Austin: Lewis Hamilton pulverised the track record to claim pole position Saturday ahead of a US Grand Prix that could secure the Mercedes driver’s fourth Formula One (F1) World Championship.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the Briton’s closest rival but 59 points behind with four races remaining, qualified second with a prodigious effort just when it seemed Mercedes would sweep the front row.
Hamilton, chasing his fifth win in six years at the Circuit of the Americas, dominated every phase of qualifying and will be champion Sunday if he scores 16 points more than the German.
Vettel is the only other driver to have won at the Texas track and will do everything he can to deny the Briton a 62nd victory but will also be haunted by two retirements in the last three races.
Hamilton’s pole, in a time of one minute 33.108 seconds on a gusty afternoon, was the 72nd of his career and 11th of the season. It also allowed him to claim another of Michael Schumacher’s all-time records with an unprecedented 117th front row start.
While Mercedes look sure to clinch the constructors’ championship for the fourth year in a row, with a 145-point advantage over Ferrari, Hamilton played down his own chances of wrapping things up in America.
Vettel’s time of 1:33.347 put him ahead of Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, who qualified third and shares the second row with Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen qualified fifth with Max Verstappen clinching the sixth spot for Red Bull, but the Dutch 20-year-old has a 15-place grid penalty meaning French driver Esteban Ocon moves up to the third row for Force India.
Spain’s Carlos Sainz, preparing for his first race for Renault after switching from Toro Rosso, will start seventh alongside compatriot Fernando Alonso for McLaren.
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