Rosberg beats Hamilton to US pole

Mercedes AMG Petronas

Nico Rosberg stormed to pole position at the United States Grand Prix as he beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by almost four-tenths of a second.

Rosberg was fastest after the first runs in Q3 and while he was able to beat his own time, Hamilton could not improve on his banker lap and the gap between them at the end of the session was 0.376s.

Valtteri Bottas was third fastest for Williams, with team-mate Felipe Massa in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo posted the fifth best time for Red Bull while Fernando Alonso went sixth in the Ferrari.

Jenson Button was seventh but will drop five places due to a gearbox change, while Kevin Magnussen ended Q3 in eighth place.

Kimi Räikkönen was ninth, while Adrian Sutil made it through to Q3 for the first time all season and placed 10^th.

The absence of Marussia and Caterham led to a tweaked format for the knockout segments, with just four cars being eliminated from each of Q1 and Q2.

Pastor Maldonado was eighth in Q1 but couldn’t replicate that form into Q2 and went wide on his way to 11^th.

Force India pairing Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg had a low-key session and were 12^th and 13^th, while Daniil Kvyat was 14^th but will drop to the back after taking a 10 place grid penalty for using a seventh Internal Combustion Engine of the year

Jean-Éric Vergne and Esteban Gutiérrez were unable to progress from Q1 and ended in 15^th and 16^th places.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel did take to the circuit but posted just one flying lap and ended in 17^th, as he will start the race from the pit lane after taking a sixth Power Unit. It was nonetheless his first Q1 elimination in five years. Romain Grosjean went wide on his hot lap and ended in 18^th. It means that the drivers who finished first and second in last year’s US Grand Prix will start from the back of the pack.