Max takes pole in Austin
Max Verstappen has just captured pole position for the 2021 American GP. At the last minute, he was able to beat his teammate and Hamilton. Lewis will start next to him on the front row tomorrow. Pérez will leave tomorrow from P3.
Q1 and Q2
In the first session of qualifying, the Mercedes are not very fast yet. Bottas and Hamilton only finish in P7 and P8 in the first part of qualifying. Leclerc then sets the fastest time and Verstappen and Pérez complete the top three.
In the second session, the fastest teams opt for the medium tires, as this will provide a strategic advantage for tomorrow. The tire on which you set the fastest time in Q2 is the tire on which you start the race tomorrow. Pérez still has a hard time, but in the end all drivers of the top teams go through to Q3.
Q3
In the last part of qualifying everyone switches back to the soft tires, in order to try to set the fastest lap. In the twelve minutes that Q3 lasts, the drivers have time for two fast laps. After the first attempts, Pérez is fastest, with Verstappen just behind him in P2. The two Red Bulls then have a lead of almost three tenths on the third time of Bottas.
During the second laps it appears that Verstappen and Hamilton still have something extra in them. First Hamilton beats Pérez’s time, but then Verstappen is still busy with his lap. The Dutchman manages to go even faster and improves Lewis’s time by two tenths. Verstappen takes pole position and will have Hamilton next to him on the front row tomorrow.
2021 American GP Qualification
01. Max Verstappen
02. Lewis Hamilton
03. Sergio Perez
04. Valtteri Bottas
05. Charles Leclerc
Dates and times of the 2021 American GP
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Race: 9:00 PM
