Hamilton takes pole slot for U.S. Grand Prix

AUSTIN, Texas — Every time he gets behind the wheel in Texas, Lewis Hamilton keeps smashing track records.

Hamilton set a third in two days at the Circuit of the Americas and grabbed pole position on Saturday for today’s U.S. Grand Prix, with title rival Sebastian Vettel getting a big push on his final lap to grab second.

It set up a critical duel as Hamilton chases a possible fourth career Formula One season championship. The Mercedes driver holds a 59-point lead over Vettel with four races to go and Vettel will be desperate to push for the win.

“I feel fantastic. I feel fresh and happy,” Hamilton said. “It’s such a fantastic circuit.”

Hamilton can feel at ease by the way he’s dominated the Circuit of the Americas not just this week but over the past six years. He is chasing a fourth consecutive win in Austin and a fifth since 2012, when the track opened and the series returned to the U.S.

Hamilton has rarely even been challenged here. He has never started in Austin from lower than No. 2, he passed Vettel to win in 2012 and has crushed his competition the last three years. None of the wins was more emphatic than 2015, when he chased down teammate Nico Rosberg to clinch his third championship. Last year, the U.S. Grand Prix began a lateseason charge by Hamilton that ultimately fell short as Rosberg won the title.

If Hamilton can win another championship, he would become the only British driver with four and would join Vettel and Alain Prost as four-time champions. Only Germany’s Michael Schumacher (seven) and Argentina’s Juan Manuel Fangio (five) have won more.

Hamilton could finish Vettel’s title hopes if he wins and the Ferrari finishes lower than fifth. Hamilton dismissed that as “highly unlikely.”

Vettel summed up his options if he hopes to have any realistic chance of catching Hamilton. “I’ve got to win here,” Vettel said. “I’ve also got to win the others.”