By: We have reached the 18th edition of our ‘Mind the Gap’ feature. We have tracked every qualifying session held this season, and the picture before us now allows us to better understand the evolution of performance and the shifting hierarchy between the teams.
Mercedes returns to the top
Despite continuing to ‘play’ with the new upgrade package introduced at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Mercedes reclaimed the most important position of all in Austin: ahead of every other team. Antonelli secured his seventh pole position of the season, doing a great job, although it was not entirely down to him. Kimi made good use of his rivals’ missteps and uncertainty.
Track temperatures remained fairly consistent throughout qualifying, and this appears to have caught some teams off guard, including Ferrari.
Antonelli took pole by improving his Q2 time by just over two tenths, with Verstappen following more or less the same pattern. The driver who made the biggest step forward from Q2 to Q3 was Hadjar, who improved by more than six tenths to take P3. Hamilton made a similar improvement, but his 1’34’’311 was only good enough for P5.
Leclerc, Russell and Norris, meanwhile, were slower than their previous benchmarks and slipped down the order. Charles would have been second with his Q2 time, while Lando lost around half a second.
Ferrari spoke of cooling temperatures, but that was not really the case. The asphalt remained at a consistent 38°-39 °C from the very early stages of Q1 through to Q3. Perhaps they were expecting an increase, as usually happens, but it never came. The fact is that this may have compromised qualifying for these three drivers and prevented a clear improvement in lap times between Q2 and Q3.
Mind the Gap
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VCARB, Alpine and Audi on the rise
With the top teams covered, let us move on to the rest. In Texas, we can say that the group consistently fighting for points every weekend has now also taken shape. Within two tenths and around a second behind the leader sit VCARB, Alpine and Audi. Further back are an improving Aston Martin and Haas, while at the rear of the field is a Williams in free fall, increasingly close to Cadillac levels of performance.
As the driver graph shows, the top-team group is extremely compact. Looking further to the right, we believe Gasly, Hulkenberg and Alonso deserve a special mention, having recently done a much more impressive job than their team-mates. The intra-team battle between Lawson and Lindblad at VCARB is particularly exciting. The two Faenza drivers appear to be pushing each other on, to the team’s great benefit.
Cover and interior photos by Luca Martini / WHYOUT Images
All the news, photos, weather, session times and times from the United States GP 2026
