Valtteri Bottas in a Mercedes is on pole position for the US Grand Prix while teammate Lewis Hamilton is fifth on the grid as he seeks to seal a sixth Formula One title.
Bottas set a lap track record of 1 minute 32.019 seconds on the 5.516-kilometre Circuit of the Americas in Austin on Saturday to edge Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by 0.012 seconds.
It is a fifth pole of the season and the 11th in all for Bottas, who ended a series of six straight poles by Ferrari. Max Verstappen in a Red Bull will start on the second row alongside Charles Leclerc in a Ferrai.
Hamilton needs to finish in the top eight on Sunday in the third-last race of the season for his sixth drivers’ title and his third in a row.