Norris secures his fourth pole in the last five races, Magnussen reaches Q3 for the first time this year and Hamilton exits in Q1 and records his first non-top-five COTA qualifying result. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2024 United States Grand Prix.
NORRIS ON POLE FOR THE 2024 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
For the fourth time in the last five races, Lando Norris secured pole position for the 2024 United States Grand Prix.
Norris recorded the seventh pole position of his career. He equals Jacques Laffite for 41st on the all-time list of of most poles in Formula 1.
This is McLaren’s first ever pole position at Circuit of The Americas, as well as the team’s first pole position at the United States Grand Prix since Lewis Hamilton secured pole for the 2007 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Norris’ pole was the 300th pole position for a British driver in Formula 1. This was the fourth time that a British driver has taken pole position at Circuit of The Americas. It sees Britain equal Germany for the most pole positions at the venue.
Norris became the sixth different driver in the last six races at Circuit of The Americas to take pole position, extending the record for the longest streak of different polesitters at the track.
IN THE TOP 10
Max Verstappen qualified second for the 2024 United States Grand Prix, meaning he and Lando Norris will share the front row for the sixth time this season.
The 2024 United States Grand Prix is only the second time, after his 2021 pole position, that Max Verstappen has set one of the top two times in qualifying at COTA.
With both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez progressing to Q3, Red Bull passed the milestone of 600 Q3 appearances since the knockout qualifying system was introduced in 2006. They are the third team to reach the milestone, after Ferrari (at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) and Mercedes (including their previous Honda and Brawn GP guises, at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix).
Qualifying third, Carlos Sainz out-qualified Charles Leclerc for the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri qualified fifth for the 2024 United States Grand Prix. He continued his streak of qualifying in the top six at all of the last eight races – the longest active streak of any current driver.
With Norris on pole and Piastri fifth, this is the first time McLaren have seen both cars qualify in the top five for a Grand Prix at COTA. The team had previously qualified with both cars in the top eight only three times – in 2014, 2019 and 2021.
After crashing out in Q3, George Russell qualified sixth for the 2024 United States Grand Prix. With team-mate Lewis Hamilton out in Q1, this was the first time since 2012 that neither Mercedes driver qualified in the top five for the United States Grand Prix.
With seventh place, Pierre Gasly equalled his best qualifying result of the season to date at the 2024 United States Grand Prix. He also qualified seventh for the Spanish Grand Prix. It also equalled his best-ever qualifying result at COTA, having also qualified seventh last year.
Gasly maintained his record of having never been out-qualified by a team-mate at the United States Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso reached Q3 for the 229th time at the 2024 United States Grand Prix. That saw him overtake Sebastian Vettel on the list of most all-time Q3 appearances.
Eighth place is Alonso’s best qualifying result at COTA since qualifying sixth for the 2014 United States Grand Prix.
Kevin Magnussen reached Q3 for the first time in the 2024 season. He last qualified in the top ten at the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
This was Magnussen’s first Q3 appearance at the United States Grand Prix since 2014. That year, he recorded his best qualifying result at the track to date with eighth place.
Magnussen recorded Haas’ first Q3 appearance at Circuit of The Americas since Romain Grosjean progressed to Q3 at the 2018 United States Grand Prix.
This is the first time Magnussen has out-qualified Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg since the Canadian Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez failed to set a lap time in Q3 at the 2024 United States Grand Prix, meaning he qualified in tenth place. It’s the worst qualifying result for a Red Bull driver at COTA since Max Verstappen was out in Q2 in 2018.
Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri all maintained their 100% Q3 appearance rates at the United States Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton lost his.
OUT IN Q2
Yuki Tsunoda qualified 11th for the United States Grand Prix for the second season in a row.
With Tsunoda 11th and Liam Lawson 15th on his F1 return, the Red Bull junior team qualified with its cars in the same position as they did for the 2023 United States Grand Prix. It’s the third year in a row that both of the team’s drivers have exited in Q2 at COTA.
Nico Hulkenberg recorded his fourth Q2 exit at COTA, equalling Daniil Kvyat for the most Q2 eliminations at the Texas track.
Esteban Ocon qualified 13th – his best qualifying result since reaching Q3 at the Belgian Grand Prix.
OUT IN Q1
Until 2024, Lewis Hamilton had never previously qualified outside of the top five for the United States Grand Prix. That changed at COTA this year, as he was a surprise exit in Q1.
Setting the 19th fastest time, Hamilton recorded his first back row qualifying result since crashing out in Q1 at the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton recorded Mercedes’ first-ever Q1 exit at COTA. The team had previously recorded two Q2 eliminations at the track, back in 2012 and 2013.
This was Mercedes’ third Q1 exit of the 2024 season. It was only the 12th Q1 exit of Hamilton’s career. He was last out in Q1 at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix. 2024 becomes only the third season – after 2009 and 2016 – in which Hamilton has recorded multiple Q1 eliminations.
For the first time since the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, both Williams drivers were eliminated in Q1.
This was Williams’ fourth double Q1 exit in the last six races at COTA.
Alex Albon exited in Q1 at COTA for the second year in a row.
Both Sauber drivers were out in Q1 at the 2024 United States Grand Prix, with both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu recording their first Q1 eliminations at this circuit.
This was the first time Bottas has qualified outside of the top 13 for a Grand Prix at COTA.
The 2024 United States Grand Prix is the fifth consecutive race weekend at which both Sauber drivers have been eliminated in Q1. This was the team’s fourth double Q1 exit at COTA – their first since 2019.
Zhou Guanyu was the slowest qualifier for the sixth Grand Prix in a row. Zhou is the first Sauber driver to qualify last for a race at Circuit of The Americas.