Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton takes pole for 2018 United States Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton took the pole position for the 18th race of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the United States Grand Prix, at Circuit of the Americas.

For the second time in the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton is set to start from the pole position in consecutive races.

The 33-year-old Briton, who has a chance to move into a second place tie on the all-time Formula 1 championships list this weekend with his fifth career championship, took the pole position for the 18th race of the season, the United States Grand Prix.

Hamilton took the pole position for the 56-lap race around the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.513-kilometer) Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas by recording a top lap time of 92.237 seconds (133.755 miles per hour) in the third and final qualifying session. This pole position is his ninth of the season and the 81st of his Formula 1 career.

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Scuderia Ferrari teammates Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen qualified in second and third place, respectively. Both drivers barely missed out on beating Hamilton.

Vettel’s top lap time of the session was 92.298 seconds (133.667 miles per hour), which is just 0.061 seconds slower than that of Hamilton. Meanwhile, Raikkonen’s top lap time of the session was 92.307 seconds (133.654 miles per hour), which is just 0.009 seconds slower than that of Vettel.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas qualified in fourth place while Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five by qualifying in fifth. Because of the fact that Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen damaged his suspension by running over the curbs, he was unable to join the other five drivers who drive for one of Formula 1’s top three teams by qualifying in the top six.

As a result, the “best of the rest” qualifier was Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon, who qualified in sixth place. Renault Sport’s Nico Hulkenberg, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc and Force India’s Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 by qualifying in seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively.

Here are the full qualifying results for the 2018 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

Qualifying Results
1st – Lewis Hamilton
2nd – Sebastian Vettel
3rd – Kimi Raikkonen
4th – Valtteri Bottas
5th – Daniel Ricciardo
6th – Esteban Ocon
7th – Nico Hulkenberg
8th – Romain Grosjean
9th – Charles Leclerc
10th – Sergio Perez
11th – Carlos Sainz Jr.
12th – Kevin Magnussen
13th – Pierre Gasly
14th – Brendon Hartley
15th – Max Verstappen
16th – Fernando Alonso
17th – Sergey Sirotkin
18th – Lance Stroll
19th – Marcus Ericsson
20th – Stoffel Vandoorne

Here is the provisional starting grid for the race with Vettel set to move back three positions as a result of the penalty that he was given after the first free practice session and with the Scuderia Toro Rosso teammates set to start from the back of the grid as a result of their engine penalties.

Starting grid
1st – Lewis Hamilton
2nd – Kimi Raikkonen
3rd – Valtteri Bottas
3th – Daniel Ricciardo
5th – Sebastian Vettel
6th – Esteban Ocon
7th – Nico Hulkenberg
8th – Romain Grosjean
9th – Charles Leclerc
10th – Sergio Perez
11th – Carlos Sainz Jr.
12th – Kevin Magnussen
13th – Max Verstappen
14th – Fernando Alonso
15th – Sergey Sirotkin
16th – Lance Stroll
17th – Marcus Ericsson
18th – Stoffel Vandoorne
19th – Pierre Gasly
20th – Brendon Hartley

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Be sure to tune in to ABC tomorrow at 2:10 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the United States Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas to see whether Lewis Hamilton will secure his fifth career Formula 1 championship in this race or fellow four-time champion Sebastian Vettel will stay alive in the championship battle heading to the Mexican Grand Prix next Sunday, October 28.

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