F1 Grand Prix, GP United States, Circuit of The Americas

Having secured victory in the Austin F1 Sprint, reigning champion Max Verstappen will start on pole today after topping qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers drivers' reactions after the nail-biting qualifying session in Texas.

Red Bull

“I think we had a very strong Saturday and it has been really positive. I was very happy with the Sprint win, it was an eventful race and it was great to get those points. We then made some final changes going into Qualifying to help out the balance a little bit and extract the best performance of the car.

"I was pleased with how the whole of Qualifying went and with the changes that we made that will hopefully make things easier tomorrow. We worked with the Team to understand what we needed to do with the car and extract performance. We unfortunately missed the final push run by a few seconds which wasn’t ideal but luckily the lap we had was enough.

"I hope that we will also be strong in the race tomorrow and we need to be good on the tyres. It is difficult to tell as a lot of things will change, it will be a lot cooler and the wind direction will change which usually has a lot of effect on the balance of the car and should help us in the right way. Overall it has been a really good day for us; everyone is pushing very hard bringing performance constantly and the last few races have been very strong so we are looking forward to tomorrow.”

“I have had a mixed day. The Sprint was very good for me, a lot went on in the first lap, I tried to overtake and out brake the cars in front at turn one. Sending it down the inside was worth the risk; I jumped 11 places but also picked up debris and took another front wing almost half a lap. It was a good recovery and result for driving with two front wings! Going into Quali I felt good but my final lap in Q2 was complicated.

"It was feeling really good until I hit traffic, I was blocked by Liam and the Alpine, it felt like Pierre was in the way, so it could have been miscommunication on their side. Without that I think I would have been in Q3. It feels like I can’t have a normal Qualifying at the moment, which is really frustrating, as the car feels like it can perform.

"I felt something pretty good from the car, so it is a shame that last lap didn’t come together. The positive for tomorrow is that I had the race pace this morning in the Sprint and have shown I can jump up the field if I take the right risks.“

McLaren

“A difficult day, having missed running in the Sprint this morning, Quali was definitely slightly harder than yesterday. The conditions changed, which didn't help, but I also didn't put my best lap in on Q3, so to be P2 isn't too bad. The team in the garage did a great job getting the car back together, so thank you to them.

"We don't have a lot of long-run data to work on, but our race pace has often been better than our Quali pace, so I'm optimistic but realistic about our chances for tomorrow.”

“A tricky day for us today. Obviously not the result we wanted in the Sprint. It’s shame to have not been able to finish. Massive thanks to the team for the big effort to get our cars back together.

“Quali was a tougher one compared to Sprint Quali. I just didn’t really feel particularly comfortable in the car, so wasn’t able to put it all together. But it’s a long race tomorrow, and anything can happen, so we’ll make up some places and do what we can.”

Mercedes

"It is annoying to end the day just 0.026s away from being on the front-row and two positions higher up the grid. P4 is still a solid result but when it is as close as that, you always feel like you could have done just a little bit more. That said, I was happy with my lap.

"It wasn’t the perfect effort, but I managed to extract a lot of performance from the car and when I crossed the line, I felt that I had done a decent job. Getting P2 would have been a good way to end the day, particularly having finished there in the Sprint this morning, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

"The wind is likely to shift 180 degrees tomorrow which will be interesting. We expect the McLarens and the Red Bull of Verstappen to be particularly quick, but I hope we can be in the mix for the podium. We know we’re in a tight fight for second in the Constructors’ and every point counts. I’m therefore looking forward to the race and seeing what we can do."

"I was hoping for slightly better than P7 in qualifying today. We couldn’t maximise either lap in Q3 and ended up just the wrong side of a few cars. P5 was definitely possible today if we had managed to put everything together. It was tricky to do that with the change in wind conditions from run to run, particularly at the end of Q2 and into the final segment. It was scrappy and we will work hard to improve on that moving forward.

"With all that said, I am still looking forward to tomorrow. The wind is going to rotate for the race and that will likely affect the balance. Whilst we were trying to optimise the car for qualifying, we made sure that we didn’t do that at the cost of our race car. Our pace in the Sprint looked good so we can hopefully use that tomorrow and gain some positions."

Ferrari

"The feeling in the car was much better in the Sprint compared to yesterday and our pace was pretty good overall, so that’s a positive. I made a mistake in turn 5 and Lewis overtook me. After that, it was tricky to get back the pace I had before the mistake. We did gain some insights which should help us to be in a better place for the race tomorrow.

"Qualifying was quite a big surprise considering how difficult this weekend had been for us until now. We put everything together in the end and will start from P3 tomorrow. We've learned quite a bit already and have applied that knowledge this afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good start and fight our way forward."

Lewis Hamilton, Sprint: 4th, Qualifying: 5th, 1:32.912

"It’s been a positive Saturday overall. In the Sprint we showed good pace and without the final Safety Car, we could have pushed for a stronger result. Qualifying was also a step forward from yesterday: everything ran more smoothly and that made us more competitive throughout the session.

"Tomorrow will be demanding, but starting from further up the field gives us the chance to fight for important points. Strategy will play a big part, so we’ll go through the details tonight to make sure we’re ready for the Grand Prix. Austin is one of my favourite tracks and the fans have been incredible all weekend. I’d love to repay that support with a strong result."

Williams

"It was a decent start to the day with the Sprint; we were able to stay out of trouble and make up some positions to bring home a few points. On Friday, we figured out there was a differential issue with the car, and we couldn’t make the changes in time for the Sprint, so going into qualifying the balance and setup was completely new.

"We need to have a look at the data properly, but by resolving the issue it impacted the balance, and I had more understeer than usual. Generally, the changes made a better and more predictable car, which is positive, but it needed a bit of tuning to accommodate the setup changes, and we didn’t have the time as it was straight into Q1.

"My final push lap time was deleted for track limits which is a shame as we should’ve been through to Q2 at least. Let’s see what tomorrow brings."

"Today was another good day and I’m happy with my laps. We executed a clean session and pace felt strong. Unfortunately the wind picked up for the last part of qualifying and our car becomes a bit trickier to drive, so overall P9 was more or less our spot today. I have confidence on my race pace for tomorrow so I hope to give these great fans another exciting race to cheer on!

"We'll aim to move forwards through the pack and hopefully stay close to the cars at the front of the grid. Our ultimate goal is to bring home some more points for the team, so let’s race!"

Haas

“It was a pretty decent start in the Sprint, and we made up quite a few positions, but not enough to get into point scoring positions. There’s a lot of risks to take in Sprints – and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time – but unfortunately that’s racing. There’s not much to say really about qualifying, we were just too slow.

"From start to finish, I was struggling with the consistency of the car and how much confidence it gives in the high-speed section. I had to drive with some margin to complete the lap, otherwise the rear is very loose and I’m about to lose it in every corner, that was where the difficulty was. I think it was a little bit better than yesterday, but not enough.”

“The Sprint was going really well, but with the penalty I’ll have to take a look from the onboard camera as from my point of view, I felt it wasn’t a punishable offense as I was being pushed off the track and holding position. I don’t think I was in the wrong for staying where I was. I’m still a bit miffed but it’s nice to come back with a result like that this afternoon in qualifying.

"We put the upgrade on the car for Sprint quali yesterday, I didn’t have it in on for practice, so I missed a bit of learning of that, plus I’m learning this track. To squeeze into Q3 and then produce a really good lap – I’m really proud of that.

"The car feels good, it has some different characteristics to the previous car I’d say, which means I was learning on the go. That’s part of the fun of Formula 1 of course, and the changes we made between yesterday and today have really made a difference.”

Aston Martin

"The car has felt quite competitive for me this weekend and I am pleased to have made it into Q3. It was a shame to not make it further than Turn 1 in the Sprint earlier on, as we were looking at being second or third out of the exit until I got hit. In Qualifying this afternoon it was very tight, but we put some strong laps in Q1 and Q2 to progress.

"We didn't have the best out-lap in our final push in Q3 and thought we didn't have enough time to make it to the flag. This meant I pushed quite hard and the tyres weren't as good as they could have been. The tyre degradation will be a big challenge tomorrow with these high temperatures, so let's see if we can fight for the points."

"Today's not gone my way – there was a misjudgement on my side overtaking Esteban [Ocon] at the end of the Sprint earlier today. I thought I was close enough to dive down the inside but the track was quite dirty there and I locked the front left. It was my mistake and I apologised to Esteban.

"In Qualifying this afternoon, we managed to get through to Q2 but with track limits had my lap time deleted and qualified in P18. With the penalty from the Sprint, we're starting from the back of the grid tomorrow and see if we can make up any positions. In these weather conditions it's always more challenging managing tyres so we'll see how we do."

Kick Sauber

“The sprint was pretty much over after the incident in Turn 1, which was frustrating because it compromised the whole race and ended our chance of a good end result. It was good to get straight back in the car in the afternoon to reset, get it out of the system, and focus on qualifying. This is an amazing track to drive, and overall qualifying was decent.

"Unfortunately, the final lap was not as clean as it needed to be. I struggled a bit in the last sector where I hit some wind gusts, ultimately losing some time there. Starting from P11 tomorrow means we’re close to the points on a track where overtaking is possible.”

"To be honest, it’s been a bit of a tough weekend so far. I’ve been struggling to find the pace, especially in the last sector —as I did not just have the same confidence in the car that I’ve had at previous events so far. The first and second sectors felt strong, but I couldn’t quite put it all together.

"Looking back to the Sprint, it’s been a bit chaotic with all those yellow flags and crashes, so it was good to bring the car back in one piece – it also gave us an extra chance to gather some more data when it comes to car balance. We’ve done some changes to the car ahead of Quali, and it felt like things are getting better, but I think I just needed a few more laps to really push to the limit and get a shot at Q2.

"It’s a new track for me, and I feel like I still have something to learn, so I just couldn’t extract everything today. We’ll learn from it and see how to maximise our chances to improve in tomorrow’s race.”

Racing Bulls

“I’m sorry to the team that the car isn’t coming back in one piece. I arrived at the corner with too much speed and I was definitely surprised by how suddenly the car snapped, but I knew I couldn’t catch it. I know there are things I could have done differently before the corner, it’s all about fine margins around here.

"The car is quick, but obviously starting from the back isn’t ideal. We’ve had good races coming from the back before, but it’ll be a challenge. We’ll hope for some overtaking opportunities and maybe a bit of magic tomorrow.”

"We have a very fast car but unfortunately got hit by a big gust of wind at the start of the lap and from that point you're trying to make up lap time. We're all dealing with it at different points throughout Qualifying, but it obviously cost us today. We have a good package, so we'll be working hard to make something work to get into the points tomorrow."

Alpine

“Sprint weekends are always a busy schedule and it has certainly been a busy day at the wheel. I would say we had a decent Sprint Race to finish in P10. Turn 1 was carnage on the opening lap and I just had to try and survive and put the car in the right position to avoid any of the mess. In the end, we gained some places and just had to try our best to defend from there.

"We lacked pace but certainly learned a few things and tricks, which should benefit us in the race. In Qualifying, again, I felt like we did a pretty good job. I was not too happy with the final push lap where we seemed to struggle in the final corner in particular so we will review that as the first two sectors were good and competitive.

"I don't think Q3 would have been possible, maybe one or two places higher, but I think, as a team, we can take the positives of being in Q2 for the second time this weekend. Tomorrow, we will see what we can do from P14 and just try to capitalise on any potential chaos in front.”

“It has been a tricky day, and weekend overall so far, on my side of the garage. It has been difficult to find the right balance and the car has felt slightly more unpredictable to drive than in recent races, which could also be down to the conditions and high-speed nature of this track.

"In the Sprint, I managed to get a good getaway but felt some heavy contact from behind on the apex of Turn 1, which ultimately caused a rear left puncture and effectively put us out of contention having to make an extra pit stop. We made some extensive set-up changes between sessions to help me feel more confident with the car. Some things worked and others didn't, but it was a good learning that we can take forward into future races.

"I was pushing hard in Qualifying and while it was positive getting both cars into Q2, I struggled to put a lap together and had to abort some runs with a few snaps in places. I wasn't really able to race today after the Turn 1 incident, so I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow and seeing what we can do from our starting position.”