Norris takes US Grand Prix pole after Russell crashes in F1 qualifying

Norris takes US Grand Prix pole after Russell crashes in F1 qualifying

20th October 2024 0 By Kamron Kent

McLaren’s Lando Norris took pole position for Sunday’s Formula 1 race, at the United States Grand Prix, after Mercedes’ George Russell crashed out late on in qualifying. 

Feature image credit: McLaren Racing 

Following the fourth sprint race of the season, where Verstappen claimed his fourth sprint win and maintained his 100% record of sprint wins this season, the teams and drivers were back in qualifying for the US Grand Prix. 

Despite a fairly incident-free weekend so far, Qualifying was brought to a premature end after Russell crashed out of qualifying. As a result, this allowed Norris to take home his sixth career pole position. 

Replays showed that Russell had hit the kerb, on the penultimate corner’s apex, which sent the car spinning out of control before it slammed to a stop in the barrier. 

Who finished where in Qualifying? 

Norris was the pace-setter in Q3, setting the early benchmark for those to beat, and no one could thanks to Russell’s late crash. However, Briton will be accompanied by his title rival Verstappen on the front row, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completes the top 10. 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc occupied fourth at the end of qualifying ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who completed the top five. 

Prior to his crash, Russell had previously set in his banker lap which placed him sixth overall with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly a position behind. 

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the final third with a single-lap run, forcing himself out of sync with the rest of the top 10 drivers. However, the double world champion could only muster eighth fastest. 

Kevin Magnussen, of Haas, and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completed the top 10 in ninth and 10th, as the latter hit with a track limit violation and lost his lap time in the process. 

VCARB deployed tactics to benefit their grid positioning, knowing Liam Lawson was set to undertake an engine penalty in Sunday’s race. As a result they utilised Lawson to help give Yuki Tsunoda a tow but this came to nothing as Tsunoda finished 11th with Lawson down in 15th – without a lap time on the board. 

Due to Lawson’s engine penalty, it will promote everyone below up a position. 

This meant Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll all finished the session down in 12th, 13th and 14th respectively. 

The Williams duo of Alexander Albon and Franco Colapinto finished qualifying in 16th and 17th respectively. They were accompanied by Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas in 18th with his Chinese teammate, Guanyu Zhoum down in 20th. 

Hamilton was a shock elimination as the seven-time world champion made a mistake in Turn 12, locking up into the corner and losing time. As such, the Mercedes driver only managed to go 16th fastest overall before dropping down the order and stopping in 19th, in the middle of a Sauber sandwich.

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Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryFormula 1 Formula Series News
TagsCircuit of The Americas COTA F1 Formula 1 George Russell Lando Norris Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Mercedes Red Bull Racing

About the author

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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