Lewis Hamilton led the final hour of practice at the USGP, but will he convert that to pole position in Austin?
AUSTIN, Texas — Lewis Hamilton topped the timing sheets in the final hour of practice before qualifying for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen and teammate Charles Leclerc. And with Leclerc having led the way during both FP1 and FP2, is a Ferrari pole in the future here in Austin?
Or will Verstappen, or another of Ferrari’s rivals, steal their thunder?
Ferrari brought an upgrade package to the United States Grand Prix, one that Leclerc described as a “small step in the right direction” to SB Nation and the rest of the assembled media during his availability on Thursday. But while Leclerc cautioned that he did not “expect anything hugely significant” from the new components, results from the first three hours of practice indicate that Ferrari is indeed firmly in the mix for Saturday’s qualifying session.
But Verstappen and the rest of the grid are always lurking.
Qualifying gets underway at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, and we will be following all the action live both here and on the brand-new SB Nation app. So follow along and join in the conversation in the F1 Community!
USGP provisional starting grid
Here is the provisional starting grid for the United States Grand Prix, which will be filled in as the hour unfolds.
Row | Position | Driver | Team | Position | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Row 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Row 3 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| Row 4 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Row 5 | 9 | 10 | ||||
| Row 6 | 11 | 12 | ||||
| Row 7 | 13 | 14 | ||||
| Row 8 | 15 | 16 | ||||
| Row 9 | 17 | 18 | ||||
| Row 10 | 19 | 20 | ||||
| Row 11 | 21 | 22 |