US Grand Prix qualifying: Record-breaking Hamilton takes pole

With a plethora of gigantic grid penalties to come for lots of drivers, qualifying was never going to be the be-all and end-all in Austin.

"A big mess...there are cars everywhere around me," complained Max Verstappen, realising that he would need to time his entrance slightly better if he wanted to make a bid for pole.

He dd, as well, happily just slotting in behind Lewis Hamilton to divide the two Mercedes cars once more - while his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was well down the list, in P11.

Romain Grosjean had found himself beached during FP3, and nearly found himself in a worse predicament when Lance Stroll's Williams veered right to stay off the racing line, just before his Haas rounded the corner.

Kevin Magnussen had his own problem when he apparently impeded Sergio Perez as well, in more Haas v Williams drama - both incidents were listed for further investigation.

Not a bad start to his F1 career for Brendon Hartley, 0.054 seconds away from going through to Q2, who hadn't driven a single-seater in years before turning up at the Circuit of the Americas on Friday. He'll inherit grid penalties from his Toro Rosso predecessor Pierre Gasly, though, so it'll be a tough day for him tomorrow.

Remember those grid penalties? Because Nico Hulkenberg has a 20-place demotion waiting for him, Renault decided not to bother running him in Q2 at all. His brand-new teammate Carlos Sainz had a decent enough showing, though, grabbing himself P8 at the last.

Impressive work from Fernando Alonso too; both McLarens had found themselves languishing in the drop zone, suffering from turbulence on the very breezy track, but the Spaniard did brilliantly to get himself P9.

At the top of the three, there was another track record for Hamilton, with Bottas just behind him.

Hamilton kept setting faster and faster times, so it was basically a question of chasing him. Sebastian Vettel put in a brilliant shift to get in there ahead of Bottas, and a resurgent Ricciardo outqualified Kimi Raikkonen as well as Verstappen - but that top four were split by just about a quarter of a second. That should make for an interesting race at this most fascinating of tracks.

Hamilton cruised it - will he win from pole yet again? More importantly, can Mercedes keep Vettel far enough down the pack to wrap up the championship this weekend? It's difficult to make any real predictions about how the race will pan out with all the penalties we knew about before qualifying - and those which have yet to be imposed.

Bit of a problem for Lance Stroll in Q1 - Williams will need to sort that out after their efforts to improve their consistency.

Carlos Sainz is showing what he can do in a great car with great support - expect good points from him tomorrow.

Hamilton - Bottas - Vettel