QUALIFYING

“SAINZ TREATED THE ESSES KERBS WITH MORE RESPECT. THIS PAID HIM BACK LATER IN THE LAP”

Something had been bothering Carlos Sainz. Of his two previous poles, Spa had come via default (Max Verstappen untouchable but facing an engine-penalty grid drop) and Silverstone, while still a mighty first career achievement, had been in the wet with Charles Leclerc and Verstappen making errors. And four times before last weekend, Sainz had got within 0.1 seconds of a genuine dry-weather pole.

He banished that in Austin qualifying, defeating those stunning qualifiers Leclerc and Verstappen with a “clean lap” of fine judgement in tricky, windy conditions.

After Sainz had topped Q1 and Leclerc had led the way in Q2, the Monegasque set the pace on the first Q3 runs. His 1m34.624s put him top by 0.159s over Sainz, with Verstappen down in fourth behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who would not improve his personal best in the second runs, grappling oversteer that plagued him throughout qualifying.

Of the three main contenders – Sergio Perez ended up fourth but 0.3s behind – Leclerc led the way for the final fliers. He flung his F1-75 into each apex of the Esses, his aggression searing. But he would pay. Slight wheelspin out of Turn 11 running onto the back straight didn’t help, nor did a big sideways moment through Turn 14. But it was two big oversteer snaps out of the final corner, forcing him to briefly step off the gas to avoid spinning, that explained why his 1m34.421s would end up 0.065s short of first position.

Sainz treated the Esses kerbs with more respect.

This paid him back later. He avoided wheel-spinning onto the back straight and was left to correct just one oversteer moment out of the final corner, his soft tyres with just that bit more life left.

The result was a 1m34.356s and pole. “Great to get [that dry pole],” he said. “Get that out of the way.”

Verstappen might have stopped Sainz. Red Bull had been struggling to generate front tyre temperature as quickly as Ferrari and was trying various fixes even in Q3. After his opening run on scrubbed softs had left him gripless at Turn 1 and sliding wide over the remaining bumps on that resurfaced area, he “just wanted to try something different”.

This took the form of an extra preparation lap at slow speed to bring the fragile rubber in with additional energy from another 3.4 miles. It looked to be working – Verstappen was 0.177s up on Sainz after two sectors – but “big oversteer in the second-to-last corner” forced a massive right-hand-down correction and he ended up 0.092s adrift.