US Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton takes huge step towards fifth world championship with pole position

Championship rival starts down in fifth after picking up a three-place grid penalty

Lewis Hamilton moved a step closer to his fifth world championship at a cold Circuit of the Americas on Saturday evening, but it was a very close-run thing as the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had found their mojo again.

“That was very important,” Hamilton admitted, after his lap of 1m 32.237s edged Vettel out by six-thousandths of a second as he annexed the 81st pole position of his career.

By ditching some of their recent updates and going back to a specification in which their cars felt really good, Vettel and Raikkonen looked much more threatening than of late. The German headed the Finn in the final practice session, which against expectations was held in dry conditions in which it nevertheless remained difficult to generate decent tyre temperatures.

Qualifying was only marginally warmer. Hamilton was clearly quickest in the first session, running Pirelli’s ultrasoft compound tyres, but Raikkonen and Vettel hit back in the second using the harder supersofts on which both the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers will start the race.

“It was close in the end,” Hamilton added. “These guys are definitely closer. So I wasn’t sure how close they would be in Q3 but I knew it would be edgy between us in the last runs. Clearly it was very intense. Going into qualifying we weren’t sure what to expect after the wet

yesterday, and in third practice this morning it looked as if Ferrari had made an improvement. It was going to be very, very close, so I knew it would take perfection and very neat laps to outpace them. James Vowles, our strategist, told me to give everything. Q1 and Q2 were quite straightforward, but Q3 was all about maximising everything on track, going out at the right time and not leaving anything.

“My first lap was decent but not good enough, and the second one was that bit better. In some races recently I have been quick on the first run and then had to bail on the second, so today I was adamant that I was going to beat my first run, and I did.

Lewis Hamilton will start the US Grand Prix from pole position

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“Our approach this weekend was very sturdy and the team did a great job making sure we didn’t get ahead of ourselves. We did the same due diligence and work effort as before, and this is a great result.

“I had a different feeling coming in today. I don’t know whether that’s because I slept in longer, but I was in a different head space for quallie, a good one.”

He improved by three-tenths of a second, and that was crucial as Vettel trimmed his time by four-tenths but just came up short with 1m 32.298s.

Told he had missed pole position by just 0.061s, he exploded, “For ****’s sake!”

Lewis Hamilton celebrates taking pole position for the US Grand Prix

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“After the last few weeks we’ve had, I’m glad we are back on the pace,” he added later. “It seems we are better off in the dry, and it was surprisingly close, so we didn’t expect that.

“It’s always a shame to miss out by that little amount of time, and you always debate whether you had that in you. It was tricky to get everything today in the dry and the wind was quite tricky, but it was the same for everyone. And of course, if you can get that close then you always want to be ahead.”

For Ferrari it was important that Raikkonen outqualified Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas, which he did with a lap of 1m 32.307s compared to 1m 32.616s.

Vettel will drop from second in the times to fifth overall when a three grid-place penalty is applied because he failed to slow sufficiently when the first practice session was red-flagged yesterday.

If Mercedes score another 1-2 with Hamilton ahead, the Briton can win the title this weekend, so Raikkonen will clearly play a key role in the race if he can keep ahead of his countryman, and do what he can to help Vettel pass Bottas. Were that to happen, Ferrari would then clearly switch second place between Raikkonen and Vettel just as Mercedes recently switched Bottas and Hamilton in Russia, to maximise their lead driver’s chances and take the fight on to Mexico City next week.

Hamilton will be champion for fifth time if he: wins with Vettel third or lower; finishes second with Vettel fifth or lower; third with Vettel seventh or lower; fourth with Vettel eighth or lower; fifth with Vettel ninth or lower; or sixth with Vettel not finishing in the points.

Max Verstappen was forced out of qualifying with broken suspension (Getty )

(Getty)

But this evening he was much more interested in the buzz he got from driving on one of his favourite circuits.

“My lap was not the perfect lap. That’s what we are all striving to achieve, but there are so many parameters out there: a different gust of wind on every corner, differences in tyre temperature, how the car behaves over bumps. There are so many variables, so it was tippy toes all the way. I think I lost some time in Turn 1 mostly, and Ferrari generally have a car that is better in corners like that, but rest of lap was good, no mistakes. On the first lap there was some time to find in a couple of corners: Turn 11 and 12, maybe 13 and little bit in 20.

So on the second lap it was about being focused and not dropping the ball.

Raikkonen starts in second place on Sunday

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“This track is incredible this year. Of course you are flat out in Turn 2, and then flat again in 3, 4 and 5 and into 6 and halfway through it, and the G force there is incredible. Not even much of a lift in Turn 7, where you get hit by a headwind from Turn 11 when you are coming into 8. The car is really hooked up there, so it’s incredible to drive. I really enjoyed today’s lap.”

Whether he will feel the same tomorrow, and can win his fifth title, remains to be seen. But once again, it’s Vettel who is on his back foot, with it all to do, his tiny deficit in qualifying compounded by the error of speed judgement he made on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton starts on pole for the US Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel in fifth

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Final Positions after Qualifying

1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1min 32.237secs

2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:32.298

3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:32.307

4 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:32.616

5 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:33.494

6 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:34.145

7 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:34.215

8 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:34.250

9 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Sauber-Ferrari 1:34.420

10 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India 1:34.594

11 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:34.566

12 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:34.734

13 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso No Time

14 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso No Time

15 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull No Time

16 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:35.294

17 Sergey Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 1:35.362

18 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:35.480

19 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:35.536

20 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:35.735

Note: Sebastian Vettel has a three place grid penalty for not slowing sufficiently during a Red Flag period in FP1

Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley are required to start the race from the back of the starting grid after power unit changes