What the teams said – Sprint qualifying at the 2024 United States Grand Prix

Mercedes

The Mercedes was another car that didn’t look good in practice, with Hamilton and Russell both spinning on different sections of the track. But they managed to find a better setup for sprint qualifying, with Hamilton in particular looking quick. He was the choice of the two drivers until SQ3, when the team sent them out earlier than the others. This was a masterstroke as they seemed to have the better conditions and while Russell secured his lap and moved into the lead – only beaten late on by a great performance from Verstappen – Hamilton was forced to take off because of the yellow flags when Colapinto took off turned in front of him. That cost him any chance of pole today.

Lewis Hamilton, 7th, 1:33.378

“It was a real shame today because I was unlucky with a yellow flag. I was four tenths ahead on my lap and looked good for P1, but that’s how it is. The good thing is that we seem to have taken a step forward.” The update we brought here has worked well and I’m really grateful to everyone at the factory for their hard work. The last few races haven’t been easy, but everyone has done a great job making this upgrade happen.

“We also did a lot of work after FP1 to improve the car for sprint qualifying. Sprint weekends present an additional risk with a second parc fermé, but when we hit the track I knew we had made some good decisions.” Despite our disappointment today, we’ll try again tomorrow and do our best.

George Russell, 2nd, 1:32.845

“I’m really happy with how today went. It’s been a while since we qualified for the front row so we can be happy with the progress we’ve made. The update kit we brought here seems to be working well, although it worked.” We were a little surprised at how competitive we were today. Sprint qualifying was a difficult session, but I was able to put together my lap in SQ3. The last sector in particular was strong and that allowed us to take second place.

“Lewis was very fast today and was unlucky to be surprised by a yellow flag. We both should have been up there, but it’s great that we were there again as a team today. It’s clearly very close too.” With several other teams including Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, hopefully we can continue this form into the weekend and look forward to fighting at the front.

READ MORE: ‘This is what excites me about Formula 1’ – Russell aims for sprint win after narrowly missing out on pole

Andrew Shovlin, director of track engineering

“We have a lot of positive things to take away from us, but in the end we end the day a bit frustrated. Lewis drove a lap that would have been more than enough for first place. We had decided to go early to avoid interruptions due to caution periods on a busy track.” Unfortunately and ironically, Lewis caught a yellow flag after Colapinto’s Williams spun at Turn 12.

“George wasn’t as comfortable with the car as Lewis today, but it’s a clear sign of progress that he was still able to finish second. We brought an update kit this weekend and the rollout was straightforward. Of course it’s only one day of the race, but it looks like we’re making the progress we hoped for. We will try to continue this momentum for the rest of the weekend.