Having found himself within 0.1s of pole on four occasions in 2022, Sainz pulled it off the top of F1 qualifying for the second time in his career after overcoming Q3 Leclerc to run one advantage by 0.065s.
Leclerc’s best start time in the final segment was 1m34.624s which gave him top spot ahead of Sainz, with Lewis Hamilton third after a blistering middle sector with Verstappen just fourth.
The Dutchman tried a unique Q3 strategy to complete an extra slow preparation lap for his final Q3 flier, but he couldn’t top his Ferrari partner after losing time in the slow corner in the final sector and ended up 0.092s adrift.
Leclerc, who will drop 10 places on the grid to pick up additional engine parts in Austin, led the way of the four early Q3 leaders and he improved the first place benchmark to 1m34.421s, but Sainz, following just behind his teammate topped it. with 1m34.356s.
Verstappen’s effort was enough to dislodge Hamilton from third as the Mercedes driver could not improve his first Q3 time and the Englishman’s failure to improve opened the door for Sergio Perez also at the front, which the Mexican driver did with the best set during the run. a few seconds ahead of the Ferrari pair.
Behind Hamilton came his teammate George Russell, with Lance Stroll seventh despite only completing one run in Q3 – offset from the rest after they first completed the run at the start of the final segment while Verstappen was starting his additional preparation tour.
Lando Norris took eighth for McLaren, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) rounding out the top 10.
Alonso and Perez will drop five places from where they qualify to take part in the extra power unit outside of their allowed season allocation.
In Q2, which Leclerc topped after Sainz had led the way in Q1, Alex Albon led the pack through the final Q2 run and set a personal best to jump to the top 10 before his three rivals improved late in the shuffled him back to 11 and out.
Sebastian Vettel lost his best lap from the start in Q2 when understeering out and beyond the limit of the track exiting Activate 9 at the end of the Esses series, but he was enough with his final effort to climb to 12, even without troubling Q3.
Then came Pierre Gasly, struggling with braking for the second weekend in a row – especially in the big points of Turn 1 and Turn 11 – and letting AlphaTauri know his fury.
Zhou Guanyu finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in 14th and 15th, but only because both lost their best Q2 laps and were relegated to the back of the losing runners in the segment – Zhou, who would lose five places on the grid, ahead. because the banker’s business was good.
Tsunoda crossed the track limit in Turn 9, while Zhou’s tendency came in Turn 12 and he earned a place in the top 10 that gave Norris a late finish after he was initially 11th in Q2.
In Q1, Kevin Magnussen was shuffled back to 15th and out by Albon’s late improvement, the Haas driver ended up ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, out in Q1 for the third time in the last five races.
Esteban Ocon was a shock faller in 18, finishing just ahead of Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi – who were the only two runners who did not set personal bests on their final fliers.
Latifi just failed to match his best from early Q1 runs, while Schumacher’s last attempt was over when it had barely started when he spun in Turn 1.
The German went around his Haas in a fast 360 ° spin, the rear came to the right when he applied power down on the top of the bumpy, top / bottom hairpin that started the lap of Austin.
