FACTS AND STATS: Sainz seals first Ferrari pole position at COTA, as Stroll grabs best slot of the year

Carlos Sainz grabbed his first pole position in Austin, pipping his team mate by less than a tenth of a second as newly crowned world champion Max Verstappen had to settle for third on a blustery 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 at this track.

• Max Verstappen will start second, with the driver starting from P2 having led the first lap here in four of the last six races.

READ MORE: Sainz takes pole for the 2022 United States Grand Prix ahead of Verstappen

• Lewis Hamilton will start third, matching his best starting slot of the year from Singapore.

• George Russell starts fourth, the first time this season 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.

READ MORE: Leclerc and Alonso receive grid penalties at COTA

• 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 as a result of 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 once 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.

OBITUARY: Remembering Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull and AlphaTauri’s quiet patriarch

• 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 just the second time in seven races.