Vettel Takes Pole in First Race at Circuit of the Americas

The Circuit of the Americas has 20 corners

© photo by Circuit of the Americas, licence: Attribution

Formula 1 returns to the United States for the first time in five years and will race for the first time at the Circuit of the Americas. 

The track covers 5.513km and has 20 corners. The most interesting portion of the track are turn 1 where the course turns right at the brow of a hill with a blind apex and the triple apex turn 16,17 and 18. 

Romain Grosjean will receive a five-spot grid penalty for changing the car's gearbox after the Saturday practice session. His starting position will be reflected in the table below with an asterisk. 

Q1: Drivers were complaining of lack of grip from the hard-compound Pirelli tires during the entire sessions, but times fell throughout the session. Raikkonen led early in the session with a 1:41.058 lap time, but that was with only five drivers putting in laps. His teammate, Grosjean, beat his time a few minutes later with a 1:39.078.

With five minutes to go, Grosjean put in a 1:37.468 to put him back at the top of the session, but Sebastian Vettel was 0.3 seconds faster moments later. Narain Karthikeyan pulled off during the last minute of the session, which brought out a yellow flag. Vettel, Hamilton and Webber led the session. 

Q2: Rosberg, Raikkonen, Maldonado and Grosjean were the only drivers to go out early in the session. Raikkonen set an early fast time with a 1:37.672 that was still fastest with seven minutes to go in the session.

With 5:30 to go in the session, Hamilton became the fastest on track with a 1:36.795. Alonso did not have a fast enough time to move on with 4:40 left in the session, and Vettel set a 1:35.971 to make him the first driver of the weekend to break into the 1:35 zone.

Button came on the radio during the session saying that the car had lost power. He was ninth fastest on track at that time. After a few minutes in the pits, the team pulled the car into the garage. 

Vettel, Webber and Massa were the fastest drivers in the session. 

Q1: The final ten drivers went out on track to determine who would be at the front tomorrow. Vettel continued to be the fastest man on track with a 1:35.877. He was still the only man under 1:36. With six seconds to go in the session, Hamilton became the second driver to get below 1:36 with a 1:35.928. Vettel improved his time to a 1:35.657. Hamilton improved to 1:35.7 but was not able to beat Vettel. Alonso was initially seventh but was pushed down to ninth in the session.