Round 19 qualifying — Q1, Q2 and Q3 timing - 2012-11-18
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) took pole for the 2012 United States Grand Prix with a 1:35.657 lap.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) joined the front row, 0.109s shy of pole, with Mark Webber (Red Bull) third on the grid. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) was the slowest into Q3 in P10, while Bruno Senna (Williams) missed the cut by —s.
Q3 was settled inside 2.185s — pole to P10 — with Pastor Maldonado (Williams) closing the top ten.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:36.558 | 1:35.796 | 1:35.657 | 1:35.657 |
| 2 | 44Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1:37.058 | 1:36.795 | 1:35.766 | +0.109 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1:37.215 | 1:36.298 | 1:36.174 | +0.517 |
| 8Romain Grosjean |
| Lotus F1 |
| 1:37.486 |
| 1:36.906 |
| 1:36.587 |
| +0.930 |
| 5 | 7Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus F1 | 1:38.051 | 1:37.404 | 1:36.708 | +1.051 |
| 6 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:37.927 | 1:37.102 | 1:36.794 | +1.137 |
| 7 | 19Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:37.667 | 1:36.549 | 1:36.937 | +1.280 |
| 8 | 27Nico HĂĽlkenberg | Force India | 1:37.756 | 1:37.066 | 1:37.141 | +1.484 |
| 9 | 14Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:37.968 | 1:37.123 | 1:37.300 | +1.643 |
| 10 | 13Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1:37.537 | 1:37.011 | 1:37.842 | +2.185 |
| 11 | Bruno Senna | Williams | 1:37.520 | 1:37.604 | — | +1.947 |
| 12 | 22Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:37.565 | 1:37.616 | — | +1.959 |
| 13 | 40Paul di Resta | Force India | 1:38.104 | 1:37.665 | — | +2.008 |
| 14 | 25Jean-Éric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:38.434 | 1:37.879 | — | +2.222 |
| 15 | 11Sergio Pérez | Sauber | 1:38.500 | 1:38.206 | — | +2.549 |
| 16 | 10Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:38.418 | 1:38.437 | — | +2.780 |
| 17 | 6Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:38.862 | 1:38.501 | — | +2.844 |
| 18 | 3Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:39.114 | — | — | +3.457 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Marussia | 1:40.056 | — | — | +4.399 |
| 20 | Charles Pic | Marussia | 1:40.664 | — | — | +5.007 |
| 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham | 1:40.809 | — | — | +5.152 |
| 22 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:41.166 | — | — | +5.509 |
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT | 1:42.011 | — | — | +6.354 |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:42.740 | — | — | +7.083 |