How US GP qualifying unfolded

Summary

Race coverage live online from 18:30 BST and 5 live from 19:30
Hamilton on pole, Rosberg 2nd, ahead of Red Bulls and Ferraris
Hamilton reports gearbox concerns
F1 outlaws moving under braking after drivers' protests
Get involved #bbcf1: what do you think of the ruling?

Live Reporting

Gary Rose

Get Involved: Do you know an Unsung Hero?published at 18:34 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
#BBCUnsungHero
Image source, BBC Sport
Do you know a local sports volunteer who deserves some much-needed recognition?
There are just two days left (nominations close at midnight on Sunday, 23 October) to nominate them for the 2016 BBC Unsung Hero award.
Find out how to here.
Get involved #bbcf1published at 18:30 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
All change at the top at McLaren?published at 18:30 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Austin
Image source, Getty Images
The revelation that Ron Dennis is set to leave his post as McLaren chairman at the end of the year is one of the central topics of conversation in the paddock this weekend.
Three names have emerged as potential targets for McLaren as a replacement - Ross Brawn, Martin Whitmarsh and Justin King. But it may well end up being none of them and BBC Sport was told this morning that in the end McLaren may well end up not simply going for a like-for-like replacement. There was no further information on what that might mean, but it may well be that McLaren don’t actually need a new overall boss. They have the Bahraini royal family and Mansour Ojjeh as leading shareholders, Jonathan Neale as chief operating officer of McLaren Group and Jost Capito the CEO of McLaren with Eric Boullier as racing director, and Mike Flewitt running Automotive.
Do they actually need to employ an outsider as chairman? It’s going to be fascinating to watch this unfold. It’s not impossible Dennis could even hang on, although that looks unlikely at this stage.
Postpublished at 18:26 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Get involved #bbcf1published at 18:24 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Agree with Alex? Should Max Verstappen stick to his guns and be the driver he is, or should he rein his aggression in?
Are you expecting it to be close in qualifying today, or have Mercedes got it in the bag, despite a messy final practice for both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton?
Get involved via #bbcf1, text in on 81111 (UK only) or post a comment on the BBC Sport Facebook page.
Get involved #bbcf1published at 18:22 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Alex Schnopple: Verstappen should fight back, in good old days there was plenty of rivalry & look how great times us fans had. There's nothing wrong with being different.
Postpublished at 18:22 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Image source, Getty Images
Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg have taken the most pole positions for the United States Grand Prix on two each.
Michael Schumacher has the most with four. The German has also won the race more than any other driver with five USGP wins.
Unsafe releasepublished at 18:17 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Max Verstappen was the only driver to dip below 1:37 in practice. He clocked 1:36.766 to finish two tenths of a second quicker than his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
They even had the additional hazard of professional skateboarder Ryan Sheckler doing his thing outside the Red Bull garage to deal with.
Close qualifying on the cards?published at 18:13 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Austin
Ahead of qualifying, it is looking increasingly likely that Mercedes and possibly Red Bull as well will try to make it through the second session using the soft tyre. The super-soft is not a great race tyre - it degrades too fast and is not much faster than the soft - so not using it in the race could well be an advantage. Remember that drivers have to start the race on the tyre on which they set their fastest time in Q2. So if you have the pace to get through Q2 on the soft, it’s worth going for it. Can Red Bull challenge Mercedes for pole? It’s looking closer than for some time.
Lovely weather, lively paddockpublished at 18:07 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Wait and move it's the Max Verstappen groovepublished at 18:04 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer in Austin
Max Verstappen’s driving in defence of his position continues to concern his rivals. The subject of his now-trademark wait-and-move defence - when he waits to see which side a driver will attack him on and only moves after they have - was discussed in the drivers’ briefing at length on Friday and it got a bit heated. Verstappen’s fellow drivers feel F1 director Charlie Whiting should step in and do something. But apart from two ‘chats’ with Verstappen - one at Monza after his controversial block of Kimi Raikkonen at Spa and one in Suzuka after he forced Lewis Hamilton to take to the chicane escape road on the penultimate lap - nothing has been done.
One insider called the practice ‘dirty’ and said that it was just not done - a driver should choose his side to defend and leave it at that. But Verstappen and others - including Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz - practice wait-and-move as a standard and it does not look as if it’s going away.
Image source, AP
Postpublished at 18:03 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Image source, Getty Images
Hello! Welcome to our coverage of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen's aggressive driving style has been a hot topic of conversation at recent races and was the subject of a lengthy chat in the drivers' briefing on Friday.
Verstappen, though, seems unperturbed by what his rivals may think about him as he warmed up for qualifying by setting the fastest time in final practice.
It was, meanwhile, a messy session for Mercedes and it looks like they could have a real challenge for pole position in the shape of Red Bull.
Fight or flight?published at 18:00 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Image source, Getty Images
What do you when your rivals appear to be ganging up on you? Hide or fight back?
For Max Verstappen, it appears to be the latter.
Postpublished at 17:13 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Have Mercedes been caught out? We don't have long to wait to find out with qualifying at 19:00 BST. We'll have build up from 18:00 but until then, have a read of Andrew Benson's take of final practice.
We've also got a vote running until 18:30 asking if Daniil Kvyat deserved a new deal at Toro Rosso. It's close at the moment, so if you haven't voted, vote now.
Mercedes caught out?published at 17:10 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Tom Clarkson
BBC Radio 5 live commentator
I think the fact they have done so little running on the super soft shows how much confidence Mercedes have here. Maybe they have been caught out? Who knows.
'Frustrating for Mercedes'published at 17:09 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Mark Gallagher
BBC Radio 5 live Formula 1 analyst
A fascinating session. Mercedes will be frustrated about it because they have ended up not able to run the cars how they want. It was not a clean session for the team and for the drivers in particular that will be very frustrating.
FP3 - the restpublished at 17:08 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
11) Perez 12) Palmer 13) Massa 14) Kvyat 15) Sainz 16) Gutierrez 17) Grosjean 18) Magnussen 19) Ericsson 20) Nasr 21) Ocon 22) Wehrlein
FP3 top 10published at 17:06 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
1) Verstappen 2) Ricciardo 3) Raikkonen 4) Hamilton 5) Rosberg 6) Vettel 7) Hulkenberg 8) Bottas 9) Button 10) Alonso
Postpublished at 17:03 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Breaking
Max Verstappen finishes fastest in final practice for the United States Grand Prix.
Postpublished at 17:03 British Summer Time 22 October 2016
Lewis Hamilton gets caught up behind a Sauber and he backs out of his fast lap. "That was really poor timing guys," says the world champion. Not happy.
Image source, Getty Images