Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has secured his 81st career pole position and taken a major step toward his fifth career Formula One championship. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will start Sunday's US Grand Prix in fifth.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/J. Moy
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Lewis Hamilton set a blistering track record at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, putting him in pole position for what could be a championship-deciding US Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 33-year-old Mercedes driver recorded a lap time of 1 minute, 32.237 seconds, a new track record. His championship rival Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari finished just .061 second behind.
However, the German will only start Sunday's race in fifth position after he was issued a three-spot grid penalty on Friday for driving too fast under a red flag during a practice session.
Ferrari had been setting the pace during the second qualifying phase, with Kimi Raikkonen top of the timesheets and Vettel second, before Hamilton and Mercedes set a record lap time.
"That was close and I didn't know how close it was going to be when we got down to it," said Hamilton. "I knew it was edgy between us on my last run, but my second lap was just that little bit better and that enabled me to pull it out."
Starting between Hamilton and Vettel on Sunday will be Raikkonen, Mercedes' Vallteri Bottas and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who has secured a podium finish in three of the last five races, will start in 13th after he damaged his car in the first round of qualifying.
Hamilton and Vettel were neck and neck during the final practice session ahead of Sunday's US Grand PrixImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Gay
Hamilton on course for fifth championship
The gap from the front row could prove too great for Vettel. Hamilton has made the US Grand Prix his own in recent years, winning five races since 2012. Hamilton is also on a roll, with six wins in the last seven races.
The Brit leads Vettel by 67 points going into Sunday's race. If Hamilton wins and Vettel finishes lower than second place, the Brit will secure his fifth F1 championship.
Nevertheless, Hamilton refused to get ahead of himself following Saturday's qualifying round. "We've not been getting ahead of ourselves," he said. "We have to do the same work as before."
Vettel's lap time also proved that the Ferrari driver was ready to "punch back" in Indianapolis after a string of poor results, Hamilton added.
If Hamilton does clinch this year's championship, he would become only the third driver ever to win five career titles. Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio won five championships in the 1950s, while Germany's Michael Schumacher holds the F1 record with seven.
The Top 10 'cash cows' in sport
US magazine "Forbes" has released its updated list of the world's best paid athletes. Recent Champions League winner Cristiano Ronaldo remains the best paid sportsperson on the planet.
Image: Reuters/R. Sprich
Cristiano Ronaldo - €83 million
Cristiano Ronaldo, four-time world footballer of the year, has amassed around 83 million euros in the past twelve months. This corresponds to an hourly wage of around 9500.00 euros. 52 million euros come from his salary and prize money, while sponsors contributed about 31 million. His greatest moment came in 2016: he became European champion with the Portuguese national team.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
LeBron James - €77 million
The NBA's most valuable player, "King James" earned some 77 million euros last year. His sponsorship earnings (49 million euros) is much higher than his salary and prize money, which amounted to 28 million. The sportswear manufacturer Nike agreed a lifelong advertising contract with him in 2015 - for the first time in the company's history.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Amendola
Lionel Messi - €71 million
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi raked in over 71 million euros, but the five-time world footballer of the year is yet to make his tax return for the year 2016. Only Messi himself knows how much he really deserved, and his tax fraud scandal in 2016 has raised the question of how much of his fortune is legitimate.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Q.Garcia
Roger Federer - €57 million
The Swiss has won a record 18 Grand Slam tournaments and, through his foundation, which he founded in 2003, supports projects for children in South Africa, the home country of his mother. In 2016, the tennis legend earned about 57 million euros, of which only a small proportion comes from his salary and prize money (5.33 million euros).
Image: Reuters/I. Kato
Kevin Durant - €54 million
The two-metre-tall Golden State Warriors player is known among other things for his accurate shooting. After starting his career, he signed a $60 million contract with Nike. According to Forbes, the NBA star accrued about 54 million euros last year.
Image: Reuters/J. Young
Andrew Luck - €44 million
The American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts who replaced the legendary Peyton Manning signed the most expensive contract in NFL history in June 2016. For the next six years, he will collect a total of 124 million euros. In the year 2016 alone, Luck took home 44 million euros.
Image: Imago/Zumapress
Rory McIlroy - €44 million
Rory McIlroy is the best paid golfer in the world. The Northern Irishman raked in 44 million euros in 2016, with the majority of that coming from his huge sponsorship deal with Nike, worth 30 million euros a year. As the current number two golfer in the world, McIlroy managed to earn five million euros more than the number one, Dustin Johnson, last year.
Image: Getty Images/W.Little
Stephen Curry - €42 million
With his nickname "Baby-faced assassin", Stephen Curry is well-known for his long-range shots in the NBA. Curry earned 42 million euros in the last 12 months, according to Forbes, with 31 million coming from sponsorship. Such earning levels are common for the top stars in the NBA.
Image: Getty Images/E. Shaw
James Harden - €42 million
James Harden of the Houston Rockets is known for his eye-catching beard, so his nickname "The Beard" is an appropriate one. He achieved 24 million euros in salary and prize money in the past year, while making 18 million euros through various sponsorship deals. Harden is another one of the NBA’s exceptional earners.
Image: Imago/China Foto Press
Lewis Hamilton - €41 million
Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton is the only ‘non-ball’ sportsman to make it into the top 10. The three-time world champion enjoyed a total income of around 41 million euros in 2016. Unlike many others in this list, only a small part (7 million euros) comes from sponsorship, with the remaining 34 million euros through his salary with Mercedes and F1 prize money.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Isakovic
And the top woman?
Serena Williams can only be found at number 51 on the list. The American is considered the most successful player of the Open Era and in 2016 she took home 24 million euros. More than two-thirds of her income (17 million euros) came from her sponsorship deals, the most notable of which is with Nike.
Image: imago/Paul Zimmer
And the top German?
Sebastian Vettel has managed to become world champion four times in a row. However, his annual income of 34 million euros is only enough for 14th place in the Forbes list. The Ferrari driver received "only" 444,000 euros from sponsors in 2016.
