Sainz completed the 5,513 meters of the Austin track in 1:34.356, ahead of his teammate, Monegasque Charles Leclerc, and double world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
Leclerc (Ferrari) will lose ten places on the starting grid due to changes in his car, Fernando Alonso will give up five and the Mexican will have the same penalty Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez (Red Bull) and the Chinese Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo).
Pérez was fourth, just ahead of the two Mercedes, those of Britons Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Already above 1:35, finished the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), Alonso and Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo).
Norris avoided elimination in T2 because by Chinese Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) he was denied a lap for going over the track limits.
In this qualifying phase, Zhou was accompanied as eliminated by Frenchman Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), his Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda, Thai Alex Albon (Williams) and German Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin).
The first surprise of the session came in Q1, where Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Alonso’s teammate, couldn’t make the cut, just like Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and the two Haas, those Danish Kevin Magnussen and German Michael Schumacher. , as well as Canadian Nicholas Latifi.
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