Carlos Sainz leads an all-Ferrari second row at COTA | 2024 F1 USA GP qualifying report

Carlos Sainz leads an all-Ferrari second row at COTA | 2024 F1 USA GP qualifying report. Austin qualifying report: how Ferrari performed at COTA.

McLaren driver Lando Norris secured pole position for the 2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at the 5.513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas in Austin, edging out his title rival Max Verstappen, who will join him on the front row. The Dutchman’s second lap attempt in Q3 was cut short when George Russell crashed ahead, triggering a yellow flag. Carlos Sainz will start from third, leading the Ferrari charge with his teammate Charles Leclerc beside him on the second row.

Lando Norris outpaced Max Verstappen during the first run in Q3, which proved decisive when Russell lost control and hit the barriers, bringing an early end to the session. The world champion, who had extended his lead in the World Championship earlier in the day, was unable to challenge for pole as the yellow flag prevented the track from going green again.

Ferrari locked out the second row with Carlos Sainz in third and Charles Leclerc in fourth behind the wheel of the SF-24 single-seaters, which showed a good race pace in the Austin Sprint. Oscar Piastri will start from fifth, while Sergio Perez had his Q3 lap time deleted and dropped to 10th on the grid. Lewis Hamilton had a disastrous session, failing to make it out of Q1 after a mistake on his flying lap. He will start from 18th. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson, back in F1 for his first Grand Prix qualifying since returning, made it to Q2 but fell short of helping his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who narrowly missed out on Q3.

**Q1 Recap:**
The final minutes of Q1 saw drivers queuing at the end of the pit lane, trying to get in a fast lap before time ran out. Charles Leclerc had his initial lap deleted due to track limits, running on a used set of tires. Yuki Tsunoda also had two laps deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving both drivers in danger of being eliminated alongside Zhou Guanyu, Hamilton, and Russell. Leclerc recovered with a session-leading time, while Piastri jumped up the order with his next run. Hamilton, however, made a costly mistake at turn 12, failing to escape Q1 and securing a disappointing 18th place. Russell managed to improve and avoid elimination, but all drivers behind Liam Lawson will move up a spot, as the Visa Cash App RB driver takes an engine penalty and will start from the pit lane.

**Q1 Eliminations:**
P20 Zhou, P19 Hamilton, P18 Bottas, P17 Colapinto, P16 Albon.

**Q2 Recap:**
VCARB opted not to push Lawson due to his impending engine penalty, instead having him assist Tsunoda with a slipstream down the straight. Charles Leclerc once again found himself in the drop zone after the first run, joined by Ocon and both Aston Martin drivers. Charles Leclerc recovered to move up to third, but Lawson’s strategy didn’t pay off, as Yuki Tsunoda just missed out on Q3, finishing 11th by less than a tenth of a second.

**Q2 Eliminations:**
P15 Lawson, P14 Stroll, P13 Ocon, P12 Hulkenberg, P11 Tsunoda.