Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas eked out the pole position by a mere 0.012 seconds over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for tomorrow’s 2019 USA Grand Prix at Austin, Texas.
Vettel and his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc had led a Ferrari 1-2 in Q2 but Bottas found the speed he required to get past Vettel while Leclerc fell to fourth and will sit alongside Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the second row.
Bottas’ Mercedes teammate and defending champion Lewis Hamilton failed to find the necessary speed in both Q2 and Q3 and will start fifth along Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Alexander Albon in the third row. Hamilton holds a commanding lead in the driver’s championship and – barring disaster – is expected to clinch his sixth world title tomorrow.
2019 USA Grand Prix Top 10 Qualifiers
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:32.029
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:32.041
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.096
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.137
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:32.321
6 Alexander Albon Red Bull 1:32.548
7 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 1:32.847
8 Lando Norris McLaren 1:33.175
9 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:33.488
10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:33.601