Blistering Lewis Hamilton powers to pole

Defending champion Lewis Hamilton powered to pole position for the United States Grand Prix when he out-paced Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg with a blistering lap in Saturday’s tense qualifying session.

The 31-year-old Briton dominated the action with a record best lap in one minute and 34.999 seconds — to become the first driver to break the 1:35 barrier — to outstrip the German by 0.216 seconds as the Silver Arrows pairing reeled off their 10th front row lockout of the year.

It is the 58th pole position of Hamilton’s career, but his first at the Circuit of the Americas where, despite winning three of the four previous races, he had failed to dominate qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo qualified third for Red Bull ahead of his team-mate teenager Max Verstappen with the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel taking fifth and sixth.

Renault-bound Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Force India ahead of Valtteri Bottas and his Williams team-mate Felipe Massa and Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso.

Hamilton is seeking his 50th win to stay in contention in the title race in which he trails Rosberg by 33 points with four races remaining.

Even if he wins all four, Hamilton could be pipped to the title by Rosberg if he finishes second behind him.