Sprint Qualifying Highlights | 2024 United States Grand Prix

On board now with Piastri, a little bit wide. He is on the bubble. He's down in 15th place, and that was so close to track limit. Piastri finds the 7th fastest time. But was it legal all the way around? Oh, big spin there for Alex Albon, trying to match his teammate in the drop zone. And the man who will celebrate 100 Grand Prix starts has an issue all over the road as he tries to apply the power. And Albon goes around as his teammate advances as it stands. Hülkenberg knocks out Pierre Gasly, and Liam Lawson is the next driver we'll be focusing on. We go on board with the New Zealander, making adjustments on the steering wheel. This is Turn 19 for the man who can now call himself a full-time Formula 1 driver. And Lawson trying to get ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, trying to get through into SQ2. He's done both of them as it stands, 13th fastest time. That was an incredible recovery from Albon. I mean, obviously, lap time not worth anything as we see Alonso slug into 8th position. But it spun so quick, and he was back around and back on the gas so quick. Oh, just too much apex curve. Got onto that orange block of the apex curve. They don't want the drivers cutting too much. They put those as a deterrent, and that's exactly why. All right. I mean, look, for a high-speed spin, that's 130, 135-mile-an-hour minimum speed corner. To have 180-degree spin there and come around with nothing worse than flat-spotted set of Pirellis is a bit of a win, if I'm honest. Big, dramatic development. Look, Oskar Piastri in the drop zone. Pierre Gasly found a time. He improved, and one of the McLarens finds themselves in the bottom five. This is Oskar Piastri going over track limits and exiting SQ1. And we saw it as it was happening live. Here we are, turn 19. He just gets that little bit of oversteer late in the corner, and it kind of forces him to open his hands up a little bit. Let's look for that left-front tire going over. It's hard in the sun, but, oh, yeah, easily, easily called. The McLaren man's exit is the headline of a dramatic session. Ocon also out. Albon had the spin, and on the back row, Bottas, a former winner of this Grand Prix, and Joe Guagnou. We're on board with Yuki Tsunoda. This is his first effort in the session. They've chosen to do just the one run. Stroll, Alonso, Lawson, and Tsunoda still to cross this line. Over the line we go with Tsunoda, who eliminates Perez as it stands. Gasly is down to 12th. Where does Liam Lawson go? He, of his, now. One corner remains around this 3.4-mile racetrack, and the driver returning to Formula 1 finds himself behind Perez and behind Tsunoda with the chequered flag out. So Perez in the drop zone. Perez finding himself across the line only now. And really tough moment. Let's see if Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll can get themselves into SQ3. That's Alonso too wide. Yeah, he was wide at the apex. Alex just did not get the front of the Aston down where he needed it to, and that put him wide on the exit. It's not a fast enough lap anyway, but that lap will be deleted almost certainly. And Stroll completes the 5 heading out. This was the time deleted for Fernando Alonso. It drops him down the order to 15th position. He set no legal lap time in the session. Trying to ring the speed from the Aston wasn't there. And Alonso and his teammate Stroll are out, along with Gasly, Lawson, and Perez, who doesn't make it into the top 10 shootout. Why are we so early? I don't want to go down. No worries. Is everyone still in the garages? A few still in there. This is turn 19 in SQ3, and we've got a yellow flag out in sector 2. That can only be Franco Colopinto, because there's only three cars on the racetrack at the moment, and we're watching the two Mercedes. And so Russell goes over the line with a 32.8. Hamilton was really fighting the car. We saw it on board, left-hand side of your screen, so it didn't look dialed in. We've progressed in this session, of course, from the medium to the soft. It can affect the car balance enormously, going from one compound to another, and Hamilton has been fighting his Mercedes. You see, still making adjustments through turn 19. This is the last corner on the racetrack, under four minutes to go, and we have Lewis Hamilton across the line. Where does he stack up compared to George Russell? He looked like he was fighting it. He was fighting it. He's half a second back. That is the moment that brought out the yellow flag. Around goes the Williams, and he finds himself trying to catch the moment of the rear stepping out. Unable to do so, and that is his attempt done. Come on, guys. That was not good. Yeah, copy, Lewis. Yeah, understood. Can anyone challenge George Russell? Lewis Hamilton is further back. Signs across the line. He goes to second. Couldn't find the pace from earlier in the day. Next up is going to be Lando Norris, second in the Formula 1 World Championship, second in the order. He's beaten Signs by six thousandths of a second, and we now find ourselves with Charles Leclerc out of the 20th and final corner. He will come across the line, and so once it was Signs, then it was Norris. Now it's Charles Leclerc in second place, and is this an opportunity for Max Verstappen to finally be on the front foot for the first time since June in Formula 1. He had a chance in Spa. That car was quick. He had to take an engine penalty. Have Red Bull found the answers, found the updates, and given him a chance. He has been losing time in this final sector so far this weekend, but this is the most important moment of the weekend so far. It's Russell versus Verstappen. That's a clean route through. We've got Magnussen in sixth. Tsunoda is in seventh. Max Verstappen attempting to return to the front of the field, and that's the lap time to do it. By twelve thousandths of a second, Verstappen finding the improvement to get past Russell, but finally for Max Verstappen, he finds himself at the top of the timing page once again. Great job, Max. P1. Let's go. Nice one. Happy with that. Thank you, guys. It's a quick return after a little break. Max Verstappen is the driver they're all trying to catch when they barrel into Turn 1 tomorrow. He's back on top. He's once again the driver to beat in Formula 1.