Carlos Sainz took pole position for the United States Grand Prix as Max Verstappen qualified on the front row in ideal tribute to Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.
It was announced shortly before qualifying began that the co-founder of the energy drinks company and keen motorsport lover had died at the age of 78 after a long illness. Team principal Christian Horner pledged they would "do our best for him" and that's exactly what they did despite clearly feeling tremendous loss for their beloved boss.
His main championship rival Charles Leclerc went fastest but had no chance of starting Sunday's race on pole, owing to the grid penalty incurred by having a new engine and turbocharger fitted. Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez also has a grid drop, along with Fernando Alonso and Zhou Guanyu.
Sainz produced a huge final lap to jump to the top of the timesheets. Verstappen produced a mighty middle sector, but was slow in the final few corners to go third fastest, and will start second once Leclerc's grid penalty is applied. Lewis Hamilton is third after the penalties with George Russell making up an all-Mercedes second row.
Haas did not get the qualifying result they would have wanted at their home race. Both Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher failed to make it out of Q1, nor did Nicholas Latifi in his last F1 race weekend in the United States.
And there were further shocks with Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon the other casualties of that first part of the session. Alex Albon scraped through by the skin of his teeth, while Aston Martin threatened to continue their strong looking pace from practice.
Lance Stroll continued that with an excellent lap to secure a Q3 berth in the US for the first time in his F1 career. But Sebastian Vettel could not manage, and was knocked out with the two AlphaTauri drivers and Albon.
Lando Norris looked like he would have to settle for P11, but was given a reprieve by the stewards. They took the final flying lap time away from Zhou for exceeding track limits, and the Alfa Romeo rookie will have to settle for 19th on the grid, after his penalty is applied, after believing for a few moments that he could be in the top 10.
Meanwhile, Stroll will be proud to have been 'best of the rest' in qualifying and will start fifth once penalties are applied to others. Albon will also be hoping to make the most of a top-10 start and score some much-needed points for basement boys Williams.
Full 2022 United States Grand Prix qualifying results
- Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
Charles Leclerc – Ferrari (Ten-place grid penalty to be applied
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
Sergio Perez – Red Bull (Five-place grid penalty to be applied)
- Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Fernando Alonso – Alpine (Five-place grid penalty to be applied)
- Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
- Alex Albon – Williams
- Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin
- Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri
- Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo (Five-place grid penalty to be applied)
- Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
- Kevin Magnussen – Haas
- Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren
- Esteban Ocon – Alpine
- Mick Schumacher – Haas
- Nicholas Latifi – Williams
