World championship leader Nico Rosberg will line up second on tomorrow’s US Grand Prix after trailing team mate Lewis Hamilton by a little over two tenths of a second.

Both drivers ended Q2 on the soft Pirelli compound with which they will start tomorrow’s race, and tackled Q3 on the SuperSoft tyre.

While the German driver’s time in the first sector was marginally slower than Hamilton’s, Rosberg did not note any particular issues, just that his team mate had been faster.

“There was nothing specific in sector 1,” Rosberg said.

“I just prefer sector 2 and 3, and Lewis was just quicker in sector 1, so it was pretty simple. It was a good lap that I did in the end there, so I was pleased.

Click Here: geelong cats guernsey 2019

“But of course also a bit annoyed when Lewis came over the line and I could see on the TV that he beat me to it. But that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

With his 33-point championship lead Rosberg enjoys a comfortable margin but he also insisted that missing out on pole did not diminish his chances of success.

“As we’ve seen this year, qualifying isn’t all important, so from P2 we still have a great chance tomorrow.”

2017 driver line-ups so far

Silbermann says … Taylor should take over F1

Romain Grosjean column: 100 races, now for the wins

PREVIEW: 2016 United States Grand Prix

TECHNICAL – Turbulent Jet Ignition: In the antechamber of F1 power

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter