Facts and Stats as Sainz Grabs First Ferrari Pole Position At COTA

Carlos Sainz grabbed his first pole position in Austin ahead of his teammate by less than a tenth of a second as newly crowned world champion Max Verstappen had to settle for third on a windy day in Austin.

But with grid penalties to follow for Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, there will be some reshuffling overnight that means a mixed-up grid for the race. Here are the best facts and stats from qualifying at the Circuit of The Americas.

• Carlos Sainz grabbed Ferrari’s first-ever pole position at COTA.
• The Spaniard took his third-ever career pole.
• He is also seeking his first-ever top-five finish on this track.
• Max Verstappen will start second, with the driver starting from P2, leading the first lap in four of the last six races.
• Lewis Hamilton will start third, matching his best starting slot of the year from Singapore.
• George Russell starts fourth, the first time this season that Mercedes have both cars in the top four on the grid.
• Lance Stroll qualified seventh and starts fifth to tie Aston Martin’s best-ever starting slot after Sebastian Vettel’s P5 at Spa last season.
• The Canadian reaches Q3 for only the third time in 2022 but the second time on American soil.
• Charles Leclerc has never won a race from below the front row and has never finished on the podium from lower than seventh on the grid.
• Sergio Perez has three career podium finishes from outside the top eight on the grid, which all came for Sauber in 2012.
• Lando Norris only made Q3 due to Zhou Guanyu’s deleted lap time at the end of Q2.
• Alex Albon missed out on Q3 by just 0.027s.
• Vettel has only made Q3 in the last 11 races, which was last time out at Suzuka.
• Zhou’s late Q2 lap time was deleted – but had it not been, it would have been two Alfa cars in the top 10 for the first time this season.
• Haas lost both cars in Q1 for the fourth time this year, but having done so at Silverstone, they managed to score double points.
• Daniel Ricciardo suffered his third Q1 elimination in the last five races.
• Esteban Ocon qualified fifth in Suzuka but dropped out in Q1 today.
• Mick Schumacher was out in Q1 for the second time in seven races.