Austin (United States) (AFP)

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) clinched pole position in Saturday's qualifying round of the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, team-mate Lewis Hamilton, to be crowned world champion for the sixth time, only realizing 5th time.

Bottas beat the Ferrari of the German Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull of the Dutch Max Verstappen, thus managing to safeguard his hopes of being crowned, even if they are very thin.

He is the only one who can still challenge the title in Hamilton but must imperatively win the GP Sunday without Hamilton does better than 8th.

"It was a good lap, we worked hard this morning to develop all the details," said the Finnish driver.

Asked about the relative poor performance of his teammate Saturday, Valtteri Bottas said that "Lewis always want to win, like all of us".

A sixth championship would put the 34-year-old British driver in front of legendary Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio and one behind Germany's Michael Schumacher.

The British champion has not really tried to challenge the pole to his teammate on a bumpy track which he complains since the start of practice on Friday.

Monaco's other Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, was fourth, while Red Bull's Alexander Albon of Thailand placed sixth.

Bottas only beat Vettel by 012 / 1000th and Verstappen by 067 / 1000th showing that the gaps between the top three teams on the board are very low on the Texas track.

Hamilton has already won ten Grand Prix this year for three at Bottas. It is almost certain to win the title while there are only three events to contend.

He has also won the US GP five times since competing on the Austin track (2012).

- bumpy track -

"I hope I can make a good start, which will be crucial, it was a very exciting qualifying session where we were very close, I thought I was the fastest but I'm right behind," Sebastian Vettel said. .

The two drivers Ferrari and Max Verstappen are engaged in an intense struggle to get on the 3rd step of the final podium. For now, Charles Leclerc leads the trio 6 points ahead of Vettel and 16 on Verstappen.

The race, which starts Sunday at 13:10 local (20:10), may be played again on tire selection strategies but bumps appeared on the track since last year could also affect the result by destabilizing the single-seater or causing mechanical breakage.

Behind the top three teams, it was the McLaren-Renault of Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr and Briton Lando Norris who placed 7th and 8th, reflecting their current 4th place in the provisional ranking of the Constructors' Championship that Mercedes has already awarded. .

They beat Australia's Daniel Riciardo's Renault and Frenchman Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso, both teams being in a showdown for 5th place.

© 2019 AFP