American GP Qualifying and Sprint Shootout Report

There was no real news going into the race weekend.  Verstappen is racing as a three times world champion, Danny Ricciardo is back after breaking his hand.  Piastri had trouble in the practice session and hasn't had much time to set up his car.

The first Qualifying session was uneventful until Verstappen was running 5th and told his current time was "on the bubble" for getting through to the next session.  He made it through but both Williams and both Aston Martins were out with the Haas of Hulkenberg (with a lap time deleted).  For such a strong start to the season, Aston Martin are really floundering; they passed on the news much more kindly to Alonso than Stroll.  Apparently they brought upgrades too.  Alonso said they were using these weekends as test sessions for next year.

In the second session, Russell, Perez and Ricciardo (with a lap time deleted) all struggled to show the same competition as their team mates.  Out went Tsunoda, Zhou, Bottas, Magnussen and Ricciardo.

During the crucial final session, Verstappen had a big wobble on his hot lap and then a second off but still hit pole position then had the lap time deleted.  Russell had a lap time deleted but just crossed the line in time to make a final run and qualified 5th, with his team mate in 3rd.  LeClerc took a brilliant pole, showing that Ferrari can be strong at this track, with Sainz in 4th.  Norris lines up 2nd alongside LeClerc, securing a much-needed Qualifying triumph over his team mate Piastri in 10th.  Verstappen was 6th with Perez in 9th and the two Alpines complete the top 10 in 7th and 8th.

Norris felt he could have had pole but wasn't too disappointed as he made mistakes.  Which LeClerc also admitted.  I remember when drivers never admitted mistakes.  It seemed like Schumacher insisted the team publish a problem whenever he made one.  Now, it is all about being humble.  Hamilton came out singing the praises of American and this circuit.

The next day, everyone moved on to the next Qualifying event, the Sprint Shootout.  In the first Shootout (?), LeClerc was 2 milliseconds behind Verstappen.  The Williams had dialled the car in and Albon was in 3rd although Sargeant was in last place.  Ahead of him and also out was an incredulous Tsnuoda, Bottas and the Haas of Magnussen and Hulkenberg,  Russell heavily impeded LeClerc.

In the second Shootout, Verstappen spun the car but reentered the track facing the right way, although his lap time was deleted.  Out went Ricciardo, Alonso, Ocon, Stroll and Zhou.  It makes you wonder what on Earth Williams were doing with their car yesterday as Albon went through in 10th.

By the end, the pole was Verstappen's for the losing, both Ferrari's right behind me looking for the smallest mistake from the Dutchman.  In the end he took it from LeClerc, with Hamilton, Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Albon and Gasly behind him.  All this and there's so much more racing to come.