AUSTIN — Valtteri Bottas ensured he can go down fighting in the 2019 championship by securing pole position for the U.S. Grand Prix, where Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton will bid to clinch the title from fifth on the grid.
Bottas turned in a clean lap to beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just 0.02s at the Circuit of the Americas, securing his first pole position since the British Grand Prix. Bottas must win Sunday’s race to stand any chance of extending the championship battle to the penultimate round in Brazil, although Hamilton only has to finish eighth.
On securing his first pole position since June and Mercedes’ first since the German Grand Prix, Bottas let out a whoop of delight on the radio. He was congratulated by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff over the radio with a: “Valtteri, f——- congratulations, man!”
Hamilton finished 0.3s off Bottas and will start from fifth position, but knows he realistically only has to stay out of trouble to seal the title. The five-time world champion refused to make excuses for his below-par performance.
“It was nothing to do with the car, it was just me,” he said after the session. “I just didn’t pull the laps together today.
“Clearly the car had the capability to be on the front row and I just didn’t do it today. It was my fault but I will try and rectify it tomorrow.”
AP Photo/Darron Cummings
With a Ferrari alongside him on the front row, Bottas will also have to be wary of a dangerous second row. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen appeared to make a mistake at the end of his quickest lap, getting loose at the final corner, and finished an agonising 0.06s off Bottas’ benchmark. Charles Leclerc, who only took part in the session after Ferrari fixed an issue which halted him in the final practice session on Saturday morning, settled for fourth position.
Alexander Albon continued his solid but unspectacular job at Red Bull, further strengthening his bid to stay on as Verstappen’s teammate in 2020 by qualifying sixth behind Hamilton.
McLaren looks set to be comfortably best of the rest again this weekend and locked out the fourth row of the grid. Lando Norris was quickest of all the drivers in Q1, but he was unable to reverse his qualifying fortunes against teammate Carlos Sainz when it mattered in Q3. Sainz will start seventh, Norris eighth.
Daniel Ricciardo will start ninth after dragging his Renault into Q3, ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly.
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was 11th ahead of Kevin Magnussen, meaning the lead Haas will start at 12th for its home race. Daniil Kvyat is 13th ahead of Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Haas’ Romain Grosjean, who made a mistake at the end of his first flying lap.
The Alfa Romeo pair of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen were eliminated from Q1. George Russell out-qualified Racing Pont’s Sergio Perez, although the Mexican driver is set to start from the back of the grid and set a customary lap time.
Robert Kubica continued the theme of his comeback season by finishing at the bottom of the order.
More to follow…