Charles Leclerc has earned pole position for Sunday's United States Grand Prix, capitalising on Max Verstappen seeing his final lap time deleted.
The already-crowned world champion would have on the front row of the grid had he not had his closing hot lap scrapped for exceeding track limits.
Instead, Leclerc - in what has been an inconsistent Ferrari through this season - finished 0.130 seconds ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.
British compatriot Lewis Hamilton will start in third spot in the Mercedes, closing Q3 just 0.009 seconds slower than Norris but finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr in the second Ferrari.
🏁 QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION 🏁
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2023
Charles Leclerc takes his third pole position of 2023! 💫#USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/85WuKnWZhe
George Russell was fifth quickest, despite being just 0.356 seconds slower than pole-sitter Leclerc, with Verstappen having to settle for sixth.
Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are seventh and eighth respectively, ahead of Sergio Perez who was still less than half-a-second slower than Leclerc.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri had to settle for the 10th and final place in Q3, while the returning Daniel Ricciardo was 15th after his recovery from a broken hand.
Fernando Alonso - who is now 11 points adrift of Hamilton in the race for third place - could only qualify in 17th position in the Aston Martin.
Qualifying took place on Friday evening in Austin courtesy of a sprint race being scheduled for Saturday.
Darren Plant
