Formula One's tour of the America's got underway on Friday at the Circuit of the America's, just outside of Austin, Texas for the United States Grand Prix. The Grand Prix on the 5.513km circuit was first launched in 2012. Formula One now has three appearances in the USA: Austin, Miami and the inaugural race in Las Vegas, Nov 16-18.

This weekend F1 will use the Sprint format for the fifth time this season. In the format, Friday consists of a practice session and then the qualifying session for Sunday's Grand Prix. Saturday's format includes qualifying for a Saturday Sprint race (the Shootout) and then the Sprint race itself in which teams can gain points.

The São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos is the final Sprint race weekend of the season.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc secured the pole for Sunday's Grand Prix under warm conditions at COTA on Friday afternoon.

The pole is the Monegasque's 21st pole of his career and the 247th for Ferrari, while team-mate Carlos Sainz secured a slot on the second row, in fourth, less than a tenth off the front row.

"My lap in Q3 was good and I'm very happy, as I love racing on this track and the atmosphere in this city is amazing," said Leclerc.

"So far, our performance has matched our expectations, we are competitive over the whole lap, although it is too early to have a clear picture about the race," said Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal. "Already today we have seen that the fight is going down to the thousandths of a second, so it will be vital to carry on working like this, preparing the execution of every part of the weekend right down to the smallest detail."

McLaren's red hot driver Lando Norris will start on the inside of Leclerc with a P2 finish on Friday afternoon. McLaren's rookie sensation, Oscar Piastri, will start on the outside of row 5 on Sunday.

Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, who has an excellent record at the Circuit of the America's, qualified in third. His teammate George Russell with start fifth on Sunday. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz will start inside Hamilton at P4.

"[COTA] is definitely one of my favourites," said the seven time World Champion. "It has a legendary layout, it's bumpy, and all the drivers find it very tricky. Each section is an incredible challenge."

"Going through the data, the upgraded floor looks to be giving us what we hoped for, and the drivers are feeling a benefit. That is encouraging," said Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director.

The news of the day on Friday may have been Red Bull's Max Verstappen's qualifying position, P6. With seconds left in Q3, the 2023 World Champion, grabbed the provisional pole but it was taken away from the Dutch driver due to exceeding track limits on Turn 19 on his final lap.

"It was a shame to miss out on pole with my deleted lap but I knew in Turn 19 it would be a close call," said Verstappen. "I made a mistake in Turn One so I had to really push for the rest of the lap, I didn't understeer or anything, I just really tried to maximise the corner and I misjudged it."

The three time World Champion was quickest in the earlier practice session. Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez, will start Sunday on the inside of row 5 (P9.)

Alpine driver, Pierre Gasly, qualified P7; immediately followed by his teammate, Esteban Ocon at P8.

Both Aston Martin cars did not make it out of Q1. Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonzo has made it into Q3 in every race this season.

AlphaTauri's Daniel Riccardo, returning from a five race hiatus due to a hand injury, got his AT04 out of Q1 but could not make it into Q3, qualifying in the 15th position.

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:34.723	130.196 mph
2	Norris		McLaren		1:34.853	0.130
3	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:34.862	0.139
4	Sainz		Ferrari		1:34.945	0.222
5	Russell		Mercedes	1:35.079	0.356
6	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:35.081	0.358
7	Gasly		Alpine		1:35.089	0.366
8	Ocon		Alpine		1:35.154	0.431
9	Perez		Red Bull	1:35.173	0.450
10	Piastri		McLaren		1:35.467	0.744
11	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:35.697	
12	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:35.698	
13	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:35.858	
14	Magnussen	Haas		1:35.880	
15	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	1:35.974	
16	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:36.235	
17	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:36.268	
18	Albon		Williams	1:36.315	
19	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:36.589	
20	Sargeant	Williams	1:36.827

Pos	Driver		Team		Tyre	Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:35.912	128.582 mph
2	Leclerc		Ferrari		S	1:36.068	0.156
3	Hamilton	Mercedes	S	1:36.193	0.281
4	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:36.212	0.300
5	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:36.472	0.560
6	Russell		Mercedes	S	1:36.474	0.562
7	Albon		Williams	S	1:36.492	0.580
8	Sainz		Ferrari		S	1:36.533	0.621
9	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:36.702	0.790
10	Gasly		Alpine		S	1:36.705	0.793
11	Sargeant	Williams	S	1:36.987	1.075
12	Ocon		Alpine		S	1:37.066	1.154
13	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	S	1:37.104	1.192
14	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	S	1:37.152	1.240
15	Norris		McLaren		M	1:37.256	1.344
16	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	S	1:37.418	1.506
17	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	S	1:37.517	1.605
18	Alonso		Aston Martin	H	1:37.840	1.928
19	Piastri		McLaren		M	1:38.420	2.508
20	Stroll		Aston Martin	H	1:39.940	4.028

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)