Lewis Hamilton will start the United States Grand Prix from pole position after beating team-mate Nico Rosberg by 0.216s in Austin.

An impressive final lap of 1:34.999 saw Hamilton secure a potentially crucial pole position as he looks to reduce Rosberg’s 33-point lead in the drivers’ championship. Rosberg provisionally took pole on his final lap but Hamilton excelled in the high-speed first sector to secure the 58th pole position of his career.

• AS IT HAPPENED: United States Grand Prix – Qualifying

Hamilton struck first in Q3 as he beat Rosberg by 0.072s on the first runs, with Mercedes enjoying an advantage of half a second over the rest of the field. Red Bull posed the biggest threat and Daniel Ricciardo took third on the grid but was just over 0.3s adrift of Rosberg and unable to split the Mercedes pair.

Max Verstappen will start alongside Ricciardo in fourth place ahead of the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. The two Ferrari drivers struggled to stay in contention with those ahead, ending the session over a second slower than Hamilton and with Nico Hulkenberg close behind. Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Massa and Carlos Sainz round out the top ten.

Tyre tactics came into play during the second part of qualifying, with the two Mercedes drivers opting to progress on the soft compound tyre in order to start the race on the softs on Sunday. Verstappen matched that choice, while Ricciardo used the supersofts and set the fastest time of the session.

The main fight was for the final few spots in the top ten and Sainz pulled out an excellent lap to set the eighth quickest time ahead of the two Williams drivers. It was a lap which ultimately eliminated Sergio Perez as Massa completed just one run and snuck through ahead of the Force India in tenth place.

Fernando Alonso will start from 12th alongside Perez – who will get the bonus of choosing which tyres he starts on having not qualified in the top ten – while Daniil Kvyat and Esteban Gutierrez also dropped out in Q2 ahead of Jolyon Palmer and Marcus Ericsson.

The end of Q1 saw a lot of traffic causing headaches for some drivers, with Jenson Button in particular struggling. Button encountered a number of cars in the final sector, with Palmer’s Renault right on the racing line as he approached the final corner. In fairness to Palmer, he took to the kerb on the outside of the track to give Button as much space as possible, taking to team radio to complain about not being told the McLaren was approaching.

Button was attempting to improve after a poor first lap and only briefly jumped out of the bottom six before he was bumped down again, with Palmer progressing as Romain Grosjean failed with his final lap and was eliminated in 17th place. Kevin Magnussen split the Haas and McLaren, while Pascal Wehrlein was just 0.2s slower than Button in 20th place, beating Felipe Nasr and Manor team-mate Esteban Ocon.

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PREVIEW: 2016 United States Grand Prix

TECHNICAL – Turbulent Jet Ignition: In the antechamber of F1 power

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01
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:36.296
1:36.450
1:34.999

02
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
1:36.397
1:36.351
1:35.215

03
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
1:36.759
1:36.255
1:35.509

04
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:36.613
1:36.857
1:35.747

05
Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari
1:36.985
1:36.584
1:36.131

06
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
1:37.151
1:36.462
1:36.358

07
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India
1:36.950
1:36.626
1:36.628

08
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
1:37.456
1:37.202
1:37.116

09
Felipe Massa
Williams
1:37.402
1:37.214
1:37.269

10
Carlos Sainz
Toro Rosso
1:37.744
1:37.175
1:37.326

11
Sergio Perez
Force India
1:37.345
1:37.353

12
Fernando Alonso
McLaren
1:37.913
1:37.417

13
Daniil Kvyat
Toro Rosso
1:37.844
1:37.480

14
Esteban Gutierrez
Haas
1:38.053
1:37.773

15
Jolyon Palmer
Renault
1:38.084
1:37.935

16
Marcus Ericsson
Sauber
1:38.040
1:39.356

17
Romain Grosjean
Haas
1:38.308

18
Kevin Magnussen
Renault
1:38.317

19
Jenson Button
McLaren
1:38.327

20
Pascal Wehrlein
Manor
1:38.548

21
Felipe Nasr
Sauber
1:38.583

22
Esteban Ocon
Manor
1:38.806

Daniel Ricciardo will be starting his US GP tomorrow on Pirelli’s supersoft tyre in a choice which will see the Aussie be pitted at the outset against  his soft-shod top rivals, including his team mate.

Red Bull’s split strategy came about as a result of each driver’s preference, with Ricciardo obviously expressing a liking for the softest compound available and the edge it may provide him at the start.

“We talked about it before the session and Max was more keen to start on the Soft, and I was happy with the supersoft,” explained Ricciardo.

“I was bit more comfortable on that tyre yesterday on the long runs, that was the reason for that. Hopefully it gives me a bit of a better start and I can really get in the mix with the Mercedes guys.

“Obviously they are going to be fighting each other but hopefully I can be another number to their equation.”

“It’s a good circuit around here where you can do a lot of overtaking, and there are a few corners where you can change the line and do a few little things. It’s not just a one-line circuit, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Given the pace of both Red Bull cars this morning when they topped FP3, one could have hoped for perhaps a tighter battle in qualifying but Ricciardo believes the end result pretty much reflects everybody’s true level of performance.

“I think the day was pretty good, not really close to Mercedes but we expected them to be very hard to beat.

“We’ve got a good buffer over Ferrari and I think the car was working pretty well, I think we’ve got a good chance tomorrow so we’ll see what we can do.

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2017 driver line-ups so far

Silbermann says … Taylor should take over F1

Romain Grosjean column: 100 races, now for the wins

PREVIEW: 2016 United States Grand Prix

TECHNICAL – Turbulent Jet Ignition: In the antechamber of F1 power

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz addressed the rumors of the courting of his services by Renault in Malaysia today, but reaffirmed his commitment to present employer Red Bull.

It is believed that Renault approached Sainz with an offer to join the French squad in 2017, but Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost made clear earlier this week that such a prospect appeared highly unlikely given Red Bull’s vested interest in the Spanish driver.

Sainz, who neither fully denied or confirmed the rumors, said that he was flattered by the interest.

“If there is some discussion going on, then there has been some interest and contacts, which for me is an honour that a manufacturer team is worried about me and wants to know my contractual situation,” Sainz explained.

“As you know, more or less what is going on with Red Bull they guide your career, they paid for 5 years of my junior series, which is millions of euros and I perfectly understand they don’t want to let me go having spent so much money on me and me being in the best moment of my career and then just let me go.

Sainz said his objective in the short term was performing to the best of his ability in the last six races of the season while reiterating his longer term ambition of winning the world championship.

“I don’t want to think about my future when there are 6 important races coming, and because it is not my job to be involved but it is more up to Helmut Marko and my management to sort out that stuff.

“At the moment I have full trust in Toro Rosso that they are going to produce a good chassis for next year because if there was any doubt, Singapore proved Toro Rosso is probably the third or fourth best chassis on the grid.

“As for Renault, I don’t have enough information that they are going to perform next year or if it is going to take 2 years or 3 years.

“My main target and objective is to be fighting for the world championship in 2018 and hopefully that will be with Red Bull.

“That is my main target and I know it is very difficult but the only thing I want is for that to happen and I need to find the shortest way to that point.”

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F1i Classic: Sepang 2001 – Ferrari pulls off a masterstroke

F1i’s Eric Silbermann asks what Nico Rosberg has to do to get the credit he deserves

From the cockpit: Felipe Nasr on lights and shadows in Singapore

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS: Nicolas Carpentiers checks out the latest innovations seen in Singapore

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Follow live coverage of the final free practice session for the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix with F1i’s commentary page.

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Fernando Alonso will run an upgraded Honda power unit during Friday practice at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Honda has spent two tokens on the upgrade, which focuses on the engine block and exhaust, with one token on each area. The update is primarily designed to reduce weight and increase durability, but requires Friday running in order for Honda to gather more data.

With Honda keen to avoid penalties at its home race in Japan next weekend, Alonso will test the upgraded engine on Friday in FP1 before a decision will be taken on whether to run it in FP2. At this stage, Honda is likely to replace the power unit ahead of Saturday’s running, thus allowing Alonso to run it at Suzuka without penalty.

Alonso will receive a 30-place grid penalty this weekend as a result of the power unit change, as he will use a new internal combustion engine (ICE), MGU-H, energy store, turbo and control electronics. The first of these new components carries a ten-place grid penalty, while the other four all result in addition five-place penalties.

Jenson Button is likely to get the upgrade in Austin, with the team not wanting both drivers to take grid penalties at the same race.

Honda still has one power unit development token left to spend this season if required, but does not plan on using any further upgrades before the end of the year.

Chris Medland’s 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix preview

TECHNICAL: F1 telemetry: The data race

FEATURE: When F1 team-mates fight for the title

F1i Classic: Sepang 2001 – Ferrari pulls off a masterstroke

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Former BRDC President Damon Hill has urged the UK government to step in and provide financial support for the British GP venue, or risk losing one of the country’s greatest showcase events.

Hill actually helped broker the BRDC and Silverstone’s current 17-year deal with Bernie Ecclestone back in 2009.

Following BRDC chairman John Grant’s warning yesterday that the club could be compelled to break its contract with FOM because of the event’s financial burden, the British GP’s future now appears in jeopardy.

• Is the BRDC about to drop the British Grand Prix ?

Speaking to Press Association Sport, Hill said: “This is a much-loved national event but, for whatever reason, it has always been very difficult to get additional funding from government.

“Maybe now is the time to look at the British Grand Prix in the context of what is happening elsewhere and realise that it is an extremely good shop window for waving our banner and pointing to our brilliance in this field.

“When you think about post-Brexit Britain, you must wonder if this is exactly the type of thing we need to invest in to show off what we can do.”

Previous attempts to extract a subsidy from central government were often reduced to mere words of encouragement, although local governments have in the past chipped in to help Silverstone’s development.

Hill expressed hope however that F1’s new owner, Liberty Media, could take a look at the event and determine its importance and accept the opportunity of a renegotiation of the contract between the venue and FOM.

GALLERY: F1 drivers’ wives and girlfriends

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Formula One’s new owners Liberty Media Group are targeting some of Ferrari’s unique perks for competing in the sport, including their guaranteed $100 million annual prize pay-out.

Ferrari is the only team which has competed in the championship ever since it began in 1950, and as a result has built up a number of financial and organisation benefits.

Ferrari receives at least $100 million in prize money each year compared with backmarkers Manor and Sauber who receive only half that amount, according to Forbes business magazine.

But Liberty wants to see a more even playing field in the sport and is aiming to reverse some of the benefits accrued by Ferrari and other top teams in the sport.

• Liberty Media urges teams to have a vested interest in F1

“If you’re Ferrari, you have enormous sponsorship revenue that goes directly to you,” Liberty’s chief executive Greg Maffei said. “That’s going to be impacted more positively by great races.

“So thinking about balancing the team payments, so they’re a little more balanced and creates more fairness, has to be weighed, in Ferrari’s mind, I would expect, by the fact that creating a great platform helps our sponsorship revenue, too, so there’s give-and-take.”

Liberty is also reported to be considering introducing a budget cap to the sport to cap research and development costs.

One unnamed source last month said: “It makes no sense to have teams spending the better part of $400 million. That money is not doing anything good for fans. It is just wasted on competing on technology.”

However Ferrari chief executive Sergio Marchionne came out as opposed to the idea of a cap, saying that previous attempts to restrict spending had been completely ineffective: “We haven’t saved a Euro. We have simply redistributed our spending to other areas.

GALLERY: F1 drivers’ wives and girlfriends

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