F1 United States Grand Prix 2024 Qualifying Review: Lucky Lando takes a fortunate pole

Russell’s late crash denies Verstappen a pole

Max Verstappen looked all set to take pole at Austin for the United State Grand Prix 2024 but George Russell’s late crash in Q3 ended the session which denied the Dutchman a chance to finish his final lap, giving McLaren’s Lando Norris a fortunate pole. 

Verstappen came into qualifying off the back of a Sprint win and the Dutchman looked extremely competitive in an eventful qualifying session which had quite a few surprises as well. Here’s a quick look at how the United States Grand Prix 2024 qualifying went.

Q1 – Unusual Hamilton errors knocks seven-time champion out

Max Verstappen’s 1:33.6s set the benchmark for the rest of the grid as Lando Norris could only get three tenths close to him as the Red Bull driver held the early advantage. With a minute left on the clock, Verstappen went even quicker, with Leclerc a tenth behind him.

While Verstappen and Leclerc improving, it was Leclerc’s soon-to-be teammate Lewis Hamilton missing out on Q2 due to a uncharacteristic driver error from the Mercedes veteran, as the chequered flag fell and missing out on Q2 was the Williams pair of Albon and Colapinto and the two Saubers were separated from the bottom two spots by Hamilton.

Drivers eliminated in Q1

Alex Albon
Franco Colapinto
Valtteri Bottas
Lewis Hamilton
Zhou Guanyu

Q2 – Magnussen, Alonso pull through at the end, heartbreak for Tsunoda

Verstappen’s 1:33.05s was the one everyone was catching before Lando Norris put in a stellar lap at 1:32.8s to go on top, although Verstappen did his fastest lap on used tyres while Norris did it on a brand new set of tyres. Verstappen retook the lead, going two-tenths quicker and the Red Bull and McLaren drivers exchanged the top spot at the front of the grid. 

Further down the grid, once the flag dropped it was Nico Hülkenberg missing out, getting knocked out by his teammate right in the final runs while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was also looking like the two-time world champion would miss out but put in a strong lap right at the end to pull through. VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda missed out by the smallest of margins at the end with Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson also failing to get out of Q2 with the latter not going out as the Kiwi driver was set to start at the back of the grid due to an engine penalty.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

Yuki Tsunoda
Nico Hülkenberg
Esteban Ocon
Lance Stroll
Liam Lawson

Q3 – Norris gets lucky as Russell crashes out

Lando Norris’ 1:32.3s set the early benchmark in the first runs and Verstappen came agonisingly close at 0.031s seconds behind Sainz’s Ferrari three-tenths behind the reigning world champion. Verstappen was all set for the pole as he was cruising in the final run but Mercedes’ George Russell crashed out right at the end at Turn 19, which brought out the double yellow flags and ended the session, giving Norris a fortunate pole and while it was agonising for Verstappen, his teammate ended the session in tenth place after having his earlier time deleted due to exceeding track limits.

Starting Grid for the United States Grand Prix 2024 (before any penalties)

1. Lando Norris
2. Max Verstappen
3. Carlos Sainz
4. Charles Leclerc
5. Oscar Piastri
6. George Russell
7. Pierre Gasly
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Kevin Magnussen
10. Sergio Pérez
11. Yuki Tsunoda
12. Nico Hülkenberg
13. Esteban Ocon
14. Lance Stroll
15. Alex Albon
16. Franco Colapinto
17. Valtteri Bottas
18. Lewis Hamilton
19. Zhou Guanyu
20. Liam Lawson*

*Lawson takes an engine penalty and will start at the back of the grid