Carlos Sainz was delighted to be back on pole position this weekend, after a series of near misses in recent races had left him frustrated.
Sainz has been on pole twice before this season, the first time on merit at Silverstone, while the second in Belgium was thanks to an engine grid penalty for Max Verstappen.
But there was no doubting who was on top in Saturday's qualifying session for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
Sainz had been quickest in first practice on Friday, and backed that up by topping the times in the first round of qualifying.
His team mate Charles Leclerc had been quickest in Q2, and the final top ten pole shoot-out came down to the pair with Sainz just pulling it off by 0.065s.
Even if he hadn't, Sainz would be on P1 for tomorrow's race anyway because of Leclerc's ten-place engine grid drop after taking a new engine. But the Spaniard was much happier that it was all down to his own performance today.
“It was a lot of fun," he told the media in parc ferme after the end of the session. "It was very tricky out there with these winds; it’s so gusty that every corner is a bit of an adventure with these cars.
"You don’t know how much grip you are going to get or how much grip to expect," he explained.
“I managed to put together a good lap without mistakes and [win a] pole position that was a long time coming after a few qualis in the dry getting very close to it, but not getting there."
That said, Sainz was expecting Ferrari to have a fight on its hands tomorrow with Verstappen promoted to second place by Leclerc's absence.
“I’m not going to lie, for tomorrow Red Bull are still favourites. They normally get us in the race because Max does a good job and Red Bull have a very good car in race trim.
"But we are going to do everything we can to try and stay ahead tomorrow and win the race," he insisted.
As for Leclerc, he will start from 12th on the grid at a venue that has never seen a winner that didn't start on the front row.
"I’ll be starting a bit further back because of the penalty but the goal is to try and come back at the front as quickly as possible," he commented.
“I did my best," he added. "The last lap wasn’t the best. Carlos did a better job today and deserves to be on pole.
Although Verstappen has now clinched the 2022 world championship, there is still a lot of work to do for Leclerc if he wants to hold on to the runners-up spot in the drivers standings.
Leclerc is currently one place behind Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez. The Mexican also starts tomorrow's race with a grid penalty but in his case it's only a five place drop leaving him lining up in P8 while Leclerc will start from 12th.
“I will give my best as always," he commented when asked about his prospects for Sunday from so far back. "No crazy risks, but if there is opportunity I will be there to take it.”
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