USA F1 Grand Prix 2016 Qualifying: Saturday's Results, Times, Final Grid
Lewis Hamilton set a new track record Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas in Elroy, Texas, to earn the pole position for Sunday's Formula One United States Grand Prix.ย
Hamilton's time of one minute and 34.999 seconds was the fastest lap ever recorded at the track and good enough to beat out Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by more than two-tenths of a second.
Here is a full rundown of how all 22 drivers fared in qualifying:
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| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | 1:34.999 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | 1:35.215 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 1:35.509 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | 1:35.747 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | 1:36.131 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | 1:36.358 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | 1:36.628 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | 1:37.116 |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | 1:37.269 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | 1:37.326 |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | 1:37.353 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | 1:37.417 |
| 13 | Daniil Kvyat | 1:37.480 |
| 14 | Esteban Gutierrez | 1:37.773 |
| 15 | Jolyon Palmer | 1:37.935 |
| 16 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:39.356 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | 1:38.308 |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | 1:38.317 |
| 19 | Jenson Button | 1:38.327 |
| 20 | Pascal Wehrlein | 1:38.548 |
| 21 | Felipe Nasr | 1:38.583 |
| 22 | Esteban Ocon | 1:38.806 |
Saturday marked Hamilton's first pole at Austin, although he is a four-time winner, including each of the past two years.
According to F1's official Twitter account, Hamilton earned his 58th career pole and inched closer to Michael Schumacher's all-time record:
Peter Windsor of Formula1.com had the following to say about Hamilton's remarkable qualifying performance Saturday:
While Hamilton jumped out to a big lead and seemed destined to capture the pole from early in the session, his day wasn't without hiccups.
As seen in the following photo, Hamilton made a mistake in Q3 that allowed Rosberg to close the gap and nearly steal the pole:
Rosberg said after qualifying he was disappointed to settle for second but added he knows he still has a great chance to win from that spot:
Rosberg has never won atย the Circuit of the Americas and is still in search of his first F1 championship as well. On both counts, Hamilton has been the main thing standing in his way.
The 31-year-old German is first in the standings and holds a 33-point lead over Hamilton in the title race.
Hamilton can cut into that lead with a great showing at Austin, but as BBC Sport pointed out, he needs to do a better job of starting the race quickly:
The 31-year-old Brit acknowledged that fact and said he has been working on improving in that area:
A good qualifying run doesn't guarantee success in the race itself, but the manner in which 2016 has played out suggests Hamilton and Rosberg will be the drivers to beat Sunday.
While Hamilton scored the first shot in qualifying, Rosberg seemingly has his best chance yet to win the United States Grand Prix for the first time in his career.
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