Qualifying report
United States GP: Top 10 quotes after qualifying
Lewis Hamilton claimed his 72nd career pole position as he sets a new track record at the Circuit of The Americas - his second pole position at this track and 11th of the 2017 season
Photo by: Sutton Images
| Cla | # | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Time | Gap | km/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 |  Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1'33.108 | 213.158 | |
| “The team have done an exceptional job all weekend to filter the data that we have gathered and put the car in the right place. This is such a fantastic circuit - it's really challenging, you're constantly dancing with the car. I'm really happy to be on pole, but we know we're often strong through practice and qualifying and have found the races tougher this year. I'm looking forward to a nice race tomorrow with Sebastian and Valtteri. This is a track where you can follow and overtake. I remember the race in 2012 when I passed Sebastian for the win - I hope he's not that close tomorrow, but let's see.” | |||||||
| 2 | 5 |  Sebastian Vettel |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1'33.347 | 0.239 | 212.613 |
| “My final lap in Q3 was good enough for the front row, and in the end we got closer than we had expected. I am looking forward to the race, and then tomorrow we’ll see what we can do. The car is good and generally we have a better pace in racing, so it should be better tomorrow. Again, the team did a splendid job in rebuilding the car around a different chassis overnight and not even breaking the curfew! For tomorrow we need a good start first of all and then we need to put pressure on our competitors. I’m not too concerned about starting on the less rubbered-in side of the track, as we’ve seen in the past here that you can attack. We have the car to do so and we can fight”. | |||||||
| 3 | 77 |  Valtteri Bottas |
Mercedes | Mercedes | 1'33.568 | 0.460 | 212.110 |
| “It was quite a tricky session; each lap was different because of the wind. Otherwise, it was a pretty straightforward day. We've made quite a few set-up changes over the weekend as we work to make the car quicker. There were no big mistakes; I was just lacking that extra bit of pace. I was losing most of the time in the last sector, but that's not a big surprise as that's where the slow-speed corners and technical sections are. However, anything is still possible tomorrow. Our race pace looked promising, so it should be a good fight. Three teams can win tomorrow, so we really need to give it everything we've got.” | |||||||
| 4 | 3 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull | TAG | 1'33.577 | 0.469 | 212.090 |
| “I was happy when I crossed the line and could see I was fourth. But then I was only a hundredth off Valtteri so I was kind of happy but then I was like: a hundredth is nothing, but I felt with what I had that was all I could do. Q1 I was miles off the pace and even this morning in FP3 so it hasn’t been the easiest weekend up until now. The wind was a big struggle for everyone today. The track is really open and the wind blows from all directions so it’s quite strong. That factor combined with the track being a bit bumpy and slippery is why the lap times are not crazy fast this year. But then towards the end of Qualifying on the last lap we managed to find a little bit more so that was positive and I’m happy to end there. Second row is good enough to fight tomorrow.” | |||||||
| 5 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari | Ferrari | 1'33.577 | 0.469 | 212.090 |
| “Today the car was better than it had been so far this weekend. After the Friday session we made some changes and in qualifying I had a good feeling. We tried our best, but fifth position was the maximum we could get. I think there was more to take out of the car, but in some places it was a bit tricky to get it right. I struggled to put all the corners together, some laps were good and in some others it was more difficult. It was a decent qualifying, but for sure it could have been better, so I can’t be satisfied with the result. At the start tomorrow it will be quite tight; we’ll try to make a good getaway from the line and see what we can achieve at the first corner.” | |||||||
| 6 | 31 |  Esteban Ocon |
Force India | Mercedes | 1'34.647 | 1.539 | 209.692 |
| “I’m happy with the result today. The team has done a fantastic job once again and we have been strong in every session. We have a great chance to pick up a big bunch of points tomorrow. It was not an easy qualifying session for me because I did not feel well. I had a very bad headache and problems with my stomach. So I am glad to have made it through the session with a strong result. I now need to get some rest and try to recover to be ready for the race tomorrow.” | |||||||
| 7 | 55 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
Renault | Renault | 1'34.852 | 1.744 | 209.239 |
| “There’s been a lot to adapt to over this weekend but I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to achieve; it’s not a bad effort for our first qualifying together! It wasn’t the easiest session with the changes in temperature and with the wind as I didn’t know how the car would react to this, but we did a good job so I’m very happy. Coming to a new team late in the season was always going to be a challenge, but everyone at the team and back in the factory has made things very easy for me. I’m looking for a clean race tomorrow. There’s more speed in the car and in me as I adapt further, so to finish in the top ten higher than where I start is the target.” | |||||||
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso |
McLaren | Honda | 1'35.007 | 1.899 | 208.898 |
| “We had some concerns before coming here about how competitive we could be, but we put the car on track and immediately performed quite well, being in the top 10 in every single session, and that was a nice surprise. We also brought some updates here and they are working fine. The car felt great today. We had difficult conditions out there – it was very hot and windy in qualifying and the grip level was lower than we expected. In those conditions our car performs extremely well, so our lap in Q2 was good and we were able to make it into Q3, with ninth place overall. Tomorrow we’ll start eighth, due to Verstappen’s penalty, so I think it’s a great chance to score points. We know we still have a deficit on the straights compared to other teams and we’ll probably be a little exposed on the first lap because we’re in a group, but after the first lap has settled I think we could open up the gap in the high-speed section and maybe defend a little bit better. We’re definitely happy to race here in front of the US fans and I think they’ll see a great race tomorrow!” | |||||||
| 9 | 11 |  Sergio Perez |
Force India | Mercedes | 1'35.148 | 2.040 | 208.588 |
| “It’s quite disappointing to end up tenth because I know I had the pace to be at least seventh or eighth. My qualifying was compromised in Q1 when Kevin [Magnussen] blocked me. It cost me an extra set of tyres in Q1 and it meant I went into Q3 with just a single set of fresh tyres. I had to do my final lap on used tyres and had to settle for tenth place. I can’t wait for the race tomorrow. I hope we can get a good start and make up for some of the ground we lost today.” | |||||||
| 10 | 19 |  Felipe Massa |
Williams | Mercedes | 1'35.155 | 2.047 | 208.573 |
| “My lap was clean. There was little difference between three teams today but, unfortunately, we were the car behind. We need to analyse everything. My lap was clear, no mistakes, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t get to Q3. I was happy and confident with the car the whole weekend, the only thing I expected was to improve more. | |||||||
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