This is how things stand in the championship.

Image source, .

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Austin

Image source, Reuters

Carlos Sainz has been one of the stars of this season, and the Spaniard did another outstanding job in qualifying, to take seventh place, best of the rest, and more than 0.3secs clear of team-mate Lando Norris, who lines up next to him on the fourth row of the grid. For his part, Norris topped a session for the first time, when he led first qualifying. It was only because he was the fastest driver to run a second set of tyres, after a mistake on his first run, but he said: “It was nice, to look at the timing board and see my ‘NOR’ at the top. We would love it to happen more often. It was a nice little moment but it doesn’t matter too much.”

The McLaren was comfortably the quickest midfield car, but Sainz and Norris are wary of the change in wind direction for race day. On Saturday, it was a headwind through the Esses; today it is a tail wind. “We have some things that don’t work so well in tailwinds,” Norris said. And the team are wary of a repeat of Mexico last weekend, where they were super-quick in qualifying but dropped away in the race - and Norris was ruled out by a bungled pit stop. “We need to have a clean race and not repeat Mexico,” Norris said.

There are some worried Red Bull faces at the moment as they are getting to work on Verstappen's car.

The Dutchman tells Sky sports that he will be OK to start though.

A reminder of how Hamilton wins the world title...

If Bottas wins, Hamilton can come eighth. A ninth-placed finish for the Brit would also be enough as long as he gets the bonus point, although that's obviously a long shot.

But basically, it's this...

Image source, .

Hollywood actor and Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey makes an appearance at the track.

Anthony Hamilton, Lewis' father, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "Nothing has changed. Standing here on the grid today, it feels like the first time in 2007 when we had the opportunity to win a world championship.

"I'm as nervous as hell, but I'm enjoying it, I'm happy to be here and I think it is very, very surreal - here we are, sixth world championship on the brink, it's absolutely amazing.

"Not bad for for a boy from a Stevenage council house."

At the Mexican Grand Prix last year Hamilton took his fifth world title. Though, the US Grand Prix and Mexico were the other way around on the calendar last year, so if he clinches it today, then his sixth will be won one race earlier.

Sebastian Vettel started off the season with a bang, and the two rivals played cat and mouse at winning for most of the year... until Vettel's driving took a downward spiral after the Belgian Grand Prix - one that's kept going until recently - and it was in Mexico City when Hamilton was clear with enough points to take the silverware and match Juan Manuel Fangio's five F1 world championships.

Max Verstappen won the race, and Hamilton needed to finish fifth or higher, and he went fourth.

Mercedes also won their fifth constructors championship in the same race.

Image source, Getty Images

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

I don't think he (Lewis Hamilton) gets nervous anymore. It's another race that he has gone very well at before. What's there to be nervous about, really?

Keep calm, same again and he will be champion.

Our track today...

Image source, .

Paul: LH 8 titles and 100+ wins before he retires? I can't see that being beaten in my lifetime

Simon Baker: Although 2019 hasn't been the best for either performance balance or entertainment in F1, the idealist in me is looking longingly at the 2021 designs, looking for a repeat of 2009 or 2012, where seemingly any car could be on pole position & or win races.

Hamilton won his 2017 title at the Mexican Grand Prix. With Rosberg, the previous year's champion retired, Hamilton had a new team-mate in Valtteri Bottas.

But the season was mostly Mercedes dominated, as Hamilton won nine, and Bottas three of the 21 on the calendar.

In the race, contact with Vettel into the first corner saw Hamilton puncture and get relegated to the back of the grid. He worked his way through, but finished in ninth and still took the silverware, while Max Verstappen won the race.

He said it was a "horrible way to do it... but what can I do? I told you I wasn't going to go easy at Turn 1."

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Austin

This has not been an easy weekend for Charles Leclerc. He missed half of first practice with a throttle problem and then all of third practice when his engine failed on his out lap - which meant the engine had to be replaced for qualifying, and and older and less powerful spec two power-unit fitted for the rest of the weekend. In the circumstances, he did a good job to be only 0.096secs off team-mate Sebastian Vettel in qualifying. “P3 is quite an important sessions, it is the only one when you are preparing for qualifying, but to know how much it affected us is not possible.

“I am pretty happy about today. We are not so far off pole and considering the lack of track time it was not easy so I should be satisfied.”

About his race pace, he said: “It is not the best we have had this season but everything is possible if we have a good start. The start is always quite tricky here, very wide first turn so hopefully we will have some opportunities.”

Image source, Getty Images

Listen to Lewis Hamilton talk about his plans for the race start in this interview at the drivers parade.

Canadian GP 2017 - It was quite special for Lewis Hamilton, since it was his first win, and first pole position, and only his sixth race in Formula 1. It must have been pretty obvious at the time this 23-year-old was something special.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's what Pirelli Motorsport thinks are the best strategies for today's race.