World championship leader Nico Rosberg will line up second on tomorrow's US Grand Prix after trailing team mate Lewis Hamilton by a little over two tenths of a second.
Both drivers ended Q2 on the soft Pirelli compound with which they will start tomorrow's race, and tackled Q3 on the SuperSoft tyre.
While the German driver's time in the first sector was marginally slower than Hamilton's, Rosberg did not note any particular issues, just that his team mate had been faster.
"There was nothing specific in sector 1," Rosberg said.
"I just prefer sector 2 and 3, and Lewis was just quicker in sector 1, so it was pretty simple. It was a good lap that I did in the end there, so I was pleased.
"But of course also a bit annoyed when Lewis came over the line and I could see on the TV that he beat me to it. But that's the way it goes sometimes."
With his 33-point championship lead Rosberg enjoys a comfortable margin but he also insisted that missing out on pole did not diminish his chances of success.
"As we've seen this year, qualifying isn't all important, so from P2 we still have a great chance tomorrow."
Silbermann says ... Taylor should take over F1
Romain Grosjean column: 100 races, now for the wins
PREVIEW: 2016 United States Grand Prix
TECHNICAL - Turbulent Jet Ignition: In the antechamber of F1 power
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull and Max Verstappen are unlikely to challenge for victory…
Automotive giant General Motors is reportedly back in the game as a potential entrant in…
The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…
Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…
It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…
Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…