A record pole for Hamilton in Austin

1'34″999. With this time, Lewis Hamilton hit hard this Saturday in qualifying by signing his first pole position in Austin, Texas, while setting the track record at the end of Q3 of the American session.

The British Mercedes finally ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg, visibly more difficult in the first sector (especially at the first turn) during each of his attempts. The championship leader fails 216 thousandths behind the triple world champion. Note that the two Silver Arrows will start on soft tires, after having crossed the Q2 threshold with this compound.

Daniel Ricciardo places himself first chasing Mercedes with his RB12, finishing third, just under three tenths behind Rosberg. The Australian precedes his teammate Max Verstappen, who however carried out a strategic choice similar to Mercedes by taking the gamble on soft tires for the start of the race.

The Ferrari were unable to rise to the level of their rivals Red Bull, and Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel fail in the third line. The top 10 of the session is completed by Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Williams de Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa and Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso).

Sergio Pérez (Force India) will start from 11th position alongside the McLaren de Fernando Alonso. Daniil Kvyat, extended to Toro Rosso for 2017, will start on the seventh row, followed by the first Haas VF16 by Esteban Gutiérrez.

The first Renault of Jolyon Palmer is in 15th place ahead of the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. Disappointment for Romain Grosjean (Haas), eliminated from Q1, and in difficulty with his car. Kevin Magnussen (Renault), Jenson Button (McLaren), Pascal Wehrlein (Manor), Felipe Nasr (Sauber) and Esteban Ocon (Manor) complete the starting grid.

The start of the race will be given tomorrow at 21 p.m. French time, an event which will be followed live with commentary with our live text on our website.

Qualification results