2023 F1 US GP qualifying results: Charles Leclerc takes pole

Leclerc will start ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time in Q3, but this was stripped away as he exceeded track limits.

As this is a sprint weekend format, these sessions set the grid for Sunday’s race and have no impact on Saturday’s sprint event.

US GP qualifying results: Leclerc on pole from Norris

What happened in US GP Q1?

Hamilton set the pace at 1m35.091s, 0.019s faster than Norris and 0.255s ahead of Verstappen.

Falling at the first hurdle were Nico Hulkenberg (Haas – who lost his best lap due to track limits), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Alex Albon (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston) and Logan Sargeant (Williams).

US GP Grand Prix Q1 results: Hamilton fastest from Norris

What happened in US GP Q2?

Leclerc set the fastest time at 1m35.004s, 0.004s ahead of Verstappen and two tenths clear of Hamilton.

Knocked out at this point were Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), the Alfa Romeo duo of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri).

US GP Grand Prix Q2 results: Leclerc fastest from Verstappen

What happened in US GP Q3?

On the first runs, Leclerc set the bar at 1m34.829s from Hamilton’s 1m34.885s and Verstappen’s 1m35.081s.

On the final runs, Leclerc improved to 1m34.723s, which Verstappen beat by 0.005s with 1m34.718s. But Verstappen’s time was deleted for exceeding track limits at the penultimate corner.

Norris took second, 0.13s off Leclerc, just ahead of Hamilton.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start fourth, ahead of George Russell (Mercedes), the penalized Verstappen, Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren).

US GP Q3 results: Leclerc takes pole