Formula 1 is at the Circuit of the Americas for the second time and once again Sebastian Vettel was the man expected to score pole position for the United States Grand Prix.
It looked as if the German would have to settle for second behind teammate Mark Webber until a blistering final sector saw him grab top spot.
Read how the qualifying hour unfolded in Texas with our minute-by-minute updates below.
Evening all! The penultimate race of the 2013 F1 season takes place in Texas at the Circuit of the Americas. Half an hour until quali gets underway.
Red Bull have completely dominated the second half of the season and unfortunately for neutral viewers it looks as if Mr Vettel again has the fastest setup.
The four-time world champion finished 0.203s ahead of teammate Mark Webber in this afternoon's final practice, with Webber a further 0.331s faster than the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
It was also a Red Bull one-two in yesterday's second practice. The word in the paddock is that the world championship-winning car is simply in a league of its own when it comes to race pace. The fight for pole may be close but as has been the case in the last few weeks, Vettel is expected to zoom off and win his eighth straight race.
The Circuit of the Americas is perhaps most recognisable for the approach to turn one. It's quite a climb and you can see it both on the picture above and in this tweet:
Circuit of The Americas #Austin pic.twitter.com/m3EBGoCqN1
— aya (@complexionaya) November 16, 2013
REMINDER! Just in case you've forgotten how F1 qualifying works or you're new to the sport, here's a quick rundown of the hour ahead from 6pm:
All 22 cars take part in a 20-minute 'Q1' session. The six slowest cars after this period are eliminated and start the race from their position between 17-22.
Next is a 15-minute 'Q2' session where the remaining 16 cars battle for a place in the final top 10 shootout. As before, the cars that finish in positions 11-16 start the race from those spots.
Finally, the 10-minute pole position shootout where the 10 quickest cars from Q2 fight it out for the final positions on the grid.
All 22 cars take part in a 20-minute 'Q1' session. The six slowest cars after this period are eliminated and start the race from their position between 17-22.
Next is a 15-minute 'Q2' session where the remaining 16 cars battle for a place in the final top 10 shootout. As before, the cars that finish in positions 11-16 start the race from those spots.
Finally, the 10-minute pole position shootout where the 10 quickest cars from Q2 fight it out for the final positions on the grid.
One man who won't start tomorrow's race where he qualifies is the last man to win the world title before four years of Vettel dominance - Jenson Button. The McLaren man incurred a three-place grid penalty for overtaking under red-flag conditions in yesterday's first practice.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! If Vettel and Webber make it a Red Bull lockout on the front row it will make it a perfect 40th birthday for team principal Christian Horner. Here's a picture we posted on our Instagram account a little earlier. Make sure you give us a follow:
Today's race is the first since a number of big F1 moves were revealed earlier this week. Felipe Massa will leave Ferrari to replace Pastor Maldonado at Williams while at McLaren, Sergio Perez has been sacked by the team after just one year. The Mexican is going to be replaced by a man who has never driven in F1 before - Denmark's Kevin Magnussen.
We also already know that Kimi Raikkonen is to return to Ferrari and fill the seat left by Massa. He isn't racing in the final two Grands Prix because of injury, with fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen returning to drive for Lotus in his place in the US and Brazil next week.
GREEN LIGHT! The first 20-minute session is underway and a lot of the big names are straight out on track.
Sauber's Hulkenburg is the early pacesetter as he crosses the line with a 1:43.698.
The German is soon edged out by Caterham's Charles Pic, who goes over a second faster with a 1:42.262. These times are a little unrealistic though. Expect the quicker cars to go under 100 seconds.
Indeed they do as Bottas of Williams clocks a 1:39.658.
Hamilton complains on his team radio that the track is very slow. The drivers appear to be struggling to maintain traction as it's dusty surrounding area.
We've just started our first #Q1 runs! #USGP pic.twitter.com/Op3yHWqzLh
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 16, 2013
Hamilton seems to have recovered from a poor lap as he shoots to the top of the leaderboard with a 1:39.153.
Into the final 10 minutes of qualifying and the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber are the only two who aren't out on track. They know that all they need is an OK, clean lap to make it through to Q2.
The name now atop the standings is Lotus's Grosjean. Temporary teammate Kovalainen is in sixth on his return to the sport.
Webber's Red Bull goes fastest with a 1:38.493 before teammate Vettel goes 23 hundredths slower. That will do.
As things stand, both Toro Rossos will be joining the Caterhams and Marussias in going out at the first hurdle. Vergne and Ricciardo need to speed it up.
HAMILTON is the first man to go under 98 seconds with a 1:37.959.
The stewards are looking into an incident earlier on in this session where Maldonando and Chilton appeared to block one another.
Sutil's qualifying is over as he picks up a problem after setting a time just outside of the top 16 required to make it to Q2.
Maldonado is the other man to suffer an early exit. His Williams teammate Bottas is at the top of the timesheets. Differing emotions in the Williams garage!
OUT! Here are the six drivers, in the order that they will start the race tomorrow, who failed to make it to Q2: 17 Sutil 18 Maldonado 19 Van der Garde 20 Bianchi 21 Pic 22 Chilton
Pretty good stuff from Marussia's Bianchi though as he puts himself between the two Caterhams. Not so great from Chilton though, who was almost a second slower than Pic at the back.
Rain isn't expected during qualifying but this picture from Lotus suggests that we could see a shower:
Certainly less blue up there heading into #Q2 pic.twitter.com/lH8xuReLUa — Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) November 16, 2013
GREEN LIGHT! Q2 is underway in Texas. Fifteen more minutes of timesetting, with another six to be knocked out.
Hamilton and Bottas are again the two names at the top of the rankings early on. Hamilton is 36 hundredths ahead of the Finn with a 1:38.104. Remember, we saw times under the 1:38 mark in Q1 so those should tumble. Again, the Red Bulls are sitting patiently in the garage.
DI RESTA improves dramatically and goes one thousandth quicker than Bottas for second place. Teammate Sutil already out, remember.
All cars out on track are using the white-marked medium compound tyres at the moment.
Webber fires up his Red Bull and exits the pit. That leaves the supreme Vettel the only one still in the garage.
Perez, who is driving for his F1 career next season after being sacked by McLaren, cards a 1:38.116 to go second. Hamilton still on top with six minutes left of Q2.
GROSJEAN blasts Hamilton out of the water with a 1:37.523. That's over half a second quicker than the Mercedes.
The times are tumbling as Webber, Alonso, Bottas and Grosjean all improve.
VETTEL now out on track and he cruises to a 1:37.065 to go top. That's a quarter of a second quicker than teammate Webber. As it stands, Rosberg, Button and Massa are the biggest names in danger.
Into the final minute and it's going to be a real scrap to make it into the top 10 shootout.
Vergne 16th and out. Button 12th. He won't be in the top 10 and will in fact drop to 15th because of that penalty.
OUT! Here are the six drivers, as they will start the race, who were knocked out there: 11 Ricciardo 12 Di Resta 13 Rosberg 14 Massa 15 Vergne 16 Button
A real stinker from Rosberg but you have to congratulate Kovalainen, filling in for Raikkonen, who squeezed into the top 10 shootout at the final moment.
Here are how the top 10 finished in Q2: 1 Vettel 2 Webber 3 Alonso 4 Bottas 5 Grosjean 6 Hulkenburg 7 Hamilton 8 Gutierrez 9 Perez 10 Kovalainen
#GPUSA #Q2 Classifica - Time Sheets pic.twitter.com/LFD7n5TMZV — Scuderia Ferrari (@InsideFerrari) November 16, 2013
Good stuff from Sauber to get both drivers in the top 10. Also a pleasing result for Alonso, who hasn't had it all his own way so far this weekend. If you offered the Spaniard third place he'd definitely take it.
GREEN LIGHT! The third and final 10-minute session is underway. Can anyone stop that pest Vettel?
Vettel waited until late on in the first two sessions but he's out early in Q3. Will the first time that he sets be enough for top spot? I wouldn't put it past him.
The first time is set by Perez, who clocks a 1:38.074.
WEBBER is the first man into the 1:36s as he crosses the line with a 1:36.699. Teammate Vettel can't match it as he can only manage a 1:36.851.
We're into the final five minutes now and only five men have set a time. In order, they are Webber, Vettel, Grosjean, Perez and Kovalainen. The last three are nowhere near the Red Bulls, unsurprisingly.
Bottas continues to impress by getting into third place. He's still a second behind the Red Bulls.
WEBBER, in his penultimate Grand Prix, goes even faster with a 1:36.441. Great stuff from the Aussie and Vettel is already down on his teammate's time.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL WILL START THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX IN POLE POSITION!
An incredible final sector from the German as he somehow goes a whole tenth of a second quicker than his teammate, who was quicker over the first two sectors. He celebrates as if he's won the race when in fact all he's done is edge out his teammate.
The Red Bulls really are in a league of their own at the Circuit of the Americas. The nearest challenger in Grosjean was seven tenths slower than Webber and in F1 terms that's huge. Final top 10 coming right up...
TOP 10: 1 Vettel 2 Webber 3 Grosjean 4 Hulkenburg 5 Hamilton 6 Alonso 7 Perez 8 Kovalainen 9 Bottas 10 Gutierrez
That's all we've got time for here on Sports Mole, thanks for joining us. Make sure you come back tomorrow at 6.30pm for our live updates of the race. See you then.
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Pascal Lemesre
