Lewis Hamilton is in the perfect position to secure his fifth world drivers’ championship at the US Grand Prix, starting from pole position in Austin.
The Mercedes driver finished just 0.061 seconds ahead of title rival Sebastian Vettel but the Ferrari ace has been demoted to fifth because of a penalty.
The German failed to slow sufficiently for red flags during practice at the Circuit of the Americas and has an uphill task to keep the championship battle alive past this weekend.
Hamilton will be crowned champion if he wins the race and Vettel finishes lower than second, while second place is good enough for the Brit if Vettel comes fifth or lower.
Further down the grid, Esteban Ocon qualified best of the rest in seventh ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and the Haas of Romain Grosjean.
Charles Leclerc was impressive once again in the Sauber while Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen were just outside the top 10 after losing out to their team-mates.
Max Verstappen will start 13th after picking up suspension damage in Q1 while McLaren had a miserable afternoon with Alonso 16th and Vandoorne slowest.
However, the Toro Rosso pair of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will start from the very back after both drivers changed multiple engine components.
20. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) 1.35.206 *engine component changes
19. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) 1:34.850 *engine component changes
18. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) 1:35.735
17. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) 1:35.536
16. Lance Stroll (Williams) 1:35.480
15. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) 1:35.362
14. Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 1:35.294
13. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:34.766 *no time set in Q2
12. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 1:34.732
11. Carlos Sainz (Renault) 1:34.566
10. Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:34.594
9. Charles Leclerc (Sauber) 1:34.420
8. Romain Grosjean (Haas) 1:34.250
7. Nico Hulkenberg (Renualt) 1:34.215
6. Esteban Ocon (Force India) 1:34.145
5. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:32.298 *three-place grid penalty
4. Daniel Riccirdo (Red Bull) 1:33.494
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 1:32.616
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:32.307
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:32.237