Lewis Hamilton leads the final grid for the 2018 United States Grand Prix.
| Row 1 | 1. Lewis Hamilton 1’32.237 Mercedes |
|
| 2. Kimi Raikkonen 1’32.307 Ferrari |
||
| Row 2 | 3. Valtteri Bottas 1’32.616 Mercedes |
|
| 4. Daniel Ricciardo 1’33.494 Red Bull |
||
| Row 3 | 5. Sebastian Vettel* 1’32.298 Ferrari |
|
| 6. Esteban Ocon 1’34.145 Force India |
||
| Row 4 | 7. Nico Hulkenberg 1’34.215 Renault |
|
| 8. Romain Grosjean 1’34.250 Haas |
||
| Row 5 | 9. Charles Leclerc 1’34.420 Sauber |
|
| 10. Sergio Perez 1’34.594 Force India |
||
| Row 6 | 11. Carlos Sainz Jnr 1’34.566 Renault |
|
| 12. Kevin Magnussen 1’34.732 Haas |
||
| Row 7 | 13. Fernando Alonso 1’35.294 McLaren |
|
| 14. Sergey Sirotkin 1’35.362 Williams |
||
| Row 8 | 15. Lance Stroll 1’35.480 Williams |
|
| 16. Marcus Ericsson 1’35.536 Sauber |
||
| Row 9 | 17. Stoffel Vandoorne 1’35.735 McLaren |
|
| 18. Max Verstappen** No time Red Bull |
||
| Row 10 | 19. Pierre Gasly** No time Toro Rosso |
|
| 20. Brendon Hartley*** No time Toro Rosso |
*Three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently for red flags in first practice
**Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
***Sent to back of grid for power unit change
2018 United States Grand Prix
- Verstappen leaving rivals breathless in Mexican altitude
- Raikkonen ends longest-ever wait between wins
- 300 team radio messages from the United States Grand Prix
- 2018 United States Grand Prix Star Performers
- Top ten pictures from the 2018 United States GP
Mach1 (@mach1)
20th October 2018, 23:08
Did the mercs do a bluff/scrub run in Q2 on Ultras? They went out on them, but the lap time did not improve I do not think. C4 mentioned it but then did not confirm that they did not set a time.
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
20th October 2018, 23:14
Both Ferrari’s and Mercs did do but they gave up their laps.
krxx
21st October 2018, 0:36
At least Kimi did not actually. He did just one flying lap in Q2, on US, and that’s it.
Ju88sy (@ju88sy)
20th October 2018, 23:15
@mach1 Yep, they did, just cruised around, as we have seen a few times this season in Q2.
Dom (@3dom)
20th October 2018, 23:24
I assume it’s to get a feel for the track on those tyres before Q3 rather than a bluff/scrub run @mach1
Nimba (@nimba)
20th October 2018, 23:10
I think Lecrec should be P9 as he set his lap at the end of the session, beating Perez
Matthew Nowell (@diogenese)
20th October 2018, 23:13
Yes, he was 2 tenths up on the tracker.
Aldoid
20th October 2018, 23:13
Pretty good qualifying session. Virtually nothing between the top two… looking like Ferrari is finally getting on top of their tire issues. Vettel will be on a charge tomorrow, no doubt.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
20th October 2018, 23:17
I agree – Lewis needs to watch his mirrors tomorrow – Seb has nothing to lose.
bosyber (@bosyber)
20th October 2018, 23:18
Even if it’s probably too late for the championships this year, it is good to see them back on the pace here, and certainly makes the races more interesting until at least the end of the season too.
L (@lebz)
20th October 2018, 23:16
I hope so, plus, he doesn’t need to worry about his biggest weakness in P13
Tom
20th October 2018, 23:19
Good to know the rain qualified p13
Aldoid
20th October 2018, 23:21
I probably laughed more than I should have, but that was funny.
erikje
21st October 2018, 17:16
That’s Alonso ;) He can handle him.
Try to keep up..
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
20th October 2018, 23:27
I’m waiting for all those claiming the Mercedes is faster than Ferrari. It is clear that both cars have been more or less evenly matched throughout this season. In fact, we can arguably claim Mercedes was the faster car in only the 3 previous races.
Here, we can use Bottas as a benchmark experiment, and Raikkonnen as the double blind – and the result is the same. Vettel and Lewis are faster than their teammates. Raikkonnen is faster than Bottas, and Lewis is faster than Vettel by 1/600ths of a second over 5.5km.
This means the Ferrari is the faster car. And Lewis would still have gotten pole in it.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
20th October 2018, 23:32
It seems to me that Merc and Ferrari have been so close this season that it comes down to the drivers.
Seb has made too many silly mistakes and it has cost him.
I really believe it could have gone either way this season.
Boudi
20th October 2018, 23:36
Not being salty, was the second sensor removed by FIA off the Ferrari?
Dom (@3dom)
20th October 2018, 23:38
This is what many people want @nullapax close competition between different team with the drivers having the possibility to make a difference. Hamilton has driven better, he deserves the championship more
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
20th October 2018, 23:47
Lewis has kept his head together better overall – he has earned it no question.
I just wish Seb had kept his wits together as I consider him to be (have been?) a worthy champion as well.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st October 2018, 7:56
@nullapax +1, echoes my feeling exactly.
Aldoid
20th October 2018, 23:38
Some will still claim it, but the big picture has said all year that the Ferrari has been marginally better. The last three or so races saw them lose out on getting their tires in the operating window, but this weekend they’re right back in it. The old floor is back on as well so I doubt it’s anything radical (it’s been suggested they’re trying bits related to next year’s formula). More than likely it’s been subtle tweaks & setup changes like Mercedes have had to do to keep their tire temps in check. There’s never really been a huge gap in performance between Ferrari & Mercedes all season. The drivers though, that’s been a different story (and still not nearly as bad as some would make it seem, but nevertheless, Lewis has walloped Seb this year)
David BR (@david-br)
21st October 2018, 1:05
It could actually be a good race tomorrow. Raikkonen starting on ultras, Vettel without Verstappen to stop him chasing down Bottas and maybe Hamilton, depending on race pace. Unless there’s a collision, it’s not really going to effect the title outcome, but still, Ferrari could take it to Mexico. How many laps will it take Verstappen to catch Ricciardo?
krxx
21st October 2018, 12:07
Typical VER-FBoy comment. People on these kind of threads usually post expectations/suggestive questions based on solid empirical data. Now could this FBoy give any of this in which his idol actually did the proposed catching?
The hate these FBoys develop for their idols’ teammates is unbelieveable. Robbie gloating and getting some kind of sick satisfaction bc Max pulled away from DR after the latter justly (after all, RIC made the correct observation VER was holding back unnecessary, costing RB time and ruining RICs tyres in the process) made a remark about Max’ speed at the moment, for example. And now for the so manyth time coming from this one.
Why don’t you want to discuss the driver error of VER that led him to be so far behind in the first place instead? And thanks to the TR-sister team he won 2 places for free already.
Nice diversion, but not really.
erikje
21st October 2018, 17:19
Well at least that rules you out then ;)
If it was a driver error, you can reach for pole then.. HAM was one of the many who did exact the same. So it’s the car that makes the difference. Try to keep up. F1 is to fast for you it seems.
krxx
21st October 2018, 19:21
erikje.. hahahahahhahahahahha.. Keep those lies coming, hahahahahhahaah.
The second part of your comment: Hahhahahahahahahhahah.. Keep those excuses coming.. Can you say Ziggoooooooooooooooooo??
krxx
20th October 2018, 23:52
Looks more like 1/16th of a second to me.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
21st October 2018, 0:40
@kbdavies
Mercedes was faster than Ferrari in Australia, Spain, France and Austria too.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
21st October 2018, 4:29
Indeed, and I think this is just like silverstone qualifying: ferrari pretty much even with mercedes, raikkonen performing better than usual, matching vettel, bottas doing his number 2 job, always decent, never great, except in austria and russia and abu dhabi, tracks where he’s always strong, and hamilton, a 1-lap specialist, getting the last half tenth out in silverstone and austin, he’s also normally strong on both tracks.
Tippracer
20th October 2018, 23:30
Track limit nonsense once again in F1. Lewis has all four wheels off the track in sector one of his fastest lap. Gasly lap disallowed in Q1…..Selective stewarding.
Durk
20th October 2018, 23:35
Track limits are only enforced in turn 19i
Boudi
20th October 2018, 23:37
Quote: “Drivers will lose lap times for running wide at turn 19”.
Aldoid
20th October 2018, 23:41
Selective comprehension of a rather straight forward rule sounds more like it……
bob (@riptide)
20th October 2018, 23:44
Lewis , along with just about very driver, had all 4 wheels off in turn 9. As they all did last year, and the year before, etc. Probably as they are allowed to run wide at that corner. This year all were informed that running wide at T19 would result in a penalty. Same thing happens at most tracks and in most motorsport disciplines. No idea why you single out Lewis? Being a bit selective?
Boudi
20th October 2018, 23:47
because he is a finger boy fan
Blazzz (@blazzz)
20th October 2018, 23:59
Stewards had an issue with turn 19. Everywhere else was fair game. And Hamilton wasn’t the only one taking those lines. Selective criticism.
Dom (@3dom)
20th October 2018, 23:40
Gasly lost his time for going wide at turn 19. Everyone went wide at that same corner in the first half of the lap
LEMAYIAN (@lems)
21st October 2018, 0:19
Leclerc vs Ericsson= Alonso vs Vandaoorne kind of. He really deserves his seat at Ferrari and it’ll be really interesting to see how he compares to Vettel.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
21st October 2018, 4:33
This might be the last chance to go for a race win for raikkonen, it’s unlikely and most of the times there will be something preventing it, a bad start, a mechanical problem, a team order (hopefully he doesn’t obey that if he can win), a strategy blunder, but there’s at least the possibility: starting on ultra he HAS to overtake hamilton at start; since ferrari seems to have the pace this time he might hold on.
Red bull should be better in the race but probably unable to get past any competitors considering ricciardo usually doesn’t start as well as verstappen, who starts quite far back.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
21st October 2018, 4:34
Ah, and raikkonen occasionally has great starts, singapore 2017, austria 2018, but in the latter case threw away the good start with an attempt to pass hamilton around the outside, which with hindsight cost him the win since verstappen passed him there and won the race.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st October 2018, 6:40
@esploratore More precisely the little incident with Verstappen further into the lap is what cost him the win rather what happened at T2.
erikje
21st October 2018, 17:22
You first have to pass someone to be able to block him ;)
Esploratore (@esploratore)
22nd October 2018, 3:52
Yes, basically he had a very good start at austria but risking too much with hamilton eventually allowed verstappen to get past him, however no way to foresee bottas would’ve had that problem AND mercedes would’ve reacted wrongly to the VSC.
Very happy that raikkonen actually won btw, great race overall with 10 last laps with 3 cars closer and closer, up to 2 sec between first and 3rd.
Todfod (@todfod)
21st October 2018, 6:31
Looks like Ferrari are back after a 3 race slump. Still not good enough to take pole off Hamilton even with the quicker car.
Ferrari looked mighty on those supersofts, and I’m surprised they didn’t try to get Kimi to get in to Q3 with them. He would have had a better chance of jumping Lewis Hamilton given the pace advantage on the SS. Now, even if he does jump Lewis, they’ll lose the position due to an early pitstop and switch to the softs.
Patrick (@anunaki)
21st October 2018, 10:20
Max takes another 5 place penalty for changing his gearbox