifying, the standout performance came from Carlos Sainz in his debut as a driver for the Renault team. The Spaniard had already shown in practice that he had adapted quickly to his new car, and in qualifying he delivered an excellent eighth place, ahead of his new teammate Hulkenberg, who stopped running after failing to get through to Q2, as he had opted to change his engine and will start from the back of the grid.

As mentioned, Sainz set the eighth-fastest time of the qualifying session, just ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard celebrated his contract extension with McLaren with a strong performance and will now aim to round off the weekend in Austin by scoring a few points. It should be noted that both Sainz and Alonso will actually start one place further forward, as Verstappen also changed his engine and will start fifteen places back.

The full timing table for this qualifying session at the 2017 United States Grand Prix is as follows: